Welcome back from the Xmas holiday.

Love how you try to sound the Chinese dim sum names with the English 26 alphabets. Not bad. :)

Have you tried the restaurant across from this restaurant as well? I always get my take out from there.

Thanks, kim, hope you had a good holiday, too.

I like the place across the street, but not as much as Dun Huang. The best part is that the food in Manhattan's Chinatown is getting better and better, and I'm going to check out the Xi'an place that's a branch of the downstairs stall in Golden Mall on Main Street.

I heard that Flushing has the best dim sum, so do swing by my hood! :)

I just hope the X'ian location wouldn't lose its uniqueness (with all the hypes and all). Reviews have definitely increased a lot of business for the owner, just hope they don't lose their cool.

That guy always was a bit gruff, and his employees never seem to be enjoying themselves much. Love the homemade lamb noodles with blocks of gluten, wonder if he invented it?

Are you referring to the Flushing location? I"ve never tried it (shame...) because I'm afraid of the spicyness. Doubt he made it. I'm sure it's a popular dish back in China. It's quite easy to assemble (you get buy gluten from the supermarket), so it's all about the sauce for flavor.

Robert Sietsema

You're right--the food tends to be very spicy, which is not something you'd necessarily expect from that part of China. At least not something I would expect :>}

I will have to try this place out. I've just been griping with my friends and family that there is no good dim sum places in C-town any more. We're lifelong NYers, and the dimsum quality has diminished over the years here.

I also tried to post in the Visual Dim Sum Dictionary post but it didn't work. So I'll post it here: I filled in the blanks on the missing Chinese pronunciations and correcting some of the dimsum names:

Cha Siu Cheung Fun, pork rice roll (if this is roast pork filling inside)

Ja Leung, cruller rice roll

Lap Cheung Bao ,Steamed sweet bao (this looks like bao that has a Chinese sausage in it)

Gnao Pak Yip, braised pork tripe with orange rind

Heen, clams with black bean sauce

Thanks so much Dimsummer--I've revise the dictionary. I owe you big time!

No prob. If you have new dimsum pix that need translation, just let me know. A correction I forgot to add: the tripe is actually cow tripe, not pork. Also, I forgot to point out that these are cantonese pronunciations. :)

Dude - thanks for the tip. I'd pretty much given up on Chinatown dim sum after eating some incredible variations in Montreal a few years ago, which sucks because I live on the eastern edge of NYC's Chinatown. TOday on a whim me and my foodie buddy David walked over to Dun Huang and I have faith again. So delicious. When there were just a few things left and Dave wanted to divvy up the last bites, he asked me which I enjoyed the most. I could only say "All of it". So good, not greasy, and thankfully a sweet older Chinese couple at our (shared) table was able to translate a bit for us. Very fun, friendly, and not hurried at all.

i always look forward to village voice dining review and to try out the new places. The previous review of East Harbor was great and led me to East Harbor where I had one of the best dim sum in NYC. So I was excited to read about Dun Huang serving the best dim sum of any borough. After dining there Sunday at 12pm at peak dim sum cart hour, we were surprised by this review. Perhaps it was that day but..

We ordered several steamed seafood dumpling variety - all the skins were too thick and overly starchy, with the base sticking to steamer basket. It was also not expertly wrapped, with the har gow creases very thin. The stuffing was bland and the seafood was just ok though did not taste ultra fresh. The baskets itself were bamboo that looked old and darken by overuse, which I assume is reincarnated from previous uses - a no no of top quality Chinese restaurant.

There were redeeming factors - the har cheong was thin, soft with good sauce base, and the variety was good - though we stopped after the 4th lackluster basket. (so that we can save room for stir fried rice cake across the street at Shanghai Cafe).

I would say that East Harbor is far superior to Dun Huang and I will gladly travel the 60 mins to get there for the dim sum. Chinatown Brasserie actually offers excellent dim sum as well. Some people considered it overpriced but in Hong Kong, good dim sum is not cheap, and you get what you pay for.

Golden Unicorn on East Broadway

I am embarassed that my son did not have the good sense to remove his hat at the table.
Michael's mother