Bamboo Garden Restaurant

CHINA 🇨🇳

[All photography by Andrea Ruggeri]

In New York City, gauging the quality of dim sum restaurants in Manhattan's Chinatown, Brooklyn's Sunset Park, and Flushing, Queens is often like trying to catch the wind. Diners will one day go and find everything to be top quality, while their next visit will leave them disappointed. On top of that, chefs seem to come and go so fast that consistency is further eroded.

For over a year now, Bamboo Garden has bucked this trend, so it deserves to be recommended. Even on random weekdays it might require a wait for a group of four or more.

The space is similar to most dim sum halls, an open area with round tables and a stage on one end to host parties and receptions. Women ply their carts through busy aisles, while men act as managers and basically do nothing.

Dim sum is great for hungry bellies, as soon as the group sits down, multiple carts show up as the women descend on new tables trying to offload their products. This is a critical moment though, so be choosy and don't fill the table with too much too soon.

Typically, the larger the group the less you end up paying per person, but even a group of two finds it hard to surmount the $15 mark if you stick with the classics.

Access to the 8th Avenue N station is easy, so even those coming from Manhattan can get here easily. Remember to plan on some waits if you are coming at peak times, but consider it all worth it.

SUNSET PARK Brooklyn

6409 8th Avenue