Nan Shian Soup Dumpling House in Flushing, NY
Nan Shian Dumpling House
38-12 Prince Street
Flushing, Queens – NY
(718) 321-3838
Elaine Louie of the New York Times wrote an article about this restaurant and claimed that their soup dumplings are the best soup dumplings in New York City, if not the world, and that includes China. That is a bold statement! I got so excited after reading this article that I had to go out there and try it for myself. Can their soup be better than your Joe Shanghai or your local ma and pa dumpling house?
Nan Shian Dumpling House
On this cold Sunday rainy afternoon, Finechinaguy and I + 2 guests decided to come to warm up our bellies by coming to his famous soup dumpling restaurant. After nearly 15 minutes of grueling wait for parking in the Municipal Parking Lot, we were definitely hungry. The time was 2:10pm, and when we opened the door, there was a long queue that almost backed out of the door! Mind you, like what the NY Times article wrote, the restaurant has a capacity of 30 people, so it’s a very small place. Usually in a situation like this, I would just leave and go to the other many soup dumpling restaurants in Flushing, but of course that isn’t an option so we went inside.
When you go inside, you have to tell one of the waitresses how many people are in your party. You will then grab a ticket and patiently wait inside the restaurant, if there is space, or out in the hall like Finechinaguy did. I stood in the restaurant and waited patiently until my number was called out.
My party waited about fifteen minutes and that was considered to be fast because there were some groups who refuse to leave even when they were done eating. They were pretty much lounging around and chit chatting until the waitress asks if they want the check and decides to order another entree of food. In a small restaurant like this, I think it’s just in good manners to eat and then leave.
