When I first discovered I was gluten-intolerant, one of the foods I feared not being able to eat dim sum. I already wasn’t able to eat very much dim sum to begin with, being mostly vegetarian (I could eat things with shrimp, but no pork, chicken, beef, or other meat). But adding on the gluten-free restriction cuts out anything with soy sauce (noodle rolls), wheat flour-based wrappers (dumplings), and anything breaded and fried. On top of that, I doubted most places would have a separate gluten-free fryer, so even things that are inherently gluten-free fried in the same oil as gluten foods would be contaminated.
But then I read about Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown in New York, NY, specifically that they are actually gluten-free friendly. Upon looking at their menu, many items are labeled as gluten-free. I will say that I have some doubts about some items (such as the deep-fried crab claw). But they do provide gluten-free soy sauce for the noodle rolls.
I asked our server about how accurate the “gluten-free” labels were. Specifically, I asked if they had a separate fryer for the gluten-free items, and he said that they did not. He advised me that if I wanted to minimize chances of cross-contamination, I should stay away from anything that’s deep-fried and to stick with the steamed or pan-fried items.
This was quite disappointing. I understand that fundamentally, some of those deep-fried items do not themselves contain gluten, but when gluten-free foods share cooking surfaces or frying oil with gluten-containing foods, they’re not really gluten-free anymore. But that’s just me and the fact that I have gotten sick from cross-contamination of this sort in the past.
So, I erred on the side of caution and got only steamed and pan-fried items and made sure that our server was aware I was strictly gluten-free.
(I came with a friend who is neither vegetarian nor gluten-free, so she got a couple of items that I couldn’t eat.)
Located out of the way of the more crowded main streets of Chinatown, Nom Wah is located on a quiet side street where so few cars drive on that people walk and stand in the street. They claim to be the first dim sum restaurant in New York City.
Inside looks nothing like the dim sum restaurants I grew up going to. It resembles more like like a typical New York City diner with tables and booths, bar stools and a soda-fountain-type bar, etc. There are also no carts circulating the restaurant offering various dim sum dishes. Instead, the dim sum is ordered off a menu.
My friend ordered a couple of items that she would enjoy that I couldn’t eat, a couple of items we could both share, and I picked a dessert item mostly for myself.
My friend first made sure to order a steamed BBQ pork bun (char siu bao), a classic must-get (unless you’re like me and can’t eat gluten and won’t eat pork). She said it was very good.
Said friend also ordered some shrimp shu mai, which are made with a wheat-based wonton wrapper. It was apparently so good that she was still talking about how delicious these shu mai were the next day.
One of the gluten-free vegetarian items I picked was the tofu skin roll. Sort of like an egg roll, but the wrapper is yuba (or tofu skin, or dried bean curd, or foo jook in Cantonese) and inside was a mixture of chopped vegetables (canned baby corn, canned mushroom, celery, carrot, water chestnut, etc.). They were pan-fried so the bottoms were a little crisp.
Then we also got another dim sum classic: the shrimp rice noodle roll (cheong fun). Normally served with a sweet soy sauce, it came without any soy sauce but our server gave us a bottle of gluten-free tamari soy sauce. Not quite the same as it isn’t as sweet as the soy sauce typically used for this dish, but it was still very good nonetheless.
And finally, I got the black sesame roll, as dessert. It’s served cold, and it’s a little sweet. It’s made with agar so it has a jelly-like consistency. The hulls of the sesame seeds are ground into the mixture, so there is a little bit of a gritty texture (if you like that kind of thing … which I do).
Overall, a very satisfying reminder of the delicious dim sum I grew up with. Definitely not a traditional experience, though, but still one I’d like to have again.