Where to Start with Wilson Tang
Wilson Tang is the owner of Nom Wah Tea Parlor, the oldest dim sum restaurant in New York City’s Chinatown. The restaurant was founded in 1920 by his great-uncle Wally Tang and has operated from the same Doyers Street location for over a century. Wilson left a career in finance to take over the business in 2010, modernizing the menu and expanding the brand while preserving the traditions that made Nom Wah a Chinatown institution. His cookbook, written with Joshua David Stein, distills a hundred years of restaurant knowledge into recipes designed for home kitchens.
Start here
The Nom Wah Cookbook
Wilson Tang · 272 pages · 2020 · Easy
Themes: dim sum, Cantonese cuisine, dumplings, bao
Wilson Tang’s only cookbook captures the recipes and stories from Nom Wah Tea Parlor’s century of service in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The 75 recipes cover the full range of dim sum, from dumplings and bao to rice rolls, noodles, and desserts, all adapted for the home kitchen.
Why Start Here
This is Wilson Tang’s sole cookbook, so the starting point question answers itself. But it is also the right book because it represents something unusual in cookbook publishing: a restaurant cookbook that genuinely wants you to succeed at home. Tang writes with the practical clarity of someone who has watched thousands of cooks learn these dishes, and co-author Joshua David Stein brings a storyteller’s eye to the narrative sections.
The book works as both a cooking manual and a portrait of a place. Between the recipes, Tang shares the history of Nom Wah and the evolving story of New York’s Chinatown. These sections give context to the food that makes the cooking feel more meaningful. You are not just following a recipe for siu mai; you are connecting with a tradition that stretches back generations.
What to Expect
A 272-page hardcover with 75 recipes, gorgeous photography, and stories woven throughout. The recipes are organized by category: bao, dumplings, vegetables, noodles, rice rolls, chef’s specials, cakes, and desserts. The tone is warm and encouraging. You will need a bamboo steamer and access to an Asian grocery store for some specialty ingredients.