Bridges – a dim sum room on Chatham Square turned Michelin table

Bridges occupies 9 Chatham Square, on the inner edge of Chinatown, in a room that for close to fifty years was home to the dim sum institution Hop Shing before chef Sam Lawrence reopened it in September 2024 as his first solo restaurant. Lawrence had cooked at Estela in Nolita and risen to become culinary director of Ignacio Mattos's wider restaurant group, before opening Bridges with partners Nicolas Mouchel, who came from The NoMad, and Josey Stuart, from Mattos Hospitality. The cooking sits between bistro and global pantry, built on classical technique but refusing to settle inside one national cuisine from course to course. It holds one MICHELIN Star, awarded roughly a year after opening, and in April 2025 New York Times critic Melissa Clark reviewed the restaurant, while The Infatuation gave the room a rare 9.0.

01The room and the setting

The dining room reads amber-toned and deliberately spare, the kind of space one profile described as a casual, starkly minimal room with soft lighting, great acoustics, and chrome-framed chairs. Up front, frosted glass cubes divide the bar area, with its curved wood counter and two bar tables, from the dining room at the back. The whole space holds 62 covers in total: 50 seats at tables and 12 more at the bar, with reservations required everywhere except those bar seats and a single table.

02The chef

Sam Lawrence previously ran the kitchen at Estela, and before striking out on his own he had risen to culinary director of Ignacio Mattos's wider restaurant group, which includes Lodi and Altro Paradiso alongside Estela itself. He opened Bridges, his first restaurant as chef-owner, with partners Nicolas Mouchel and Josey Stuart, both industry veterans who had worked at The NoMad and for Mattos Hospitality, with their first service landing on 25 September 2024.

Insider tip

Reservations open 21 days ahead on Resy; bar seats are held nightly for walk-ins.

03The cooking

Officially, the kitchen serves seasonal small plates influenced by European bistros alongside an eclectic, mostly European, wine selection. In practice the menu tilts further afield: a tapas-leaning format blending French bistro, Basque and Japanese ideas, from slivers of anchovy on toast and a duck confit croquette to sashimi dressed with yuzu. Autumn plates have run to a kabocha squash and puntarelle salad finished with Brabander goat's milk gouda, the kind of dish that reads as simple on the page and considerably more composed on the plate.

04What to order

The Comté tart is the dish Bridges is known for: a savoury custard built like a cheesecake, crumbly crust included, with chanterelle mushrooms draped across the top. Beyond it, the kitchen's essential plates run to sardine and pepper toast, grilled king crab with béarnaise, steamed turbot with rice and clams, roast duck, and a vin jaune gelato for dessert. Grilled sweetbreads with leeks and mustard have also been a fixture of Lawrence's French-leaning repertoire since opening.

05Wine and drinks

The wine list is overseen by Keara Driscoll, also an Estela alumna, who has built a European-focused selection that still finds room for newer, smaller producers alongside more established bottles, giving the list the kind of range that rewards both the curious and the cautious drinker.

06When to go and booking

Bridges has been, by more than one account, a tough reservation to get since its earliest weeks, and the MICHELIN Star arrived just about a year after opening, confirming what diners had already worked out. The New York Times critic Melissa Clark reviewed it in April 2025 under a headline arguing it outran its own hype, and The Infatuation handed it a rare 9.0 score. As of October 2026, the restaurant's own site states it is open every day from 5.30pm to 10pm, with reservations released 21 days ahead exclusively through Resy; the bar seats and bar booths are kept free for walk-ins every night.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.