Pinch Chinese – the Din Tai Fung veteran reinventing Soho dumplings

On a cast-iron block of Prince Street, behind a glass wall where cooks fold dumplings in full view of the dining room, Pinch Chinese turns a family's cross-China repertoire into one of SoHo's most talked-about Chinese tables. Owner Sean Tang left a career in advertising to build a restaurant around the dishes he loved from his travels through China, opening on Prince Street in 2017 with his cousin and co-owner, Tony Li. To run the kitchen the pair recruited Charlie Chen, who had spent sixteen years with Din Tai Fung in Shanghai, rising to executive chef over two of the chain's Pudong kitchens before joining Pinch. His xiao long bao, folded behind that glass pass-through, became the dish diners built their evenings around. Today the restaurant holds a Bib Gourmand, the MICHELIN Guide's mark for cooking of real quality at a fair price.

01The room and the setting

Inside, the dining room runs long and narrow, dressed with red metal chairs and birch countertops and anchored by an exhibition dumpling station where several cooks shape wrappers behind glass at the back of the room. Tables sit close enough together that once the wine starts flowing, the whole room tends to feel like one shared party rather than separate tables. Each one carries its own set of Lego bricks to rest chopsticks on, and black vinegar, soy sauce and slivered ginger are brought out separately so that every diner can build their own dipping sauce.

02The chef

Charlie Chen arrived on Prince Street by way of Shanghai, where he spent sixteen years inside Din Tai Fung's kitchens, eventually overseeing two of the chain's outposts in the Pudong financial district before Tang and Li persuaded him to run a kitchen of his own. They hired him specifically for his xiao long bao technique, and the restaurant's confidence in his folding shows in where the dumpling station sits — front and centre, visible to every table rather than tucked away.

Insider tip

Book on Resy; order Peking Duck 72 hours ahead by email to guarantee it.

03The cooking

The menu reads as a tour of the regional cooking Tang grew up eating at home, where a Taiwanese household layered Sichuan heat onto Shanghainese comfort food and simply called it family dinner. That instinct for mixing regions without apology runs through the categories on today's menu — dumplings, small plates, whole-animal specialties, noodles and rice, vegetables and dessert — built on ingredients such as Niman Ranch pork, Creekstone Farms beef and Bell & Evans chicken.

04What to order

Start with the Pork Soup Dumplings ($18) or Chicken Soup Dumplings ($18), both filled to bursting with broth. The kitchen's showpiece is the Peking Duck ($115), carved with its traditional accompaniments, for which the restaurant asks at least an hour's notice on the night — or 72 hours by email if you want one guaranteed. The Wind Sand Chicken ($49) spends three days in a marinade before a whole Lancaster bird is fried with crispy garlic and bread crumbs, and the Steak Fried Rice ($27) is tossed with American wagyu sirloin. Finish with the Condensed Milk Donut ($16), served with taro cream and a condensed-milk ice cream made with the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

05Wine and drinks

The wine list is the work of Miguel de Leon, who arrived with stints at Chez Panisse, Per Se and Momofuku behind him and has since been recommended by Star Wine List as a serious New York wine address. Tuesday nights bring Flight Night, a rotating trio of wines matched to the dumpling menu, and weekday Happy Millennial Hour (5pm–7pm, bar and lounge only) runs food and drink specials on a first-come basis. Diners who bring their own bottle pay corkage of $45 per 750ml for the first two bottles not already on the list, and $100 for each one after that.

06When to go and booking

Lunch runs Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5pm, with weekend brunch additions in the same window; dinner seats nightly, Sunday to Thursday from 5pm to 10pm and Friday and Saturday until 11pm. Reservations are taken on Resy, though Peking Duck requests must go directly to the restaurant by email, with 72 hours' notice, to be guaranteed. A $20-per-guest fee applies to cancellations made after noon on the day — the proceeds go entirely to City Harvest — and parties larger than six should contact the events team rather than book online.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.