In a trendy, upscale neighborhood like Tribeca, Upon the Palace is betting that family tradition—not just trendy aesthetics—keeps New Yorkers coming back to those round tables.
The restaurant’s mission is more than just the food offerings. It honors the cultural traditions of Chinese dim sum and aims to fill, as the staff says, a gap by offering authentic and modern Chinese cuisine to locals in Tribeca and the Financial District on Wall Street, as well as corporate clients.
“I grew up here in Chinatown, I came here when I was 9 years old,” said Barry Huang, manager of the restaurant. “As I have grown up in a Chinese family and tradition, dim sum is a very important type of food because every Sunday when we have family day, that’s when we go out to eat dim sum.”
“Dim sum to me is part of getting the family to come together and spending quality time together,” he added. “Of course, for Mother’s Day, we want to use that as a way to share love with the most important person in the family.”
Keeping tradition in Tribeca
At the Palace, the restaurant operated as an Indian restaurant and an authentic Chinese restaurant for more than two decades. Now, the restaurant is welcoming a menu that blends classic dim sum with trend-driven dishes appealing to both longtime fans of Chinese cuisine and younger diners looking for something new. A key essential of New Yorkers.
“I personally grew up in Chinatown, so I personally know how important the cuisine is,” Huang said. “It is also very hard to find a good Chinese restaurant in Tribeca right now. If you look at our menu, we have a very wide selection of Western and authentic Chinese cuisines and dim sum.”
Signature dishes include soup dumplings, truffle pork and shrimp shumai, roasted pork buns, chicken lettuce cups, sizzling beef, Imperial Chicken, and steak options like wagyu and ribeye—less traditional, but popular with guests.
“People are always looking for something trendy,” Huang said. “You’ve got to put the authentic and trendy together and see what works.”
Honing the dim sum experience
At the center of the restaurant’s concept is its in-house dim-sum station, where guests can watch chefs hand-roll dumplings throughout the evening.
“The station is right here,” he said, pointing toward the front-facing kitchen counter that was once a sushi station.” “At 5 p.m., the chef will showcase the dough, as well as prepping the soup dumplings, shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, and vegetable dumplings in front of guests.”
The interactive center station is the restaurant’s main attraction.
“We have guests asking questions,” Huang said. “That is what I want to bring to Upon the Palace. We want to bring the dim sum chef in front of the house and share the experience of the process of how he makes each dumpling.”
The restaurant’s menu also highlights traditional dim sum staples, including har gow — crystal shrimp dumplings wrapped in translucent dough — shumai made with pork and shrimp, and char siu bao, steamed buns filled with roasted pork.
“Dim sum is a very important part of Chinese tradition,” Huang said. “We always have it at a round table to spend family time together.”
For Mother’s Day, Upon the Palace is offering a $45 all-you-can-eat dim sum experience that blends authentic Chinese and Western dishes with a modern dining experience, bringing family and friends together.
The Mother’s Day promotion, available Saturday and Sunday, allows groups of four or more to dine together for 90 minutes, with every fourth guest eating free.
“With the menu we have right now, it’s not a really big dim sum menu, but it has a good selection,” Huang said. “I don’t want to overprice it. It’s good for family size.”
As restaurants across Manhattan compete for diners, Upon the Palace says hospitality remains its biggest priority.
“For me, it’s all about the dining experience,” Hunag said. “For a first-time client, I will make sure I greet them and make sure my waiter or waitress gives them the best whole experience — the quality of the food, the ambiance, from the minute they sit down and leave the restaurant.”
“I want the client to remember the server’s name, the name of the restaurant, and tell a friend or family member they had a great time at Upon the Palace.”
Upon the Palace is located at 317 Greenwich St. For more information, visit uponthepalace.com.
