Red Farm

529 Hudson St., West Village, NY

7.2

map & more

Neighborhood
West Village

Cuisine
Pan-Asian

212-792-9700

Official Website

Twitter

By Chris Stang
September 19, 2011

Brought to you by the same folks responsible for Noho’s Chinatown Brasserie, Red Farm is the West Village’s newest (and only) dim sum hot spot. How much you will like this place will depend entirely on what you think a dim sum dining experience should be.

Red Farm is not the place for the person that shows up in Chinatown at 11am, ready to battle it out with 100 other people for the best shrimp dumplings and chicken feet from a rolling cart. This is not an authentic dim sum experience, and if you go in expecting that, you’re probably going to hate it. Red Farm is more suited for people who know dumplings better as “pot stickers”, and maybe have a little trouble with chop sticks. And believe it or not, we liked it anyway.

We were impressed with a handful of things we ate at Red Farm, mostly from the dim sum menu, and mostly the things that everyone else is talking about so far – Katz’s pastrami egg rolls and Pac Man dumplings. Unfortunately, the rest of it might make you think you’re eating at New York City’s P.F. Chang’s. Oh right, that’s the China Grill, and this place is backed by its owner. And even though Red Farm looks much different (think Asian barn from the future), it still has that same corporate Chinese food feel – like the menu was drawn up in an office instead of in a kitchen. So the moral of the story is this: don’t roll in here thinking you are about to eat this city’s best Chinese, or the dim sum meal of your life. Just stick to the pot stickers and you’ll be happy.

Food Rundown:

Kowloon Filet Mignon Tarts
These small pastry cups are topped off with a piece of filet mignon and some snow peas. We weren’t sure what to make of it, and somehow the meat was a bit fatty and unpleasant to chew. Skip these and go heavier on dumplings.

Katz’s Pastrami Egg Roll
Holy sh*t. The last time I tasted something so good and yet so clearly terrible for my well being was when I put a fried Snicker’s bar into a bowl of ice cream. This is an egg roll that’s been stuffed with Katz’s pastrami and cabbage and then fried until appropriately greasy. It’s then served with deli mustard and a side of shame.

Pork & Crab Soup Dumplings
We like soup dumplings. A lot. Which is why we go to Joe’s Shanghai. These pork and crab guys are pretty excellent in their own right…but Joe’s this is not. Keep that in mind and you should be OK.

Fried Duck Dumplings
Well isn’t that neat, they look like stingrays. Other than that, we’re not sure we would have been all that impressed with these big fried dumplings. The curry sauce in the middle is essential, so don’t forget to dunk.

Pac Man Dumplings
You gotta admit, this looks pretty awesome. Points for creativity and points for these being very tasty little shrimp dumplings. I now demand some thing delicious in the shape of Donkey Kong. What? You started this, now finish it.

Marinated Rib Steak, Bok Choy
This huge, sliced rib steak with bok choy looked promising, and came highly recommended by our waitress. Unfortunately, we found it to be a big snooze. There are plenty of other things on this menu for the meat loving/iron deficient diner.

Spicy Korean Rice Cake, Shrimp & Chinese Sausage
This one was the winner from the “Rice & Noodles” section on the Red Farm menu. Korean rice cakes make me happy, and the Chinese sausage here is pretty damn good.