A New Chinese Food Festival Debuts in NYC This Month — Here's How to Get Tickets

Stinky tofu, soup dumplings, and dan dan noodles are all on the menu.

Of the 24 million Asian Americans living in the United States, 5.2 million identify as Chinese — the largest Asian group in the country. Now, there's a new food festival, Dragon Fest, debuting this month in Manhattan to celebrate Chinese culture through food.

“Chinese culture is profoundly vast and diverse, and so is its cuisine,” Biubiu Xu, Dragon Fest's founder, told Travel + Leisure. “If we truly want to cover every aspect of Chinese culinary tradition, one street wouldn't be enough — even 20 streets wouldn't be. But I hope to highlight every unique feature of Chinese cuisine.”

The inaugural event will kick off on June 24 in Washington Square, followed by another on Aug. 26 on Broadway at 12th and 13th Streets, Aug. 27 on Fourth Avenue at 12th and 13th Streets, and Sept. 17 on Sixth Avenue at 29th and 30th Streets. Each event will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and feature more than 100 varieties of Asian foods, including stinky tofu, dan dan noodles, and dumplings.

“Apart from well-known items like xiao long bao (soup dumplings), there will also be more traditional dishes that people might not even have heard of, like put chai ko (a type of rice pudding) and tanghulu (candied hawthorn),” Xu said.

The festival will feature booths from New York City’s buzziest establishments, including Nom Wah, Lady Wong, Nan Xiang, MáLà Project, and Pecking House. The lineup will also include food across the Asian diaspora, like Malaysian cuisine from Kopitiam.

Also on-site will be cultural exhibits, like a sugar painting artist, as well as displays of Han-style clothing and Miao embroidery and jewelry.

As the founder of Egg House, Xu purposefully chose the Dragon Fest name because the fierce figure is “a term that anyone can associate with Chinese heritage at first glance,” she said. “No matter where they are, be it mainland Chinese, American-born Chinese, or Chinese based in Thailand and Malaysia.”

Launching with four dates in New York City is just the beginning. “We're talking about bringing even more Chinese cuisine to the table, inviting more vendors, and showcasing even more local artists,” Xu said. She hopes to eventually have 12 to 18 events a year, spanning across U.S. cities like Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. “So stay tuned, this is just the beginning!”

Other recent Asian food festivals in the U.S. include the ATX Asian Food Fest in Austin; the Everything, Everyone, All the Food at Once Fest at District Wharf in Washington, D.C.; Taste of Asia in Pittsburgh; Taiwan Fest in New York City; and the Asian Food Fest in Cincinnati. 

Free tickets to Dragon Fest's June 24 event can be reserved via eventbrite.com and up-to-date details can be found on Dragon Fest’s Instagram page at @dragonfests.

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