Brunch in NYC has gotten ridiculous. Twenty-four-dollar avocado toast. Thirty-dollar omelets. Mandatory bottomless mimosa minimums. But step a few blocks south of Houston, into Chinatown and the eastern edge of the Lower East Side, and a different brunch reality opens up — one where $15 still buys you a real, satisfying meal made by people who’ve been making it the same way for decades.
Here are seven Sunday brunch spots in Chinatown and the LES where the bill stays small and the eating stays great.
Quick Bites: The Move at a Glance
- Jing Fong (202 Centre St) — Cart-service dim sum, the OG move.
- Buddha Bodai (5 Mott St) — Kosher vegetarian dim sum, BYOB, almost everything under $15.
- Golden Unicorn (18 East Broadway) — Custard buns, crispy dumplings, classic Cantonese energy.
- Royal Seafood (103 Mott St) — Old-school carts and pork buns.
- 88 Palace (88 East Broadway) — Mall-floor dim sum, small plates from a couple bucks up.
- Russ & Daughters Shop counter (179 E Houston St) — The bagel-and-schmear move (skip the cafe for the budget version).
- Kopitiam (151 East Broadway) — Malaysian kopi, kaya toast, nasi lemak — a totally different kind of brunch.
The Dim Sum Belt
Jing Fong — 202 Centre St
The legend. Founded in Chinatown in 1978, Jing Fong is one of NYC’s most renowned dim sum destinations, and after the original Elizabeth Street ballroom closed in 2020, the operation reopened in 2021 at 202 Centre St. Cart service is alive and well, with more than 200 classic Chinese dishes rolling past your table. The trick: arrive before 11 a.m. on weekends to beat the crowd. Order a few small plates of har gow, siu mai, turnip cake, and a basket of pork buns and you can absolutely walk out under $15 a head — especially if you’re sharing with a group, where Jing Fong becomes one of the all-time best group brunch values in the city.
Buddha Bodai — 5 Mott St
The kosher, vegetarian dim sum spot tucked just off Chatham Square is a quiet hero of the Chinatown brunch scene. Most dishes cost less than $15, it’s BYOB, and the menu offers an impressively long list of vegan dim sum dishes that have been served here since 2004. Bring a bottle of cheap sparkling, order the mock chicken buns and the radish cakes, and you’ve got a budget brunch that feels generous.
Golden Unicorn — 18 East Broadway
Energetic, slightly chaotic, full of families on Sunday morning — this is the classic dim sum cart experience. Don’t miss the lava buns (custard buns) and the crispy shrimp-and-chive dumplings. Order modestly and share, and you can stay under $15 a person without trying.
Royal Seafood — 103 Mott St
Mott Street’s weekend dim sum brunch features the full traditional cart parade — pork buns, rice rolls, chicken feet for the brave, the works. It’s affordable, it’s loud, it’s exactly what cheap Chinatown brunch is supposed to feel like.
88 Palace — 88 East Broadway
Hidden inside a small mall on East Broadway, 88 Palace is a slightly off-the-beaten-path dim sum favorite where small plates can start as low as a couple dollars. Easy to keep the bill modest if you stick to the steam-cart classics.
The Non-Dim-Sum Picks
Russ & Daughters Shop Counter — 179 E Houston St
Yes, the Russ & Daughters Cafe over on Orchard Street is a sit-down restaurant where the loaded bagels can run north of $20. But the original 1914 shop counter on East Houston is a different beast: this is where you order a classic bagel with cream cheese (or a more modest fish-and-schmear combo) to go and eat it on a stoop a block away. With smart ordering, the shop counter is the cheap-brunch entry point to a 110-year-old NYC institution.
Kopitiam — 151 East Broadway
For something completely different, Kopitiam serves Malaysian kopi (sweetened, condensed-milk coffee), kaya toast, nasi lemak, and a small but lovely menu of Southeast Asian breakfast dishes on the eastern edge of the LES. Many menu items land at or just above the $15 line, so order with intention — kaya toast and a kopi is a deeply satisfying, very affordable Sunday morning.
How to Brunch on a Budget Down Here
A few rules of thumb for keeping your Chinatown/LES brunch genuinely cheap:
- Go with a group. Dim sum scales beautifully — four people sharing eight to ten plates almost always lands under $15 each.
- Stick to the carts. Specialty seafood dishes off the printed menu are where the bill creeps up.
- Skip the bottomless mimosas. This neighborhood’s strength is the food, not the brunch-cocktail upcharge.
- Cash often helps. Some older Chinatown spots are still cash-preferred, and a few quietly knock a buck or two off the total.
The Bottom Line
NYC weekend brunch doesn’t have to be a $40 ritual. In Chinatown and the LES, it can still be cart service, a steaming bamboo basket, and a $7 tab — the way real New Yorkers have been doing it for decades. Pick one of these seven, show up hungry, and remember that the best brunch in this city has never been the most expensive one.
