{"id":331801,"date":"2026-08-28T13:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/331801\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T13:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:26:17","slug":"five-nyc-restaurants-my-dairy-free-partner-and-i-loved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/331801\/","title":{"rendered":"Five NYC restaurants my dairy-free partner and I loved"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently spent a week in the Big Apple, tasting as many dishes as possible with my boyfriend, who has an allergy to dairy. Venturing into one of the busiest US cities comes with a big opportunity \u2014 to take on the NYC food scene one restaurant at a time. <\/p>\n

We set out to try popular spots for bagels, Chinese food, Irish cuisine, and more. We heeded suggestions from users on Beli, an invite-only food diary social media app<\/a>. Beli users share photos of their dishes and rank the spots they\u2019ve visited. Beli calculates a score between one and 10 based on your ranking. Users can upload photos to their reviews for others to see. It makes choosing a dish much easier for the visual learner. <\/p>\n

These were our favorite budget-friendly spots, all with dairy-free options. <\/p>\n

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26 Eldridge St.<\/p>\n

Average score of all Beli users: 7.9<\/p>\n

Nestled in Chinatown\u2019s Eldridge Street, this small and unassuming restaurant is the epitome of a \u201chole in the wall.\u201d With more than 12,300 ratings on Beli, the people of New York City have ensured it is anything but forgotten. Super Taste offers citygoers delicious and authentic Chinese cuisine at an incredibly affordable price \u2014 around $7 for 10 dumplings. My partner found the dumpling joint in a Beli search for popular spots in Chinatown.<\/p>\n

When you search online for this restaurant, you\u2019ll find countless images of the most enticing dumplings around. And they really are that good. We enjoyed pork and leek dumplings, both fried and steamed, along with sesame noodles and hand-pulled noodles with chicken. The dumplings were the star of the show \u2014 and when paired with the garlic soy sauce \u2014 were utter perfection. <\/p>\n

All of the dishes we ordered were dairy-free and the bill was just over $60. We placed a takeout order around 7:30 p.m. and were digging into the feast before 8 p.m. despite the mass of hungry patrons that dominated the tiny restaurant wall to wall. <\/p>\n

We stumbled upon a green respite at the Pace University High School track, where dozens of locals gathered to exercise, dance, and play badminton. We sat on the turf alongside other twenty-somethings who also tore open oyster pails of delicious-smelling Chinese cuisine.<\/p>\n

Four days of plentiful dumpling leftovers remained. <\/p>\n

\"WoWo Hop.kelly boder<\/p>\n

17 Mott St.<\/p>\n

Average score of all Beli users: 7.4<\/p>\n

Wo Hop has been a jewel in Chinatown for nearly nine decades. The James Beard award-winning Chinese restaurant is tucked away in a basement on Mott Street. It\u2019s well beloved by New Yorkers and tourists alike, and has even served as a backdrop to episodes of the drama series \u201cThe Marvelous Mrs. Maisel\u201d and \u201cBillions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wo Hop\u2019s chicken lo mein is simply the best out there. Sesame chicken is a worthy competitor to the orange chicken \u2014 both are slathered in a delicious sauce and sit atop steamed broccoli. The vegetable egg rolls surprised us. Deliciously savory, thick, and crunchy. <\/p>\n

With more than 6,600 ratings on Beli, Wo Hop has a loyal fan base. The meal was just about $60 and was entirely dairy-free. <\/p>\n

Wo Hop has a huge menu. You could go a dozen times and still not try half of the dishes because it would be too unfortunate not to feast on your favorites over again. This was the only restaurant on our recent trip we had previously been to \u2014 a practice we try to avoid so that we can discover more. But Wo Hop cannot be outdone. <\/p>\n

\"Molly'sMolly’s Shebeen Bar + Restaurant.kelly boder<\/p>\n

Molly\u2019s Shebeen Bar + Restaurant<\/p>\n

\u200d287 3rd Ave.<\/p>\n

Average score of all Beli users: 7.3<\/p>\n

When the server greeted us in a welcoming Irish accent, I knew we were in the right place. This authentic Irish pub transported me back to the cobblestone streets of Cork, where I visited last March. The pub is also known for attracting Jimmy Fallon on Saint Patrick\u2019s Day. <\/p>\n

We ordered the classic Irish spice bag, a tossed mix of French fries, fried chicken strips, peppers, onions, and dusted with a Sichuan spice mix and accompanied by a gravy boat of curry sauce. We both enjoyed thick, juicy, and incredibly tender burgers. I enjoyed the dry Magners Irish cider \u2014 one of my favorites since first tasting it in Ireland \u2014 beneath the dim lights and cozy wall decor. <\/p>\n

Only the side of sauce for the spice bag contained dairy. <\/p>\n

Molly\u2019s was perhaps our favorite dinner spot of the whole trip. Both my partner and I enjoyed the warm atmosphere of the true Irish pub and appreciated the comfort offered by both the servers and food. This was the only restaurant we contemplated returning to during the same trip. <\/p>\n

\"BrooklynBrooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company.kelly boder<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company <\/a><\/p>\n

286 8th Ave., Chelsea <\/p>\n

Average score of all Beli users: 7.6<\/p>\n

A trip to NYC wasn\u2019t complete without some killer bagels. Brooklyn Bagel really has some superb bagels, all made with unbleached flour and kettle-boiled. This NYC chain has been around for more than 20 years, and a single shop has accumulated almost 15,000 reviews on Beli.<\/p>\n

The shop has more than a dozen flavors of cream cheese and spreads, and some made vegan with tofu. A wall of bagel baskets featured both classic and curious flavors: plain, everything, blueberry, salt, multigrain, onion, bialy, and several more. <\/p>\n

We enjoyed everything bagels, with plain cream cheese and my partner\u2019s with plain non-dairy tofu spread. The bagels were chewy, warm, and had a generous amount of spread sandwiched between the halves. <\/p>\n

171 Madison Ave., Midtown South <\/p>\n

Average score of all Beli users: 7.1<\/p>\n

We came across Fluffies on Beli, where the photos speak for themselves. Menu items average around $15 and make for a hearty meal. <\/p>\n

This place is the ultimate destination for comfort food \u2014 that is, fried chicken with a special sauce. Affordable, delicious fried chicken can be ordered as a sandwich or over a bed of French fries, macaroni and cheese, or rice. It\u2019s hard not to leave this place absolutely stuffed.<\/p>\n

While watching Norway face off against England in the World Cup, we enjoyed a heaping bowl of Fluffies filled fries, an oversized portion of Nashville style fried chicken, pickles, and coleslaw. I ordered Fluffies Filled Mac \u2014 an indulgent bed of macaroni and cheese topped with fried chicken and sauce. The New York and New Jersey chain has varying heat levels for the chicken: plain, mild, medium, hot, blistering. New England could benefit from a Fluffies Hot Chicken. <\/p>\n

Fluffies takes something very simple and does it incredibly well. The sauce was similar to other franchises\u2019 secret sauce, like Raising Cane\u2019s or Chick-fil-A, but unique enough to be special. Workers said the batter on the chicken contains dairy, but it didn\u2019t affect my partner, whose allergy is less sensitive to dairy that has been cooked. <\/p>\n

Kelly Broder can be reached at kelly.broder@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I recently spent a week in the Big Apple, tasting as many dishes as possible with my boyfriend,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45986,262,53828,660,10164,3412,9,56,63,65,64,124848,3419,87,1671,11347,6315,820],"class_list":["post-331801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-45986","tag-city","tag-february","tag-horizontal","tag-lifestyles","tag-midtown-manhattan","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-orange-new-jersey","tag-photography","tag-politics","tag-politics-and-government","tag-skyscraper","tag-tourism","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}