Yang Chow Restaurant

While on an errand one morning, I spotted a familiar sign along Marcos Highway on my way to Masinag. Yang Chow Dimsum and Tea House is a Chinese restaurant we first tried out at their branch at Shopwise along C-5 in the Libis area. We used to pass by the supermarket every week and when we felt like eating out either for lunch or dinner, we ate at the restaurant. The food was always good but service was usually slow so you have to come early or late so there are less people (it is quite popular despite the slow service) and the kitchen won't be as busy. The reviews for that branch is quite bad but mostly due to the service rather than the food. Later, my office mates and I found that the restaurant already had another branch at Centris along EDSA adjacent to the MRT-3's Quezon Avenue Station. Food here is the same good quality but the service was better.

And so we ended up having an early dinner at the branch along Marcos Highway (across from the highway near SM Masinag) as the Clairvoyant arrived in the late afternoon. The food did not disappoint but the slow service was not a good way to get reacquainted with the restaurant. Many customers who probably tried out the Yang Chow for the first time were politely following-up on their orders while those who seem to have been to their Libis branch were already berating the staff for the slow service.

While the food is good and some people have mentioned that it was worth the wait, I think there's no excuse for having people wait a long time for their meals. The restaurant staff should already have an idea of what items are popular on their menu and could anticipate cooking these in advance of their peak hours. It also makes sense to provide good service as people are not really expected to linger in the restaurant unless they happen to be there for some special occasion like anniversaries or birthdays. Fast enough service should translate into better customer turnovers and better revenues as the restaurant should be able to accommodate more people. So far, they seem to have been pretty clueless about this part of the business. Maybe profits are good enough and they don't care about more customers?

Xiao long pao

Yang chow fried rice

Salt and pepper squid

In search of Xiao Long Bao like what we usually enjoyed at Din Tai Fung, we ordered the dumplings at Yang Chow. We never tried their version before as we usually ordered shrimp hakaw or shu mai. The taste was almost there but the dough just missed the target so to speak. We hear that we can probably find the "perfect" Xiao Long Bao's in Chinatown in Binondo. Of course, we should find the best in China (Hong Kong?) or Taiwan but "best" can be regarded as relative term considering the quality is not really determined by the location but by the quality of the ingredients and the talent and technique of the kitchen staff. Will we be back at any of Yang Chow's branches? Definitely, and we'll also check if the service is improving. Sayang naman kung hindi sila mag-improve.

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