August 2010: Yangtze Dining Lounge

At the table: Nad R, Tanya, Chris, Nad B, Shara (me)

We were in for a treat, in many ways, with August. This month, the girls who like food were happy to have Tanya's husband, Chris at the table. Not only was he co-hosting our August dinner with Tanya, but our entire weekend! We traveled to Ottawa (not just for dinner) and had a fabulous time thanks to our dear friends.

I confess, the Yangtze Dining Lounge was not a first for me. I was privy to this favourite when I visited Tan & Chris in January. When they chose Yangtze for August's dinner during our visit, I think I literally jumped up and down clapping like a child at Disney World!

Located in Ottawa's Chinatown district on Sommerset St. W, it's easy to overlook this as a restaurant. The facade is nice, but the dining is actually upstairs, so if you don't look up, you don't see the people eating at the windows and you could easily walk right past it not knowing about the wonderful cuisine being crafted inside.

We got a table very quickly around 11am on a Sunday (with a reservation - highly recommended!!), but it appeared to be a slow morning. Fast-forward 20 mins later and the dining room was packed and the line up to get a table was down the stairs and out the door. All nations seem to congregate at 700 Sommerset St. W for dim-sum brunch on Sundays! Oh yeah, that's right - DIM SUM!

Dim Sum is a different way of eating. It's Cantonese and from what I know of traditional chinese dining, food is a way to bring people together by sharing a meal, although the tradition of dim sum began as tea tasting (yum-cha) only with food being added later.

So this is how it works....there's no menu. You get a pot of Chinese tea for the table, compliments of the restaurant with free refills! The servers push around carts of food, announcing what is on the cart as they stroll past your table. If it looks good, smells good and you think it sounds good, you say "yes please" and they put as many portions of it on your table as you want and mark your selection on a card at your table so they know what to charge you for when you are finished.

Most of the fare consists of a variety of dumplings, in all different styles and ingredients, steamed, fried, shrimp, chicken, pork, with sauce, without sauce.....  Basically, you could have just about any kind of dumpling you can imagine. One of our favourite dumplings was the pork shumai, not only because we love the way Chris says it, but also because it is soooooo good! I also loved the rice dishes, especially the rice and beef steamed in the banana leaf. I may actually try doing this at home if I feel confident one day!

One of Tan's favourites is the steamed pork bun - a pillowy white bun stuffed with bright red bbq pork. The spring rolls were also hit. But what I love the most is the shrimp cradled in a small piece of green bell pepper, lightly coated in a black bean sauce. Of course, there's no guarantee that your favourite dish will come around on one of those carts. I had almost lost hope for my little shrimp pepper boats. I had actually thrown in the towel, literally tossing my napkin onto my plate - my proclamation that I was stuffed and satisfied and couldn't possibly fit another bite in. But then it came. And I said "yes please!" and with my belly round and full, I left the place completely satisfied.

The service was a little impersonal and cold. I don't think it's intentional. I find the same kind of service consistency among most Asian restaurants I go to (except Mandarin where the staff is polar opposite of impersonal and cold). I think it may be that they're just down to business - they want to feed you exceptional food and make sure you come back for more. Did I mention that the line up was down the stairs and out the door soon after we sat down? It was still down the stairs and out the door when we were leaving. Look to your friends for smiles because efficiency and quick service is all you're gonna squeeze out of this staff. Oh, and beware the female server with the extremely short bob and bangs - she looks like she could be deadly with a pair of chopsticks!

It's impossible for me to list everything we had at this brunch - the food just kept coming! We all enjoyed this restaurant. It's a definite must if you're in Ottawa and a great place for a group of people. I love sharing a meal instead of just eating together. We all get to experience the same food, but can all have different reactions to it and opinions about it which makes it interesting. One thing we all agreed on - YUM! We also liked the price tag - $65 between 5 people!

Looking for Dim Sum in the Toronto area? My mom used to take me to some great places when she worked in Toronto. She may remember where (because I don't!). But about a year ago, I was working with some colleagues downtown and we went for an exciting lunch at Pearl on Queens Quay West. Our Chinese colleague led the food selections - some wonderful and some for the more adventurous appetite. I went for what I knew and loved all of it.

Dim Sum is no doubt a favourite of mine. If you haven't tried it, then make it your next dining experience and let us know all about it!