The Main Course by Mitch Davis

    When I looked back, after dining at Yantze with three companions on a recent midweek evening, I realized that this small, 40-seat restaurant, tucked away in a suburban strip shopping center, is quite extraordinary.
    In my review notes, I had given it high marks for food quality, dining room ambiance, professional service, cost and value, as well as owner involvement and hospitality. Of the dozen different dishes we sampled - appetizers, soup, salad, entrees, even the unusual homemade desserts – the level of tasteful excellence never flagged. I further considered that Yantze has been holding forth for 16 years, attracting a large cadre of longtime regulars, and that it’s a B.Y.O.B. a boon to today's many wine-loving “foodies.”
    As a whole, this is my first “five M’s” review in over a year. Could I have been influenced by the three superb French wines my oenophile friend brought? Perhaps a little. The founder and family patriarch, chef Shou (“Charlie”) Chen, owned and operated “Eight Wisdoms,” a renowned Shanghai-style restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, before coming to the Lansdale area and opening Abacus in 1983, and Yantze in 1991.
    Under his guidance, daughter Ruby, son Joe (Abacus), and daughter Jackie (Little Shanghai) learned well. Ruby, with husband Paul Chen, and brother-in-law Chef Richard operate Yantze, offering superb gourmet Chinese cuisine and service. Their excellence is evidenced by over 16 years of success.
    Our starters, Yantze’s Triple Delight with Sizzling Rice soup ($7.25, serves two) was a marvel of shrimp, chicken, pork, Chinese vegetable and crispy rice, in one of the best tasting chicken broths anywhere. Steamed “soup dumplings,” a special that evening were perfection. They were filled with pork and chicken soup broth and served with a good ginger-garlic dumpling sauce. Upon piercing the dumpling’s soft skin with a knife or fork, the hot broth burst forth with savory aromas. A refreshing delight was the mango salad with rice vinegar and Thai fish sauce. 
    Ruby, the gracious, attentive hostess and owner, suggested we could “sample” a variety of dishes by having smaller servings. We accepted her offer without hesitation, except for deciding on a full portion of the orange roughy sautéed in a light, mild pureed black bean sauce – a special that evening. It was filleted white flaky fish at its very succulent best, the mild version of black bean sauce not overwhelming the fish’s delicate flavor.
    This splendid dish was followed by a procession of entrees: rare tenderloin of beef topped with Asian pear on a bed of rice cake; crispy shrimp with honey glazed walnuts ($12.95); the very best, slow-grilled golden skinned Peking duck any duck house would be proud of ($15.50 per half); Mandarin scallops in ginger-garlic with bright green steamed broccoli florets; and another fish special, sea bass in miso sauce with Asian vegetables (a bit less delicious than the orange roughy). All were attractively presented and hot right from the kitchen. I will surely be back so I can try the spicy Shrimp Yantze Style ($11.25), Royal Bird’s Nest ($14.75) or Ginger Beef ($11.25), which sound tantalizing.
    For those who prefer the more familiar Chinese “comfort food,” Yantze’s menu (on the back Page) also offers the old standbys: chow mein, chop suey, lo mein, egg foo young, spare ribs, combination plates, et al.; and all under $10.
    As I sat and observed the restaurant's professional male servers in their white starched tuxedo shirts and black aprons, the room's beautiful restful decor out of a Chinese landscape painting, the stone boulders; topped by miniature Cherry Blossom trees, complete with a gurgling watefall spilling into a live koi fish stocked pond, the mirror wall fooling the eye into doubling the space, all enhanced by the artful arrays of pin-point white lights ― I thought that this is what it must have been like to dine at the famous “Eight Wisdoms.”

Overall Rating: MMMMM (out of 5 M’s) Yantze is a rare, extraordinary restaurant.

Review by Mitch Davis, The Main Course, TREND, February, 13th, 2008