Sing along
Yank Sing in Rincon Center is at top
of its game

By Patty Unterman
Special to The Examiner

The third generation of the Chan family now runs Yank Sing, the city's premier dim sum house. Twentysomething Vera Chan-Waller, husband Nathan Waller and winsome, front-of the-house whiz Ada Ho work seven days a week with a team that is unrelenting keeping Yank Sing at the top of its game.

With more than 47 years at four locations, Yank Sing has become synonymous with upscale Chinese tea lunch. The experience brings more than Chinese dumplings. Yank Sing's stock in trade includes enlightened tea service; innovative, untraditional small dishes; plenty of personal attention from the staff; and comfortable, handsome surroundings.

When a very picky friend mentioned to me that she had a brilliant meal at Yank Sing recently, I was there the next day, a mobbed Sunday at 11 a.m., when Yank Sing's tables spilled out into the Rincon Center atrium.

Right off, a graceful glass teapot was brought to the table and continuously monitored by waiters who could tell at a glance whether it needed more water or a new infusion of tea leaves. What a pleasure to always have hot, perfectly brewed pu-erh, jasmine or chrysanthemum tea to drink with a meal developed specially to go with it.

A wide range of succulent dumplings arrived hot, in pretty bamboo steamers stacked on carts. And, of course, there were a whole range of non-noodle wrapped selections: puffy white buns filled with sweet pork; lacy fried taro balls; buttery-tasting fried shrimp toasts; lotus-leaf packages of seasoned sticky rice.

But what elevates Yank Sing into a class of its own are the unexpected dishes: a refreshing slaw of shredded cabbage and honey-roasted walnuts in a citrus dressing, which acts as a palate cleanser between rounds; authentic Shanghai pork dumplings filled with juicy pork and a shot of boiling hot broth; dumplings of chicken mousse wrapped in a translucent noodle, browned on one side; creamy-textured fried Chinese eggplant stuffed with seafood, New Orleans-style; Shanghai dumplings filled with garlic chives and chicken in a thin, yeasted-dough wrapper. The uninitiated get a full explanation of each item, and how best to eat it, i.e. dipped into a sauce; balanced on a flat spoon; garnished with ginger and vinegar.

For dessert, Yank Sing is famous for its bright-orange wedges of fresh orange gelatin but I cannot leave without my warm egg custard tart with super flaky crust and delicate, barely sweetened filling.

The rarity of a luxurious tea lunch is subsidized by Yank Sing's other operations: polished catering; to-go service; and lavish private banquets, large and small, at night when the restaurant is closed. I am grateful that three generations of Chans have figured out how to keep the indespensable Yank Sing vital.

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