Yaso Tangbao is a self serve restaurant, where you place your order and then wait for your number to get called to pick up. There are a number of tables and seats though, and it's actually a pretty big space.
I came right when they opened for lunch on a Sunday, so there weren't that many other customers; we were first to order. All seemed good, until the food came out. The soup dumplings were lukewarm at best. I don't think I've ever had lukewarm, almost cold, soup dumplings before. Keep in mind we were first to order, and we ate there and did not take out to eat at home.
On top of that, the soup dumplings were uncharacteristically large, which is fine if they have the right meat:skin ratio, which was horribly off. The dumplings probably had about the same amount of meat as normal size dumplings, and then there was just all this extra skin, so the extra skin just falls off to the side and lies flat...see pictures. We tried both the regular pork dumplings as well as the crab and pork; there was barely any crab in the latter...I could barely taste the difference between the two dumplings. Very disappointing.
The pan-fried buns were a bit better, although the bun "skin" was also a bit on the thick side, and not that hot. By the time we got to the last of the buns at the end of the meal (~20 min later), the soup inside had already congealed, and the bun had soaked up most of the juice/soup. First one we had that was relatively more fresh was obviously better.
The beef noodle soup was essentially a very light broth with some chunks of marinated beef; didn't expect a traditional Taiwanese beef noodle soup (especially since this restaurant is Shanghainese), but the noodle soup did seem like a random hodge podge of ingredients. The beef was actually pretty tender and well-flavored though.
The sweet and sour pork ribs were probably the best of the meal. The ribs were also flavorful and relatively tender.
Finally, we also tried the special crawfish garlic noodles on their Lunar New Year menu. The crawfish sauce was good and had a bit of a kick, although the crawfish itself wasn't the most fresh. The noodles were, surprise surprise, also on the cold side and stuck to itself, so that when I tried to lift a bite of noodles to eat, I lifted the entire tupperware-full of noodles in one go.
I don't even want to know what the food is like when you take it away and don't eat it immediately, considering practically was lukewarm when it came out.
I came right when they opened for lunch on a Sunday, so there weren't that many other customers; we were first to order. All seemed good, until the food came out. The soup dumplings were lukewarm at best. I don't think I've ever had lukewarm, almost cold, soup dumplings before. Keep in mind we were first to order, and we ate there and did not take out to eat at home.
On top of that, the soup dumplings were uncharacteristically large, which is fine if they have the right meat:skin ratio, which was horribly off. The dumplings probably had about the same amount of meat as normal size dumplings, and then there was just all this extra skin, so the extra skin just falls off to the side and lies flat...see pictures. We tried both the regular pork dumplings as well as the crab and pork; there was barely any crab in the latter...I could barely taste the difference between the two dumplings. Very disappointing.
The pan-fried buns were a bit better, although the bun "skin" was also a bit on the thick side, and not that hot. By the time we got to the last of the buns at the end of the meal (~20 min later), the soup inside had already congealed, and the bun had soaked up most of the juice/soup. First one we had that was relatively more fresh was obviously better.
The beef noodle soup was essentially a very light broth with some chunks of marinated beef; didn't expect a traditional Taiwanese beef noodle soup (especially since this restaurant is Shanghainese), but the noodle soup did seem like a random hodge podge of ingredients. The beef was actually pretty tender and well-flavored though.
The sweet and sour pork ribs were probably the best of the meal. The ribs were also flavorful and relatively tender.
Finally, we also tried the special crawfish garlic noodles on their Lunar New Year menu. The crawfish sauce was good and had a bit of a kick, although the crawfish itself wasn't the most fresh. The noodles were, surprise surprise, also on the cold side and stuck to itself, so that when I tried to lift a bite of noodles to eat, I lifted the entire tupperware-full of noodles in one go.
I don't even want to know what the food is like when you take it away and don't eat it immediately, considering practically was lukewarm when it came out.
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