Tchang Kiang by Yangtze attracts a new following

If there is one subject that continues to result in a flurry of emails and comments to this blog, it is the Tchang Kiang by Yangtze Restaurant at 6066 Sherbrooke Street West in N.D.G. I have been there a number of times since the unfortunate fire on December 4, 2011 forced the permanent closure of the landmark Van Horne Avenue location. Owners Marco and Bobo Yau acted quickly, with the help of business consultant Mel Leitman. Tchang Kiang  had shut its doors, but the dining establishment was in beautiful shape so the brother and sister team pounced on the opportunity to keep the egg rolls going.

 

Marco, 22, and Bobo, 29, grew up in the business. Their dad Brian was a previous owner of Yangtze. They were on the verge of enacting a major facelift to the menu and staffing plan when the horrible fire occurred. The move to N.D.G. was effectively a merger of the Yangtze and Tchang Kiang menus. There were growing pains. People showed up expecting the same old Yangtze. When the food did not taste exactly the same, they got angry and folks like me ended up feeling their wrath.

Bobo and Marco Yau in front of their new menu board.

Well, it turns out that the former Tchang Kiang regulars were just thrilled. And I have heard from many of them. When I dropped by for lunch the other day, I met a number of people I know. One mother and son go there regularly and love it. Noted travel agent Stephen Pickford, the host of the syndicated Travel World Radio Show, was sampling the cuisine for his first time and he liked it.

 

The only way I can really judge whether the food is good or not is to taste it. So, I made an order and let me say everything was absolutely delicious: the won ton soup, with some crispy homemade noodles; the crispy egg rolls, a little plumpier than the original Yangtze with a sweet plum sauce; pineapple chicken; fried rice; and the Tchang Kiang signature kou tien (pan fried dumplings with pork and vegetables inside).

No, this is not the exact same Yangtze from Van Horne. So some people simply will not be won over. In the West End of Montreal there simply are not a lot of good Chinese restaurants to choose from.  While some of the older generation will continue to frequent this spot, it is attracting a new clientele as well.
 

Egg rolls here are so popular that places like Metro grocery stores and REAL Bagel are selling them wholesale. Mitch Kadanoff of Solly the Caterer is the distributor.

Marco told me that he stopped ordering vegetables from suppliers and now he goes directly to the market himself to make the purchases.

 

There is talk that the legendary waiter Tiger may soon be making a guest appearance. In the kitchen we found Tony, a veteran chef from Yangtze on Van Horne. There is also Jun from Tchang Kiang and Brian, who worked at both restaurants

Business, says Bobo, is good. On weekends the 70 seat venue is often packed. Pickups are steady and there are four delivery cars out at the same time. The restaurant is open every day but Monday. You can see the menu at http://www.tkyangtze.com. Just last month they put up a large chalkboard, which includes specials of the day and alcoholic beverage listings.

 

I think Mel Leitman put it best. "This is an old/new restaurant or a new/old restaurant," he remarked. "It is not the old Yangtze, but has all of the items from their menu. An enormous amount of work continues to go into listening to the customer comments. We continue to adapt. Some people complained about the plum sauce, for instance, so we made changes. Now the comments from that are great. We are evolving as a new entity. But the tradition continues."

 

 

Yes the food at Yangtze is still mighty fine

When a fire destroyed the legendary Yangtze Chinese Restaurant on Van Horne Avenue in Côte des Neiges last December, owners Marco and Bobo Yau worked quickly to re-establish themselves at the former Tchang Kiang Chinese Restaurant at 6066 Sherbrooke Street West in NDG. At the time this was being looked at as a stop-gap measure until they could decide what to do with the original landmark

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With the help of local business consultant Mel Leitman, the Yaus christened the  new establishment as Tchang Kiang by Yangtze, retained most of the staff from Van Horne and merged the menus of the two restaurants. Of all the topics I have written about on my Suburban blog since it debuted just over a year ago, this one has attracted the most feedback.  I visited with the brother and sister team of Marco and Bobo last week, enjoying some splendid egg rolls, pineapple chicken, rice and soup in the process, where they delivered the news. “We will not rebuild the Van Horne restaurant,”  Bobo declared. “We will stay here and continue to build up our product.”

According to Marco, business is 30 to 40 percent greater in NDG than on Van Horne, with half of the seating capacity. Home deliveries are booming. Leitman redid the menus for them, adding and deleting a few items and introducing symbols for   gluten-free diners, low carb requirements and finally which items are strictly vegetarian. Mitchell Kadanoff of Solly the Caterer has come aboard and is distributing about 30 dozen of the famous Yangtze egg rolls a week to a line of stores such as REAL Bagel on Côte St. Luc Road and Queen Mary, Nosherz on Mackle in CSL, Bagels on Greene  and the Metro supermarket in Westmount and Yagel Bagel in  Dollard.

So what will become of the Van Horne location, which housed Yangtze for 55 years? Word has it that a small pharmacy will be constructed.

I wanted to expand upon my column in this week’s paper because of the enormous responses I get on this blog to anything related to the Yangtze.  When people decide to comment on any of my entries, they have the option of leaving their name. My email address – mcohen@thesuburban.com – is also very public. Over the past six months so many people have issued comments on my blog about the restaurant, many complaining about the new version of Yangtze. They are mostly anonymous.

I was pleased last December when I ate there. Last week,  when  I stopped for lunch,  I tried some  of the staples.

The won ton soup was piping hot and tasty. Those famous egg rolls were fresh and crispy, just as delicious as I can remember from my days growing up and going for family dinners on Van Horne. Oh yes, the plum sauce was just fine thank you very much. Is it different from the original location? Probably.  But I had no complaints whatsoever.  The pineapple chicken was mouthwatering and the chicken fried rice just right. As for the spare ribs, Marco told me that they are in fact softer and tastier than the original. I’d have to agree.

In developing the new menus, some of the prices went up. Marco said this was necessary in order to even the scale with the popular Tchang Kiang selections. This new location is also brighter and prettier. It has a liquor license (Beer, wine, Sake, mixed drinks, etc), something the original Yangtze did not.

Marco and Bobo still have custody of the original Yangtze sign from Van Horne. I suggested that they put it up for auction and have legendary waiter Tiger come in to take the bids. Oh yes, there is an old cash register lying around somewhere as well.

Go to the restaurant’s new website at http://www.tkyangtze.com. They are open every day except Monday. You can call 514-487-7744.

My first dining experience at the new Yangtze Restaurant

Since I first reported about the December 3 fire which destroyed the legendary Yangtze Chinese Restaurant on Van Horne Avenue in Montreal, there have been a record number of hits on my blog. Thousands of people from around the world responded with shock and sadness.

Brian Yau, with daughter Bobo and son Marco admire the painting.

Business Consultant Mel Leitman, whom I first met just a few years ago, was engaged by the new owners of the restaurant to help them rebuild. Things started to move a lot quicker than he or anyone else expected when owner Marco Yau, his sister Bobo and their dad Brian purchased the Tchang Kiang Chinese Restaurant at  6066 Sherbrooke Street West in NDG only a week after the blaze.  It closed last July after 35 years in business.  They already have a beautiful painting by noted artist Carole Spandau of the original Yangtze up on the wall.

The Yaus renamed the place Tchang Kiang by Yangtze and in record time opened their doors to the public on December 17. Like a magician, Leitman helped make new menus – all of the Yangtze favorites, plus the Szechuan dishes Tchang Kiang was known for. Today,  he invited me to meet the Yaus and sample some of the cuisine myself.  Yangtze first opened in 1956. I came into the world six years later and I can safely say my parents starting bringing me there as a toddler.

There was a fairly good crowd there for lunch. The 70 seat dining establishment has a very pretty interior, much nicer in fact than the old Yangtze. Marco is a charismatic young man in his 20s who is on a temporary leave from Concordia's urban planning program in order to focus on the business. The fire, he said, was a total shock. “I was at home on the South Shore and somebody called to tell me,” Marco explained. “I raced over and I could not believe my eyes. We only bought the place a month earlier.”

Brian Yau was actually a previous owner, from 2000 to 2007.  He had partners in the venture and when they decided to sell he agreed reluctantly. When it came back on the market just recently, he urged his son Marco to step up to the plate. Everything was going smoothly until the fire. “We do not know the exact cause yet,” said Marco. “The Fire Department continues to investigate. We are waiting to find out how extensive the damage is and whether we can in fact rebuild.”

The Yaus realized that if they did not act fast, they ran the risk of losing their experienced staff of waiters, cooks and deliverymen. Just coincidentally, Brian’s friend was a real estate who was looking for someone to take over the Tchang Kiang location. In this case, Bobo agreed to become the principal owner. What followed was a raise to get all of the necessary equipment in place and to agree upon a blended menu. Word spread quickly and already they have the best of both worlds, with a clientele who missed Tchang Kiang and of course the Yangtze diehards.

“When I took over the Yangtze many people asked why we did not have Szechuan on our menu,” said Marco. “Well, with this new restaurant we now have it all.”

The delicious egg rolls.

  
I dined on a hot bowl of won ton soup with dry noodles on the side, a delicious egg roll, some Cantonese lobster, beef with snow peas and broccoli, spare ribs, Tchang Kiang’s kouptien dumplings (steamed and lightly fried), pineapple chicken and steamed rice. It was all very delicious. Indeed, the Yangtze is already back better than ever!

By the way, the most frequent question I have received from readers is whether legendary waiter “Tiger” is still there. “No,” said Marco, “he retired some time ago. But we will invite him back to visit. The same for the former owner of Tchang Kiang, Siao Wong.”

Won ton soup.

Go to http://www.thesuburban.com/ as of January 11 and check out our Suburban Mall for Yangtze deals. 

And here is a copy of the new delivery menu