Yan Oriental Restaurant: Ashdale Drive, Westhill
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IT STARTED many moons ago – and I still can’t shake it off. The “Meal C” habit, that is.
Usually what happens is we scour the menu on the basis that we’ll pick and stick to just a starter and main course. Definitely!
And then temptation rears its head – in the alluring form of “THE SET MEAL.”
Yan has three “banquet menus”. So it was fairly inevitable that we would abandon all forward planning in favour of, yes you’ve guessed it, Meal C.
And this particular Meal C deserves an A-plus!
So, too, does the warm welcome and cruise liner-calibre of service at this centre of oriental excellence.
For example, it was only our third visit and we were singled out with a “nice to see you again” greeting from Bryan the owner.
Then we asked our server if we could possibly do a wee swap on one of the our main course choices. “No problem,” was his beaming reply ... a phrase were to hear over and over that night.
So what do you get for £25 a head?
Well, to begin with, possibly some of the finest starters I’ve ever had in a Chinese restaurant.
Catch of the night was definitely the succulent monkfish skewers, closely followed by the chilli paste king prawns. Then there was tongue-tickling shredded seaweed, salt pepper ribs, sesame prawn toast and crispy but light Thai spring rolls. This mini feast came with a quartet of delicious dipping sauces. After that it was a bit of a miracle my wife was still able to devour her second course choice of chicken and sweetcorn soup. I had the crispy aromatic duck with enough meat, pancakes and plum sauce to feed a platoon of terracotta warriors. But wait. There were FOUR main courses still to come – honey chilli king prawns (four monstrous creatures of the deep) ; Thai chilli beef (a new one on me); Yan special chicken (our swap for chicken and cashews) and good old sweet and sour pork.
This fab four came with bowls of special noodles and Thai chicken and pineapple fried rice.
Pudding, too, was in a class of its own.
None of your fruit cocktail or fritters – but a traditional sweet trolley groaning with all manner of delights from mandarin cheesecake to pecan pie.
To finish we went for a pot of jasmine tea – every bit as refreshing as Yan’s attention to detail.
Let’s hope it won’t be too long before there’s another episode of east meets west – Westhill that is!
