Yu: Union Street, Aberdeen
Published:
PAPER? Pah. Gunpowder? Don’t make me chuckle.
We might owe a lot to China, but for me there’s only one contender for the country’s greatest export – the food.
From the spicy goodness of szechuan to the sounds-so-wrong-tastes-so-right delights of sweet and sour, Chinese cuisine seems to be one of the few things my family agrees on.
No better choice, then, for a meal with my mum.
She had dropped the occasional hint that I might not contact her quite as much as she’d like – texting me saying “are you dead?” being one of the more subtle ones – so I thought it was probably time for a catch-up.
A colleague recommended Yu on Union Street as a prime spot for a feast, so we decided to book a table.
To kick things off, I went for the chilli king prawns (£4.80) pan fried in garlic. What arrived were less like kings and more like emperors – five of the massive beasts sitting in a delicious chilli oil. They were some of the juiciest prawns I’ve ever tasted, and I was still licking my fingers five minutes after polishing them off.
My mum went for the vegetable tempura (£3.95), and was delighted with the array of vegetables in a crisp, feather-light batter.
It was some way to start, and it had really stoked my appetite for the main course to come.
When flicking through the menu my eye had been caught by the So Chow duck special (£8.50), which had promised shrimp and chicken on a bed of roast duck.
My first thought was that it was a bit of an odd combination – I mean, I love ice cream and I love mustard, but an ice-cream and mustard sandwich wouldn’t float my boat. But I decided to go for it, and the moment it arrived I was glad that I did.
The duck was so tender with very little fat, and the flavours of the shrimps and chicken combined with the oyster sauce for a truly tongue-tingling taste.
Mum was just as happy with her barbecue roast duck (£8.50), which came smothered in a thick sauce with an Oriental zing.
With fried rice (£2.10), noodles (£2.70) and drinks, our bill came to £40.20, including service.
A small price to pay for such a feast, but it was the little touches – the small ornaments to prop your chopsticks up, the bamboo decor, the plentiful supply of hand wipes to clean off the last stubborn bits of dipping sauce – that really stood out.
