Maybe it was the steamed pork buns that drew them. Or was it the ginger squid?
Was it the welcoming “just-like-family” staff, or the last chance to pass on tradition to a new generation.
Whatever the reasons, hundreds of appreciative diners crowded into Ottawa’s Yangtze Restaurant Sunday for it’s final day after more than 40 years as a cornerstone of Ottawa’s Chinatown.
At the centre of the boisterous chaos was manager Kim Ng, whose father, Ricky opened the Yangtze with his father in 1982 as a Chinese takeout. In the decades since, Yangtze has become an institution on Somerset Street West in the shadow of Chinatown’s gate.
“I can’t believe how much love the city has for this place,” said Ng, in between greeting customers, fielding questions from staff and posing for photos with Yangtze regulars.
“I grew up here. It’s a bittersweet moment,” Ng said. “Being here so young, you see the same people every weekend, every other week, every other month. We kind of grew up together. Today we’re seeing all the familiar faces.”
Familiar faces like Danika Delph-Wong, who was seated with her husband, Angus, and their daughter, Kahlia, at a table with extended family members.
“I’ve been coming my whole life, said Delph-Wong from her seat below an ornate golden dragon.
“My parents started coming back in 1982 when it first opened and they brought me here as a baby. It’s really a family tradition.”
Sunday was a chance to pass that tradition on to a third generation, as 19-month-old Kahlia smiled and squirmed between them.
Evening Update
“When we started dating, this is where we came. And now we’re here with our little one too,” Delph-Wong said.
What kept them coming back?
“It’s a combination of the staff and the food, which is second-to-none,” she said. “We’re sad that our daughter won’t have the same memories that we do.”
Peter Stewart developed his taste for Chinese food from his parents who, before he was born, sponsored a Cantonese family who were among the Vietnamese Boat People who came to Canada in 1979.
“They got my parents interested in Cantonese food so we started coming here. Now I’m passing it along to my own kids,” Stewart said. “I got them all started early as babies and toddlers coming for dim sum. I guess I’ve been here a few hundred times over the years,” he said.
“It’s a right of passage in my family for toddlers to eat ginger squid!”
It’s been a great run for the restaurant but this spring Ng said her father decided to retire. In March, he listed the building for sale for $3.28 million. It sold in May.
“It was his choice,” she said. “He’s 73 years old, you know, time to retire. No one was forcing him.”
A lucky few last day customers got reservations, but most lined up in a crowded vestibule, waiting an hour or more for a table. Staff handed out loot bags of Yangtze souvenirs as they left. Some who came for Sunday brunch were planning to return for Sunday night dinner.
“We’ve been very fortunate the last few weeks, people have been lined up every day,” Ng said. “It’s been pretty wild.”
Pre-COVID the restaurant sat 250, but that’s been reduced to about 190. Sunday dinner was planned with two seatings, a special dessert table and a quieter, relaxed atmosphere, she said.
“We’ll just have a nice time to see all the familiar faces from over the years.”
Ng’s new career is in the mortgage business, but she hopes the buyers of the Yangtze building keep it as a Chinese restaurant,.
“It would be nice to come back here some time, only this time to be on the other side, as a customer.”
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