The Longhair and I wandered along to the media bash for the opening of Yi Pin on Thursday 4 August – apparently a favourable day on the Chinese Calendar for opening a business.
Willy Fan, ex restaurant manager for both Kyoto and Lai Kung along with Joe Lin, ex head chef at Lai Kung, are the proud owners of the new Chinese and Japanese restaurant Yi Pin, which, according to Willy Fan, means “Top Class”.
We were greeted at the door and invited to choose our poison – a tot of Japanese Whisky in an earthern ware tot glass or a glass of champagne – in the interests of putting our bodies on the line for you we opted to punish ourselves with both. The whisky was not a fiery mish mash of raw spirit but relatively pleasant with some high (ethanol type) top notes. It is certainly not gonna win any competitions but is good enough for a tilt at the real thing. And the champagne – well wine with large bubbles will never be champagne but what do media hacks know anyway?
I have to thank Willy and Joe for assisting me to once again go zooming to top of the Longhair’s “he really does love me list” – as she is a Sushi fiend. Such a fiend ia the Longhair that I had to learn how to make sushi in order to keep control over a rapidly dwindling wallet.
The sushi on offer was enough to satisfy the Longhair and of a high quality – my only gripe was that I don’t like to taste the rice wine vinegar in the rice so would have appreciated a better balance between the vinegar and sugar. Ja, ja, ja I know I can be quite pedantic when it comes to preparing rice and am prone to wash and wash and wash it until satisfied.
Willy fan, a Taiwanese national, learnt the culinary mastery of making Sushi in Taiwan, where he worked in a family restaurant, and he is regarded as the sushi master of Port Elizabeth. Willy’s Chinese born partner, Joe Lin, learnt the delicate art of Chinese cuisine at a 5-star hotel just outside of Hong Kong.
Fan is extremely excited about opening his own restaurant. It has been his dream, ever since he started working at The Boardwalk just over 10 years ago, to one day have his own restaurant there. His aim is for Yi Pin to be one of the top 50 restaurant. in the Eastern Cape by this time next year.
Fan’s favourite dish is the tender and juicy Beef Fillet Teppanyaki which he makes using top grade beef fillet, fried with a special sauce and served with fresh vegetables.
We had the opportunity to taste Fan’s Beef Fillet which was melt in your mouth soft with a ‘just right’ sauce served on bamboo shoots – quite a treat at R218.00.
Lin prefers the Deep Fried Sesame Prawns with a special sauce. Crispy on the outside, but juicy on the inside, the flavours of this aromatic dish combine to create a taste sensation.
The chinese dishes are many with some great looking duck dishes – try the prawn pancake which is sweetish amd mysterious.
All the traditional sushi favourites are featured and platters range from R88.00 to R238.00.
All in all a most pleasant evening at Yi Pin as the Longhair and I partied with old Mates, Leon, Kevin, Theunis and some other blokes from some other Weekend Paper that still has to apologise for using my images …………
Contact the Yi Pin Restaurant here.
Yi Pin’s Willy Fan with his sweet and sour chicken dish.
