LUX - Food & Drink Awards 2017 75 Best Chinese Restaurant 2017 - Surrey Yimchai is an independent restaurant and café that specialises in serving visitors the finest, freshest and tastiest authentic Chinese and Hong Kong style food and drinks. Kalvin To tells us more about the establishment and the range of dishes it offers. Company: Yimchai Contact: Kalvin To Contact Email:
[email protected] Address: 37 Richmond Road, Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, KT2 5BW, UK Phone: 0208 5462776 Web Address: www.yimchai.com Yimchai combines the coffee culture with Oriental eating, creating a unique cafe restaurant where guests can enjoy a freshly cooked oriental meal with their regular choice of coffee or a pot of specialty Chinese tea. Kalvin provides more detail and how the restaurant creates a unique atmosphere and exceptional meals for its valued diners. “At Yimchai, freshness is our watchword. From our handmade Mao Mao Bao (steamed buns) through to our crowd-pleasing roast duck, we ensure that all of our food is fresh, tasty and expertly prepared. Our chefs have the passion to create exceptional dishes which cater to all tastes. “Additionally, our front-of-house team also goes above and beyond so that every guest has a truly unforgettable experience. We love to show our visitors that there is more to a Chinese dining experience than a bottle of Tsing Tao. As such, we offer and serve a range of traditional HK-style drinks, smoothies and teas, which require our waiters to be on top of their game.” As such, it is no wonder that Kalvin is eager to showcase the importance of staff at his restaurant, as he expresses his pride in the exceptional service they provide to guests. “As a business operating in the service industry, Yimchai’s success is solely down to our staff. We are fortunate that our team is packed with attentive, passionate and dedicated people, along with our secret weapon – a team member described on TripAdvisor as “definitely the best waitress in Kingston.” “To keep a strong team dynamic and ensure continued excellence, when we hire, we put attitude at the top of our list. If someone has the right attitude, and is willing to pull together and work towards our aims, we don’t have to worry about their behaviour. A team with the right attitude is always willing to go the extra mile, for diners, for Yimchai, and for each other.” Thanks to its talented staff, the establishment’s commitment to providing guests with the experience they want has helped it to develop and succeed over the years, as Kalvin is keen to highlight. “Since inception, Yimchai has been shaped and moulded by the changing expectations of our customers. We initially launched with just a handful of authentic Hong Kong dishes, and found that visitors would often request traditional Chinese dishes or modern fusion food. Drawing upon their comments and feedback from TripAdvisor and social media, we slowly and deliberately expanded our menu. We still only offer dishes that fit in with Yimchai’s commitment to HK cuisine – but our menu has slowly and consistently grown to offer a wider choice without losing out on quality. “Fundamentally, in the food and drink industry, the only way to stand out is to impress customers. You can impress someone with flash marketing or gimmicks once, but great food at an affordable price keeps them returning time and time again. By ensuring our authentic and fusion dishes are fresh and beautifully cooked, that our front of house team creates a relaxed atmosphere, and that we offer great value for money, we generate great word of mouth and superb online reviews.” The Chinese restaurant market in the UK is highly competitive, therefore Kalvin and his team understand the need to offer only the highest quality food and exceptional hospitality, as he emphasises. “The food and drink industry has always been competitive, and that shows no sign of slowing down. Serving traditional Hong Kong cuisine is incredibly labour intensive, and our requirements for fresh, specialist ingredients keeps our running costs high. That means our main challenge is finding a balance; we need to turn a profit and reward our team, all without overcharging diners. “To meet this challenge, at Yimchai we are dedicated to keeping a focused menu. Unlike many high street Chinese restaurants, which feel the need to juggle hundreds of menu items, Yimchai offers a curated “Additionally, our front-of-house team also goes above and beyond so that every guest has a truly unforgettable experience. We love to show our visitors that there is more to a Chinese dining experience than a bottle of Tsing Tao. As such, we offer and serve a range of traditional HK-style drinks, smoothies and teas.” selection of fresh, flavourful dishes. This keeps costs down, allows our chefs to focus their talents, and ensures that our customers only receive the finest, freshest dishes that offer real value for money.” Moving forward, Kalvin has a number of exciting plans to grow Yimchai and build upon its current success, as he proudly outlines in his concluding comments. “Looking to the future, we will continue to deliberately and regularly expand our menu, adding new dishes that our chefs will continue to cook to the very highest standards. We also have big plans for the front of house too, and are looking forward to expanding our bar menu to offer a range of cocktails.”