Nancy Go Yaya
from the other end. The room at Pender and Main really echoes the vibe of the Bino’s it once was a long while ago, and not in any sort of studied way. Some of the team here hail from the long-closed Mark Brand outpost of Sea Monstr Sushi, but the vibe is less “world domination” and more “who’s up for a good time?”
It’s an ethos that can grate on ones sober nerves if left to fester: the service was very chill, the food comes out in a random order that makes no dining sense and finding someone who knows about those aforementioned natural wines can be a trick—but it’s just so much fun that it seems Burnsian to quibble. And the food is really solid. In person, the peri-yaki chicken is even better—the peri-peri pushing it toward the perfect amount of heat— and a half-bird at $20 is a deal for an order that could feed two. There’s a dynamite mushroom tempura with Ponzu mayo that comes out with an array of wild fungi in a beautifully light batter, a wonderfully deft hamachi tartare and nasu dengaku, a dish of roasted eggplant topped (slopped, if we’re being honest) with a thick, sweet miso sauce that takes the gold for the best-tasting, least-appetizing-looking dish. At $8, it could be your dinner should you so wish. So while the servers may seem relaxed, whoever is rockin’ the kitchen—the chef/owner is Keith Allison—is dialled in.
It’s funny: while most of us who write food reviews report on “atmosphere,” I can’t recall ever focusing on whether the staff appear to be having a good time. COVID made many of us re-examine what worked and what didn’t work about the restaurant industry, and I like to think that both owners and diners want it to be something that makes everyone happy—servers, patrons, cooks. And on that basis, Pizza Coming Soon is nailing it. 265 East Pender St.
604-559-6181 instagram.com/nancygoyaya
In terms of restaurants, I think it’s fair to say that Tannis Ling and Alain Chow get the ethos of present-day Chinatown more than almost anyone. Their Bao Bei opened on Keefer Street in 2010 and was a huge part in bringing in a new, thoughtful cross-section of diners to the neighbourhood. Then they (plus partner Joel Watanabe) did the feat again in 2016, with the more upscale Kissa Tanto on Pender. This time, they’re partnering with chef Jian Cheng to open a spot directly below Kissa called Nancy Go Yaya, and its COVID (and other) delays have been epic. The project—which is said to evoke a Singaporean coffee shop—was started in early 2020 and, as of October, was still in a very soft opening phase with only daytime hours. But soft or not, the place has been slammed solely by word of mouth, and both visits saw as much Instagramming as actual eating. And if this is them in beta-mode... wow. My first visit, I go full baller and order everything on the breakfast menu—all three items. The first two are sandwiches—the Roti John, which Singaporean
The place has been slammed solely by word of mouth, and visits saw as much Instagramming as actual eating.