S S.
Yelp
Was excited to try this place during my visit to Taipei, as I absolutely love New York's vegetarian dim sum restaurants and a must whenever I visit (L.A. needs to step it up!). However, this place did not live up to the hype--but you couldn't tell given how busy it was on a Monday afternoon (reservations recommended).
Good location, as you just exit the subway station (Exit 8 at Songjiang Nanjing station) and hang a left into the door/building right outside. It's a little confusing, though, because you have to walk through a bakery to access the staircase to go upstairs, and signage, I believe, was all in Chinese (I just played followed the leader). I also rarely comment on a restaurant's ambiance, but this place was loud, like loud where I can't even hear my own thoughts let alone the person sitting next to me. It's one big open room, but I feel like the sound was over-amplified and everyone talked at level 10. However, bonus points that the menu includes English.
Service is hit-or-miss in Taiwan. Either you get really great, friendly service or subpar typical-Chinese lackluster service. My visit to Yang Shin was the latter--nothing above and beyond, just order and they bring it out (at random). It wasn't rude but felt very rushed (they weren't THAT busy) and wore unenthused faces.
Between the two of us, we ordered an array of dim sum dishes only to realize at the end that their regular mains probably taste better. Because the menu is quite extensive and offer unique items, I might still give this place a shot the next time I'm in Taipei--but not order any dim sum items. From best to worst:
-- Top items were the Spicy Salad with Starch Sheet (aka flat noodles) in sesame sauce and the deep-fried purple yam balls (sweet). Both very unique dishes that I've never had before. The spicy salad was unexpectedly the best item I had, while the yam puff balls were good (hot sweet yam paste encased in this crispy, airy texture...hard to describe) but not really my thing since they were on the sweet (and the one item that was actually hot!) side; I was told they were savory.
-- BBQ pork bun. One of the few decent-tasting items, but not the best that I've had (NY's is better). If I didn't have something better to compare it to, I'd order it again.
-- Pan-friend turnip cakes. Decent taste, but not browned to the level of my satisfaction.
-- Pumpkin with porcini dumplings & xiao long bao. Beyond tasteless. Pumpkin and porcini--where? Did I say tasteless already?
-- BBQ vege ham pastry. While this looked really good, it fell way short. The flaky part was actually more stale than anything. It also wasn't served hot; saying it was warm would be a stretch. Felt like it was left over from the day before.
-- Caramelized egg tarts. I didn't see the "chilled" part on the menu, so I was confused by its coldness...until I took a bite. It's literally if a caramel flan and egg tart had a baby. However, the execution was poor, as the taste was...off and stale-tasting. Not pleasant.
-- Steamed rice noodle with fried doughnut. The fried "doughnut" was completely hollow in the middle and so you just got the rice noodle and exterior hard shell of the doughnut.
-- Tea and prices. They charge for tea; we had their oolong. Because we had to pay, you'd think the quality would be better; it wasn't (I like my tea free at Chinese restaurants, just like I don't think I have to pay for parking in L.A--excluding DTLA, of course). Dim sum prices range from $68 to $128 NT (about $2 to $4 U.S.), but most hover at the $98+ price. If the quality and taste were there, it'd reasonable, but it wasn't, so it wasn't worth the cost in the end.
As I mentioned, the menu selection is vast, so I recommend being very selective and judicious in what you order, or else you could end up with a bunch of uneaten items that you don't really want to take home and pricey bill at the end. My suggestion: I would recommend the Fruitful vegetarian buffet [果然匯] on the 12th floor of the Ming Yao department store on Zhongxiao East Rd., as they have a dim sum selection there too, among a lot of other dishes.