Wing Yip

I know it's sad, but I have a mild fascination with Chinese supermarkets. We had a good one in France, Mont Asie in Nîmes, where Jan could get all the oriental stuff that was difficult if not impossible to find elsewhere. As it happens I'm into dim sum at the moment so with that in mind we headed off to Manchester (yeah this is serious) to visit Wing Yip and have a spot of lunch in the intimate 'Glamorous Restaurant', that only seats 400 people. The plan was to eat early with friends and as we approached the resto at 11.45 you could see that it was already very busy. Traditionally they serve dim sum at lunch time and this was right up my street. As the trolleys, laden with steam baskets, come around you chose what you think you might like with the aid of descriptive little menus for non chinese speakers. Generally we did well.

Downstairs is a huge supermarket, well laid out, clean and well lit, where you can get a vast variety of oriental stuff. Excellent. Central Manchester is not as far as you might think from us, taking just 1 hour 35 minutes because it's motorway all the way.
It is, after all, the year of the snake and as this is Jan's favourite description of me it all seemed quite appropriate.
When we got home, whilst reading the Sunday Times Rich List, I noted that Wing Yip is a multi millionaire. It's no wonder, he's done well.