Yi Ryo’s pan fried soup buns are the star

• Name + address: Yi Ryo 252 Bank St.

• Type of food: Chinese

• Prices: $9 - $21

• Diet: Meat, starch

• Wheelchair accessibility: Yes

• LCBO Licensed: No

• Website:yiryo.com

For restaurants, the last few years have been like an epic weather event that left some devastation in its wake. Many of our favourite restaurants did not make it to the other side. But as with some storms, new things arrive in the aftermath and now Ottawa is seeing new eateries popping up here and there.

Yi Ryo is the latest to open its doors in the heart of downtown. This Chinese spot is modest in both size and menu and you’ll love the prices.

Yi Ryo specializes in pan-fried buns. Think of these as larger xiao long bao (soup dumplings) and with a thicker dough wrapper.

The family that runs Yi Ryo certainly know what they’re doing as every bite of their delicious soup buns affirms. The bottom of the bun is crisp and nicely browned while the crown remains supple.

Biting into one of these elicits the pleasure of the textural contrast as the liquid from the first bite rushes over the palate. Next is the sublimely soft pork filling, so fresh tasting you’d think they’d made this to order. (You wouldn’t be wrong because you can see them being made as you eat.)

I do advise you to use both your chopsticks and a spoon when eating these. Cradle the bun in the spoon when you first bite into it. You’ll save yourself some trouble and avoid potentially burning your lips.

At $11 the wonton soup is a right steal. A delicate chicken stock flecked with cilantro, scallions, seaweed and a dozen dumplings is both light and filling and a welcome change from the pre-fab soups offered elsewhere. I do like seaweed but for my palate there was a little too much of it in this bowl and I’ve made a mental note to ask for less next time.

The noodles here are first rate. A quality wheat noodle is both tender and offers some resistance on biting. These are accompanied by pickled greens, cubed pork and potato, scallions, sesame seeds and a sweet soy cured egg.

There are so many textures and flavours in each mouthful that you feel suffused with the unadorned pleasure of simply eating. What you’re less likely to see but need to experience is the added texture surrounding the noodles: a stickiness from the seasoned collagen. I suspect they used the chicken or pork gelatin (used to make the “soup” in a soup dumpling) to coat the noodles and it works extremely well.

That covers the menu. With the exception of a few add-ons that’s all there is and when the food is this good, that’s sufficient. It’s also smart. In an era of exploding food costs, Yi Ryo can pass the savings on to the customer while ensuring much less food waste. That deserves to be rewarded.

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