Yan Woo is on the posh side of Union Street, Ryde: the steep road where novelty shops and eateries tend to close almost as fast as they open. However Matt and Cat predict success for this interesting restaurant. It offers the only Malaysian cuisine available on the Island, so in that it cannot fail to be the best. It's also a good restaurant all round.

Matt and Cat entered one evening and enjoyed a civilised meal in very pleasant surroundings. The modern restaurant was clean and light in style. Details such as the unusual cutlery, the (slightly tired) hardbacked folding menus, and a free bowl of prawn crackers to start, show that the visitor experience has been carefully considered.

Review continues:

The diners ordered drinks whilst looking at the dinky little menus, and Matt was pleased to find export Tiger beer.

The menu features both Chinese and Malaysian dishes. The Chinese aspect of the menu was pretty standard, and those expecting regular Chinese dishes won't be disappointed. Cat chose king prawn with mushrooms from the traditional Chinese items. Matt ventured onto the far more unusual Malaysian menu, which largely featured seafood. For him, though, a bowl of Malaysian fried rice - Nasi Goreng - was a delicious new experience. With a few prawns and chicken strips, it was a great dish to share. A bowl of seasonal fried vegetables finished off the meal, which Matt and Cat shared out between them. The menu charitably gave good descriptions of the meals available - as otherwise, the diners would have been stumped. It's probably a good job, as the polite and efficient waitress who first attended to your reviewers - though dressed in an impressive traditional Malay costume - seemed nevertheless to be from somewhere nearer Warsaw than Kuala Lumpur, and was struggling a little with the language.

A good meal well served, and a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. Recommended.

(First reviewed January 2006 - this review was updated in June 2008)