Yang Yang Express

Not closed just under a new name! They are now called Northern Square and are under new management.
This was my first time ordering from Northern Square in Upper Darby and it won’t be my last! I ordered their Singapore Rice Noodle and was delighted by the authentic spicy flavors! (I only recently tried Singapore Rice Noodles at another establishment and discovered I really enjoyed the dish). I’ve begun an «experiment» with different takeout places by getting this same order each time. I’ve discovered each establishment makes it in a slightly different way. Northern Square is my forth tryout and is so far my most favorite experience.
I like my food spicy and flavorful. A friend of mine from India says it’s not just about heat for heat sake alone, but heat that’s very flavorful. And he’s right. Northern square apparently understands this because their version of spicy is cooked in (as opposed to «sprinkled» over the top) and it becomes a true part of the dish itself. The flavors are obviously carefully shaped and blended and the result is delicious.
I also tried their Steamed Juicy Bun dish. They give you eight mouth sized pieces and I made sure not to break them until they were safely in my mouth. They are not exaggerating when they describe these as juicy! Squish ‘em with your tongue and you get this amazing burst of flavorful broth! The dough was just the right texture too. Not too soft or mushy but not too tough or stiff. Little perfections.
Obviously I LIKE this place, so why did I only give four stars?
Sadly their Wonton Soup was not very good. The soup broth was rather blah and the Wonton’s were way over cooked and mushy to the point of falling apart in pieces when you tried to pick them up. Texture wise the Wonton’s just had nothing left to them. A big disappointment indeed.
I read fantastic reviews about Northern Square’s excellence in doing Chinese dumplings. So I will give that a try next time.
All in all a most satisfying experience with Northern Square.
John A. Waldron

They’ve remodeled and expanded their menu to include entrees stir frys from Northern China. Delish

WARNING! This place is no longer Yang Yang Express. Even though the sign outside hasn’t changed– the name on the paper menu and food has changed… and it is nothing I want to eat!
Its like a dime a dozen 1950’s American Chinese Restaurant now.
…And no XLB! (Which is the whole reason we drove there)
Boo.

THE best chinese food in the area for sure. Authentic and their spicy level is real. LOVE their xiao long bao, could eat those all day long

I only came here to pick up some bubble tea. It seemed to just have been made with a powder mixture (no real fruit in the fruit flavored teas), and the boba was unsweetened and a bit hard. Slightly below average (based on my personal preference), I’d say.

I popped in at a weird hour because I live in a dumplingless wasteland and despite being full forced myself to put down a variety of dumplings.
Juicy Dumpling = soup dumpling.
If you’ve never had a soup dumpling, this is what you want to order. They are not only really tasty, but eating one is unlike anything you’ve ever had. Place the whole dumpling in your mouth, squish it with your tongue, let the juices shoot into the side of your mouth. Chew. enjoy
Vege + chicken dumplings.
These were both super french and flavorful, but honestly in comparison to the soup dumplings they are pedestrian.
GO HERE

Great place. Really Chinese food!
All handmade home style food.

Our go-​to Chinese place for takeout. Since Yang Yang opened, we have expanded beyond the dumplings, but have them every so often because they’re freshly made. The seafood ones are especially good.
Recently we’ve sampled the spicy wontons, pan fried buns, mapo tofu, minced pork lo mein and stir-​fried egg with baby shrimp. All good. We like their minced pork lo mein and special hand noodle because they’re not oily like at some other places we’ve tried.
They have a large section of Americanized dishes too, but that’s not why you should come here, you can get that stuff from countless area takeout places. Stick with the soup, noodles, dumplings, snacks and specialties.
Metered parking is available in front of H-​Mart (around the corner), across the street from H-​Mart, or there is non-​metered parking in the lot across from Yang Yang, with no charge after dark, at least when we’ve gone during the week.

This is one of the many exquisite and reasonably-​priced ethnic restaurants in Upper Darby. I thought it outstanding, easily one of the best Chinese restaurants in the whole Philly metro area.
As the name «Dumpling House» suggests, the dumplings here are outstanding, but the menu is much more than just dumplings. The dumplings are extremely fresh and you can taste that they’re made from scratch on the premises – the only dumplings I’ve had that were this good were also ones that were made up fresh in this manner – way ahead of the pre-​made dumplings a lot of places use. But the dumplings are quite nuanced and original – there are some subtle details of the ingredients and spices put in them that make them really really good.
The menu is large and may be a bit overwhelming to newcomers, especially people not familiar with Chinese food. There are a few familiar Americanized items on the menu, but this is mostly a legit Chinese restaurant for people who are looking for more authentic fare.

Great food and service (although we were the only ones eating lunch because of the snow). But hey, as a result, we got the red carpet treatment! lol
We started off with the jiu cai bao (leek pie). It was actually less oily than the many others I have had elsewhere. As a result, maybe it was a little more mildly flavored, but it was accompanied with a slightly sweet soy sauce that complimented the leek, dried shrimp and rice noodles well. ⁴⁄₅
This was followed by the zu rou bai cai shui jiao (pork and napa cabbage dumplings). Delish. You can taste that these dumplings are freshly made, the wrapping is beautifully chewy and thick enough at all the right places, with an appropriate amount of filling. Just wonderful. ⁵⁄₅
Then the XLB, or xiao long (tang) bao (soup dumplings) came out. Some had a fair amount of soup in them, but others apparently popped while steaming. This seemed a little more oily than others that I’ve had, but overall, it was good. Not nearly the best we’ve had, but passable. And almost everywhere else I’ve had these soup dumplings, including in the motherland, in Shanghai, the black vinegar based sauce ALWAYS has julienned ginger slices. Why it was absent in their sauce, I don’t know. But it was missed. ³⁄₅
Then the beef bun came. Ah yes. Wonderfully fried dough with sliced braised beef, hoisin sauce, and scallions. What is there not to love with this combination? ⁵⁄₅
We ended it with the dry fried chili pepper chicken. It was pretty darn good. I’d say that they probably use chicken thigh, as the pieces of meat retain a fair amount of juice and flavor and I like that the batter was thin and light. It was salty, and spicy, and just good. ⁵⁄₅
So am I willing to hope that the XLB was a fluke/​off day because of the snow and in light of the wonderful service we were provided by staff, give this place a 5 star rating? Yes. For now. Time will tell, and as we explore the depths of their menu, we will see how the rest of their food is.
But this I have no doubt. As far as dumplings and beef buns go, some of the best I’ve had outside of Asia.

yum yum for Yang Yang Express aka Dumpling House. They make their dumplings right on the premises. happene upon this restaurant exploring the neighborhood after shopping at H Mart. Yum Yum Chicken Mushroom Dumplings. Also, they have wonderful chinese food. A good lunch deal for $ 5.95. An entrée and a soup or appetizer. I had the shrimp with mixed vegetable in a nice brown sauce as well as the won ton soup since they make their dumplings in house. The broth was light and tasty. Since I will be moving nearby, I think I have found my local chinese restaurant!

Note: as of Nov 2013, the restaurant located at the old Yang Yang location is NOT Yang Yang. Not the same place I reviewed here!
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Ironically, by far the best dumplings in Philadelphia are found in Upper Darby instead of Chinatown; I’ve explored the dumpling scene far and wide in Philly and nothing else even compares to this place. The meat filling is of high quality, no fat or filler, and they have an impressive selection, including fish. The wrappers are handmade from fresh dough, never frozen as far as I can tell. It really makes a difference, the dumplings here are savory, succulent, and flavorful– on par with what you would expect from good dumpling shops in Asia.
I’ve only sampled a limited selection of their other dishes. In general, their dough-​based menu items (noodles, dumplings, wontons, etc) are good. Worth a try are their spicy wontons, cold noodles, soup dumplings (different from dumpling soup), and a few of their new menu items (as of June 2012) like the tasty chicken. The rest of the menu is lackluster and a bit hit or miss. But their superb dumplings more than make up for it.
If only this shop were in a better location, like near University City…

I had to go to H-​Mart to do some Asian grocery shopping coming back from the beach and following the review of «Melissa W» I stopped to try the dumplings in this restaurant.
I have to agree with her and most of the Unilocalers… the food here is very good. I ordered the nooddles, dumplings and wonton soup. All of it was great. You can realize that the dumplings actually had meat on them… ha ha ha :).
The prices are not as good (cheap) as some restaurants in Chinatown for the same food so I don’t think I will come back to Upper Darby just to eat here.
The area is not that nice and bring quarters for the parking meters.

Stumbled upon Yang Yang Express while on my way to another restaurant (Signs saying «Dumplings» or «BBQ» have the same effect on me as light has on a moth) and ordered several styles of dumplings — soup, leek, seafood, vegetarian, and fried — all delicious. Freshly made, the various fillings impress with clean flavors, even though the dough could be a mit more gossamer for my taste. While ordering the dumplings, I added the pork belly special, sticky rice in banana leaf, and the fried leek omelette — all very good.
The man taking our order was friendly and helpful, the place, admittedly, is not much to look at but hunched over steaming dumplings, such minor details do not tend to bother me.

I’ve been meaning to eat in this general area because there are a lot of Latin themed and Asian themed restaurants all within this same block. I actually can’t believe I haven’t eaten in this area more often.
So while parking the car and walking around the block, I popped up a Unilocal search on my phone. After seeing the reviews here, I decided this would be the first place I’d try. It was around 3pm on a Friday, so it wasn’t crowded in the least.
I ordered up an egg roll and a chicken dumpling combo with wonton soup. The soup came out first, and it was so hot that biting into the wonton actually burned my tongue. But, fresh wontons do make the difference in flavor. It might have actually been worth the pain.
They brought out the steamed dumplings, and they were a hit. I don’t know if they were made fresh for me or pre-​made and steamed, but they were as good as anything I could get in Chinatown.
The egg roll came out last, and once again it was very hot to eat at first. I suppose this was because they weren’t busy at all, and the food was reaching me right away without cooling off. But again, the flavor was worth it.
In all, with hot tea to drink and water, the bill came out to just over 8 bucks. Right up my alley. I have blisters in my mouth from the hotness of the meal. But I certainly appreciate what they are doing and love their food. I will be back with the wife sometime soon.

Definitely worth a visit especially for the superb dumplings. The wife and I stopped in last night around eight. The place is bright, neat, and clean. There are a few tables on the first floor and a second level with a few more. The atmosphere is nothing special but we didn’t expect much from a place with Express in its name. There is a large glass window that lets you see the kitchen. Very cool.
Our waitress was friendly, efficient, and attentive throughout our entire meal. Actually she was great. We were very pleased with the service. By the way, they now accept charge cards.
The menu is quite extensive. We were starving so we so we sampled quite a few dishes. The Spicy wontons (soft wonton skin filled with pork, chili oil and sesame paste dressing) were delicious and very spicy. We also tried the dumpling combo. Here combo means that you get a soup and a small dish of pickled veges with the dumplings. The wife gave the hot sour soup a thumbs up and it was a large portion. We tried the chicken version of the dumplings and they were OMG good. We also tried Amazing Chicken. This common dish was excellent here. It was great to watch your food being prepared.
As others have mentioned there is a self-​serve cooler with limited soft drinks available. The wife inquired about bubble tea/​coffee and was told it’s planned for the future. That would be great.
This is an inexpensive place. Expect your dishes to be a dollar or more less than your typical casual Chinese place.

Disclaimer: only dumplings were tasted during my visit, can’t speak for the other items on the menu.
Taste alone, this place probably deserves almost 4 stars — most of the food was pretty good. However, ironically I think the amazing pork veg dumpling wasn’t that amazing when we had it… I remember the delicious dumpling being pretty solid though. The soup dumplings were pretty good… but the service was horrible! Basically, this place functions like a fast food type place where you order/​pay and then wait for your order and you can sit and eat. My friends and I ordered several plates of different dumplings to try including the soup dumplings, and most of it came out in a decent amount of time, but then we found ourselves waiting 30 minutes AFTER we finished eating everything else for one last dish, the soup dumplings. It got to the point that we were twiddling our thumbs, wondering if it was worth it to wait for that last plate or if we should just go. We asked a few times what the deal was… and they just said sorry there is a wait. But I mean, 30+ minutes (from the time of ordering it was probably at least 45 min) to wait for only one dish seems like basically poor kitchen time management or something. We weren’t even hungry for them when they came out since we’d basically finished our meal long ago.
I probably will only go back to this place if I find myself craving dumplings before/​after an Hmart trip. Instead, I’d rather just go to Dim Sum Garden where the service is fast and the soup dumplings are in abundance and I don’t have to wait forever to eat them.

Boo! I’m removing a star because they have increased their prices AGAIN. In the last two months, prices have increased by up to 66% in some cases. The leek pies went from $ 1.50 to $ 2.50, and the pan fried dumplings used to be 10 for $ 3.95, but are now $ 5.50. Not such a great deal anymore, and everything else on the menu has gone up at least a dollar as well. A dollar may not seem like much, but it definitely adds up when you’re ordering lots of these small dishes. And seeing price increases every time I go, especially in such a short time span, is a major turnoff.
The food is still delicious, but it’s no longer delicious AND super cheap, and may no longer merit the frequent pilgrimages we used to make.

YUMMMMY!!! i love love love dumplings!!! i came here after seeing it when I was parking across the street to get some groceries at HMart. This carb-​heavy restaurant brings creations from Northern China to Philly. They have tons of different buns and filling; you can pretty much get any permutation you want!
I love the leek/​pork dumplings. They are always my favorite. The ones here are very good. I think the meat is a little more fatty than I am used to (my mom makes these dumplings at home from scratch too), but for Philly, its a great dumpling! They also have steamed dumplings, pan fried potstickers, and lots of different types of buns (pan fried, steamed, and different filling). I had the zia ziang noodles (minced meat with brown sauce) and it was good. I really want to try the scallion pancakes; they looked incredible! I didn’t love the amazing dumplings, but it may be because I don’t love Chinese cabbage that much (I think that is what they put in it?) Oh, they also sell frozen dumplings to go at a really good price.
I think they offer table service now, but it isn’t perfectly clear. Regardless, give this place a try! While my rating based on taste alone is 4, the overall dining experience is 5 stars. It is such a good cheap eat!

The xiao long bao are pretty decent although I wished that they had put crabmeat in the pork filling. The skin was thin but still sturdy enough so that the soup didn’t leak. The leek pies are pretty good and the scallion pancakes better than the ones found at most Chinese establishments in the area. The dumplings are very fresh and the fillings nicely seasoned. You can get them steamed or pan-​fried. I would definitely recommend the traditional pork and vegetable ones. Overall, a great pick and it definitely gives me something to look forward to after a trip to the dentist.