#6. Yes Lah: Life lessons from a neighbourhood cafe.
An ode to the neighbourhood café, Filipino food, fakeaways, hot sauce, and why teenagers are useful at reining you in.
Yes Lah, West Didsbury
Country: The Philippines. Rating: 9
Much as I love a restaurant that’s also a great night out (Canto, I’m looking at you), I do have a soft spot for a neighbourhood café. When I was growing up, Little Chefs studded the British roadside like dandelions on a grass verge. The greasy spoon was king, complete with fag ash fry-ups and cups of builder’s tea so big you could lose a spoon in them. And someone always knew someone behind the counter, so we’d get a discount on our egg n’ chips or maybe even drinks for free.
I didn’t eat in a “proper” restaurant until I was a grown-up. As a teenager peering through the windows of my town’s one and only fine dining establishment, I had one thought. Namely: that doesn’t look like much fun.
Our local café, on the other hand, was. The best food we could afford, it was where we could plonk down, eat up, chuck chips at each other, and gossip. When I moved to Manchester, I came across another kind – the curry café, the original rice n’ three of the Northern Quarter, and then Nila’s, a Burmese take on a worker’s café that’s slap bang in the middle of an industrial estate. In the suburbs it was different again, which brings me onto the subject of this post: Yes Lah.
Yes Lah is a Filipino-Malaysian pop-up that kickstarted its way into a permanent space in West Didsbury in 2022. Two years on the emphasis is more on the Filipino, but the vibe remains the same: a neighbourhood café with tables covered in bright, batik-printed cloths, fridges and shelves stocked with dried noodles, sauces, cakes and cans of grapefruit pop, and unpretentious homemade food.
Whenever we eat out we manage to over-order. Yes Lah was no exception: we had bao buns, stir fries, rice and sides. Milo’s sisig arrived in a deep metal kawali next to a mound of rice. Sisig is a Filipino dish made with pork (the kawali there to keep the fat from congealing), and chilli, lime and mayo. This version was lighter: a chicken stir-fry, with chilli, garlic, soy, and a lime aioli. The combination of chilli and aioli shouldn’t quite work – especially not with Milo, who hates anything creamy – yet here it pulls everything together.
I had an actual stir-fry, loaded with lime leaves, fried egg on top, and with so many prawns I feared for their extinction. More food arrived: a side of kimchi, bao buns for Simon, and a bowl of crispy potatoes perked up by kimchi aioli. Between ordering and eating we noticed the specials board, spotted corn fritters, sighed, and said, maybe we can get them to go?
We did not. I had to roll my husband home as it was.
Yes Lah doesn’t open late and doesn’t serve booze (dur, it’s a café). So, we came for tea, perched on stools, ate, and went home. And while that might make it sound functional, the food, the drinks, the handwritten reservation notes perched prettily between flowers and menus, make it anything but. At some point a cat wandered in, gave a languid meow, then bobbed round the back. A low, golden sun filtered in, casting plant-shaped shadows on the walls, and it was all so lovely I could barely contain myself. My eldest clocked my increasingly overexcited murmurings, shot me a warning eye-roll - one more comment about the bloody tablecloths and I’m off – and I put a lid on it. Just as well, as I fully plan to drag him back there on a regular basis.
Yes Lah is on Barlow Moor Road, West Didsbury, open Thurs, Fri & Sat 11am-8pm and Sunday 11am-4pm.
Two new things: a fakeaway and sauces!
I’ve stopped having takeaways. There’s lots me and my son can’t eat, and often what we end up with feels like a lot of money for something meh. Step forward Keralas Curry Club, headed up by Sumith, who we met at our local market this weekend. His pre-packaged curries are perfect for fakeaways (last night’s was a delicate sambar and a north Indian rajma - out of the freezer and onto the plate in 10 minutes). They’re gluten free, with all natural ingredients (buy online).
After spending an age browsing the shelves at Yes Lah I bought two new things: a salt-based seasoning and a zingy Hot Zos, made by Yes Lah’s own Mama Z. I’ve already used the seasoning to liven up flatbread dough, as well as scattering it across pitta ‘crisps’ (cut pitta bread into strips, brush with olive oil, add seasoning and put in a hot oven for 10-12 minutes until crispy). You can buy both in person at Yes Lah.
