Malaysian-Filipino café Yes Lah has received a deluge of online support after it appealed to followers to be kind online. Owners of the café, which opened recently in Didsbury, made the comments after receiving negative reviews online.
“We are aware that not everything we do will be everyone's cup of tea. Cooking food with flavours that may be unfamiliar to some may not be what everyone likes, and guess what, that's ok!” they said. “On the flip side.. you might come to yes lah due to wanting those familiar flavours. Food is a powerful thing, in fact it's the reason we are here.
“The search for authenticity is a hard one. In fact the reason we don't say authentic in any of our messaging is because it's problematic. We are not in Malaysia or The Philippines so what we are cooking isn't ‘authentic’. We are in the UK, using English produce, it will never be what you ate from a Hawker stall in Penang or what you ate in your mum's kitchen in Manila. If you are coming to eat in places searching for this, sadly your expectations may be unrealistic.”
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They went on: “We are not in Asia with Asian prices. We are in the UK, inflation at an all time high, ingredients flown in from abroad, basically our hand forced for reasons out of our control. If what we do is too expensive for you then please choose a more suitable eatery.
"We shouldn't even have to explain this but we feel some people are not living with the times. It's very hard to please everyone. Reviews online can be great but also damning. Our service was scrutinised (despite customers being v rude) and our food too. We had someone click their fingers are our staff this weekend too, how is that ok?
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“Basically, if we ask how everything is on service and you say "yeah it's great", and then go home to write a really negative review it is really rubbish. Speak up if you are not happy rather than cower and tarnish a small business's reputation. We are always here to listen and rectify it.
“Please be kind, we are only trying our best and these reviews are unhelpful as we cannot do anything after it's written to rectify it. This is for hospitality in general and not just us. Speak up, be honest and we can only try to help! If we didn't care, this post wouldn't exist.”
Many in the food business came out in support of the post after it went up on Tuesday night, which received more than 600 likes.
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Pop-up bakery Breadflower said: “Sorry you've had to deal with this, everything you're doing looks amazing and I'm really looking forward to getting down to you soon.”
Fellow pop-up The Little Sri Lankan added: “Do feel after covid, some customers expect more from us and are less understanding.” Presenter and broadcaster Matty White chipped in: “People that click their fingers at waiting staff should get an instant lifetime ban.”
Yes Lah started out as a pop-up business at the Hatch food court, before opening up on Barlow Moor Road in Didsbury last month. Prior to that, founders Zosima Fulwell and Yen Tham ran Mama Z and Woks Cluckin.
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