"People who graduated 40 years ago come back. People from all over the world. I've had a really happy 33 years, just meeting people," Wong says.

New food, Traditional Feel

Some regulars have frequented their favorite ethnic joint for years, endowing the places with a bit a of tradition.

One group of regulars at Young and Yee is the Christ's Church choir. Choir members have eaten there every Thursday for the past eight years before choir practice.

"My first time here was 35 years ago. My older brother came when he was in college," says choir member Madelyn Armstrong.

"Sometimes there's up to 12 of us, and we spill into the other booth," agrees fellow chanteuse Camilla Titcomb.

Most members agree "the hot and sour soup will blow your brains our," and the exotic orange flavored rice is a good alternative to the usual pork-fried version.

"And the chicken livers are wonderful, though you're not going to sell lot of people on them," say Armstrong.

Although the group has eaten at other Chinese restaurants, "we do seem pretty well wedded to Chinese," says member Clayton Wilcox.

Penny Shaw says she has been eating at Cage Fiorella for as long as she can remember, and she's seen it through several different phases.

The cafe used to be a French Bakery before it was purchased by its current owners about four years ago, Milo says. It was recently re-styled six months ago, she says.

The restaurant, dotted with tourists and adult education students, has some of the best soup in the Square, Shaw says. "Their soup is really excellent. Sometimes I come in for soup," Shaw says.

Ironically enough, Wong says, the Asian tourists are harder to please than unmitigated Cantabrigians.

The tourists have "an Old World mentality" and a "set way of doing things," Wong says.

He says he tries to accomodate their tastes, "though certain items don't go over--chicken feet for example.

Alex Tetradze, manager of Troyka, also says native Russians rarely frequent his Ukrainian hot spot, "We have mostly students and professors," says Tetradze.

"Sometimes Russians do come but not very often," he says.

Troyka, which has served standard Russian fare for the past three years and ten months, decorates its walls with an old world flare, Tetradze says.

"We try to create... some kind of club. With portraits of famous Russians, artists composers, stage-directors, writers, composers," he says. "We try to create something like the Russian Tea Room."

The restaurant invites Russian poets and actors, as well as other members of the Russian community to come and speak on occasion he says.