Yammy Kitchen
“The ordering app is your master now.”
Yammy Kitchen is a Gothenburg classic since 2009. They became popular in no time thanks to their authentic Korean cuisine and their Kimchi. They were also one of the first places to offer a large vegan menu, without it being an afterthought. Protein-rich and as close to the original idea as possible, the vegan menu is a delight to everyone looking for kimchi jigae, wonton soup, or udon noodles. How does it still hold up?
The recent years have been rough on the hospitality sector. The restrictions due to the pandemic caused many measures to downsize and adjust to make eating out a safe experience. Yammy Kitchen started, as many others, during this time with a table-ordering system via phone and QR code. So, when entering the locale (you better have a reservation, btw!), you are asked to order with your phone. And after that, the job of the waiting staff is almost done.
The ordering system works well enough, giving you pictures and prices. It lacks, however, decent information about allergens of the food or a useful comment section to tell the staff about your own allergens and adjustments to the food. This creates the awkward situations of ordering through the app first, then going to the counter to tell the staff about your allergens, and then hope for the best. Not a great experience.
Apart from that, however, the menu is large, offers a great selection of proper vegan dishes, and invites to try something new on another visit. My personal favourite is the udon stir-fry, that is a beautiful mix out of thick udon noodles with a lot of soy meat and mushrooms and a traditional sauce. If you want to go more Korean, the kimchi jigae is an absolute delight. Rich broth, crispy veggies and great tofu. Much recommended!
However, the prices have seen a spike in recent years as well, and it seems Yammy keeps on increasing them slightly every few months. Nowadays, you will have to plan in between 250-300 SEK per person for a full meal experience. Thankfully, the quality of the food is worth it. This keeps on being one of Yammy’s strong sides.
The service, however, seems to be getting worse as well over time. This is especially obvious near closing time, when the app doesn’t allow orders anymore, because the kitchen is closed. All fair and right. But this also includes drink orders. So, in order to get one more drink to spend the evening with your company, you need to order at the counter with clearly unhappy staff. This also results in a weird paying situation sometimes, as they expect you to pay by app, which you can’t do anymore. Also, they charge for tap water, because they add lemon. A bit of a hospitality sin in Sweden.
But all in all, these are things I can look past for the time being. As long as the food is on this high level of quality, a bit of annoying service is fine to deal with.
Price:
Precourse: 65 SEK
Main Dish: 185 SEK
Drinks: 35 SEK
The Verdict
Update February 2023:
Yammy's service got even worse in the meantime and I can no longer recommend it. It seems management has changed and for the worse. After the initial review, I have been a few more times to Yammy. The staff is even more unattentive and mistakes in the order happen more often. While the food is still good (if the order is actually correct), the service is below an ordering kiosk at Max Burgers. And for the price point Yammy asks by now, this is unacceptable.
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Yammy Kitchen has been around Gothenburg for a while now. It’s a well reputed locale and has been visited by me a lot as well. Recently, however, they started to go down in their quality. While the food remains well made, the service is among the worst for such a high price point. Since they started with app ordering during the pandemic, they seem to have cut down on all service related to it. They still try, but I can’t help but feel unwelcome when I have a question or request that I can’t solve with the app, that still requires a comment field. Still, the food is great and usually delivered with a big smile.
However, Yammy went down in grace and is not as excellent as it used to be, but among the better places for vegan Asian food.
2/5 Leaves
Pro
Large vegan section
Very high quality of food
Good vegan substitutes that are still protein-rich and give an authentic feeling to the dishes
Generally fast serving
Con
Prices went up a lot in recent 2-ish years.
App ordering is still not open to comments (allergens), so it requires double work from the guest
Service got bad (waiting staff just waits to tell you to order through the app)
Tap water is not free
When it gets crowded, staff gets somewhat unfriendly
It gets crowded fast, so without a reservation, it’s basically impossible to get a table at normal eating times
Location
Andra Långgatan 5
Opening Hours
Mo-Tu: closed
We-Th: 15:00 - 22:00
Fr: 15:00 - 23:00
Sa: 12:00 - 23:00
Su: 12:00 - 22:00
