Where To Eat: Yammy Kitchen, Gothenburg.
If I’m going to be totally honest, it all started when I was introduced to Korean drama, more known as k-dramas, a few years ago. These K-dramas are tv-series and movies made in South Korea, that are popular and have become known worldwide and have attracted attention for South Korea’s fashion, style, music (K-pop) and culture all over the world. I, as many people in Sweden, didn’t have much knowledge about South Korea nor its culture a few years ago. But K-drama opened up a bigger interest for South Korea in general for me, and as I learned more about Korean culture I of course, also got more interested in their food culture. It didn’t take me long time before I felt like I had to test South Korean food, explore that cuisine and really see, smell and taste for myself what South Korea had to offer in terms of food. It was while these thoughts popped into my mind that I learned that we, in my home city Gothenburg, actually had a restaurant offering South Korean food. Since then, I don’t know how many times I have visited the place, and today I want to tell you all about my experience of South Korean food from the restaurant Yammy Kitchen.
Yammy Kitchen is a family own restaurant located in one of Gothenburg’s most loved areas. ‘Andra Långgatan” is a street starting from Järntorget reaching to Masthugget, being filled with various bars, pubs, restaurants and small boutiques among apartments. This street has become more and more popular and beloved the latest years, and have become a meeting point for many people - most and forwardly during summer time. Yammy Kitchen is a place that has been located on this beloved street for over 10 years, serving people their East Asian (mostly South Korean and Japanese) food.
Its interior is simple, having a bar in the middle when coming in and tables around, facing towards all the window areas. I love the walls with various postcards Yammy Kitchen has received from various guests and friends of theirs traveling to countries all around the world. It really gives a charming, family feeling to the restaurant. They also have small details as pictures, decorative icons and sculptures that bring in the Asian culture and influence to the place. I like that!
Yammy Kitchen are known for their Asian fusion, and have various Asian cuisines on their menu, but most and forwardly recipes and dishes from the South Korean cuisine. That is what I have been most interested in trying and I’m going to tell you about today.
I had the chance of visiting Yammy Kitchen together with my mom and sis this time, and we ordered:
Agedashi Tofu - “Deep fried tofu with grated ginger and radish in soy sauce”. This is a vegan side dish.
Wakame Salad - “Seasoned shredded seaweed salad”. This is a vegan appetizer or side dish, often served with for instance sushi.
Vegan Wonton & Char Siew Noodle Soup ”with vegetable, deep fried homemade vegan wonton and marinated vegan “barbecue meat”’, which is a vegan main dish.
Seafood Bokkekum - “Stir fried prawns and squid with bell pepper, celery, onion and zucchini in spicy gochujang sauce”. A pescatarian main dish.
Wonton Noodle Soup “with deep fried pork wonton and sliced honey roasted pork”. A meat, main dish.
About the food:
The Agedashi Tofu (the photo above) was something that totally surprised me. It was incredible! I like tofu, but since tofu is a difficult ingredient that needs to be cooked in the right way I have also many times eaten various tofu dishes on restaurants (especially on non-vegan restaurants) that don’t really fill in the expectations. These however, very delicious! Don’t forget to dip them into the accompanied soy-based “dressing”; thats when all the flavors really come out.
Those of you who eat sushi, are probably familiar with Wakame Salad, or sea weed salad. Yammy Kitchen’s Wakame Salad is however very delicious and feels so fresh! Even if the serving is rather small, I order this every time I go there as a starter.
I personally think all of their noodle dishes that I have tasted so far are amazing, and if you are looking for something more spicy and yet vegan, their vegan kimchi ramen is very delicious too. The noodles are in such a great quality in all of their dishes and is something beyond the ordinary.
But more precisely about the dish in the photos, the “vegan wonton and char stew noodle soup”, I have eaten it several times and it never stops impressing me! The noodle soup is not spicy or anything and works great for those who can’t handle hot food. The various ingredients and toppings work great together and creates a nice balance in both flavor and texture. Eat the wonton rather quickly though, so they keep their crispness and not become soggy and soft, because that’s when they are the most delicious. The vegan barbecue meat is also super delicious and I love that they have created a great vegan substitute for meat, but also these vegan dishes as alternatives for traditional Korean dishes in general.
The Seafood Bokkekum is not based on noodles but served with rice on the side. This dish is a bit more spicy but still, we all really liked this one. Just like all of Yammy Kitchen’s dishes, the food feels very fresh and cooked with much love and compassion, and this seafood bokkekum is no exception.
I have been on Yammy Kitchen many times and have tried many vegan dishes, but I still wanted to know about their meat options too. Since I don’t eat meat I wasn’t able to taste it, but I trust my sis’ and mom’s opinions much and they said the traditional wonton noodle soup with meat was very delicious too. Meat gives more flavor to the food than for instance vegan substitutes, so if you don’t like the flavor of meat, you still have the vegan wonton noodle soup version available.
I have to give some big cred to Yammy Kitchen for running this restaurant for so many years and that they are keeping it real, make everything from scratch (the wontons, noodles, everything) and stay true to themselves.
In general, the food is beautifully assembled and you get big portions of food for the money you pay. Most of their main dishes costs around 150-170 SEK, and none of their dishes exceeds 180 SEK. I think this is a really good price for the amount of food you get but also for the quality of the food. I also have to mention, that even before me reaching out to Yammy Kitchen, the service was amazing. Both me and my family (and my hubby) have visited Yammy Kitchen and have talked to the owners and differents staff working, and everyone is so kind, very humble and helpful when wanting to learn, and choose, among all of the East Asian food.
If you, just like me, are dreaming of visiting South Korea one day, or just want to try out some Asian Fusion food, I really recommend you to visit Yammy Kitchen on Andra Långgatan in Gothenburg. It will be worth it.