Dining Out: Late Nights At Yummy Inn City
by Lily Whiting
Hobart is unfortunately a city that doesn’t offer many late night food options beyond fast food. After all the city restaurants have finished their dinner service, there is one place to get proper food beyond 11pm. Whether you’re a hospo worker knocking off, leaving a late movie or perhaps just having the midnight munchies, Yummy Inn City has quickly become a hidden gem of Hobart. Inside its non-descript exterior it’s a simple affair in furnishings and lack of mood lighting, but none of that really matters at this hour. By midnight, Yummy is bustling. Woks are flying around the kitchen while friendly wait staff bustle to get everyone seated, served and fed.
The room radiates with a fragrance of spicy Szechuan chilli oil and that’s certainly not where the spice stops. The crispy eggplant with sweet and sour spicy sauce ($18) is my go-to after finishing my hospitality job. I’ve never managed to make eggplant stay crispy when frying at home, but these fingers of eggplant are like biting into a twice fried chip. The sliced pork belly in chilli oil is exhilaratingly hot, but a can or two of chilled jasmine tea helps to calm the fire. I’m yet to try the whole fish options, but I envy the large groups next door picking out chunks of flesh, still bubbling away in glaringly red chilli oil in its cast iron pan. On a weekend, the room is filled with these cast iron plates with friends sharing bowls of rice, noodles and the dry fried beans ($18) that are honestly so damn addictive no one could say no to eating their greens. Whilst I am not vegetarian, some of the vego meals feature a sneaky smidge of pork mince. Perhaps give the heads up when ordering.
For the non-spicy food fans or those with little guys, Yummy has all the traditional house favourites of battered goodies lathered in sticky sauces, wontons and wok fried noodles. I am not one to deny a piece of honey chicken myself.
48 Barrack Street, Hobart