Yum Yum

If it wasn’t so cold, we’d have sat in this pretty little garden at the front.

Yum Yum is not your typical bar. In fact, it’s not a bar at all. It’s a grocery shop.. or a deli.. or something else altogether. It’s recently reinvented itself as more of an eating and drinking establishment (probably in light of the massive Sainsbury’s opening on the other side of the square).

This little shop has always been one of the best places to buy beer in Leeds, with great craft beers from all over the world (including Flying Dog, Brooklyn, Goose Island, Ska Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Cooper’s, Mongozo and Maui Brewing amongst others) as well as some great world lagers including my favourite Peroni Gran Riserva and a handful of bottled real ales. With the move to a café atmosphere, these beers are now all appropriately chilled and customers can drink them on the premises for a 50p surcharge. They’ve also got a Vedett tap if you have a draught lager craving.

Kinda looks like a shop. Kinda because it is.

I can’t stress enough how great this beer selection is. If you like craft beer this is one of the best selections anywhere in central Leeds, and shop-prices-plus-50p makes them very reasonable. You’re looking at £2.50-£4 per bottle for the takeaway price. The soft drink selection is excellent too, with some crazy imports for people who really need a Welch’s Grape Soda or Arizona Lemon Tea (or something decent like Goose Island’s root beer).

The food menu is very much a “what we’ve got on today” thing with a handful of interesting main meals served in a canteen style. There are different menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner and they’re all pretty cheap for what you get.

The canteen-like food serving area.

The atmosphere is very chilled out and quiet even on a weekend, but it’s not classy or romantic – it’s probably not a place for a first date unless your date is a massive craft beer lover. If the weather’s nice, the decent-sized beer garden at the front is a bit more charming, with candle lamps on every table.

Of course, this place is still a shop as well – as well as being our go-to for takeaway craft beers it’s also got a decent selection of hard-to-find American candy and snacks, including the Cheetos that Emily misses so much from her homeland.

I appreciate that having a night out in a shop is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is ours! It’s a place that’s quiet, serves food and has a great beer selection – and that’s exactly what we are looking for.