This question was asked by Swiss photographers Mathias Braschler & Monika Fischer, who spent the whole last Saturday on searching a person with a tumbledown house for the forth portrait. Ad notam, they currently work on the worldwide photo project about people directly affected by climate change. So, they were hungry at midnight in the town, where people don’t tend to eat so late. Especially, me. I prefer to spend all evenings with my family. The question was simple, but it took one hour to be answered.
In the picture: Malenkaya Venezia Pizza Restaurant in Yakutsk.
Usually, I offer international visitors to try traditional cuisine. The best place to do it is Tygyn Darkhan Hotel Restaurant (9 Ammosov Street, ул. Аммосова 9). Very delicious meals it has. Besides, its menu is written in English as well. So… I offered photographers and their friend, Beijing-based The Guardian correspondent Jonathan Watts to go to Tygyn Darkhan, but I warned them that I didn’t actually know about the last call. We forwarded to the restaurant. We went from Ordzhanikidze Sq. to Lenin Sq. along Lenin Ave. Ten minutes. When reached the square, we turned to the left, walked along Ammosov Str. a little. And here we are.
On stairs we saw the leaves of red roses. A bad sign. It could mean one thing only. The restaurant was serving the wedding. That was partly true. The wedding happened, but already ended. And the staff said “No. We are closed.” So… Tygyn Darkhan works till 12.00 am.
I offered to check another good restaurant called Indigirka. Located at the junction of Ammosov and Chernyshevsky streets. Three minutes by walk from Tygyn Darkhan. Address is 20 Chernyshevsky Street (ул. Чернышевского 20). Praise god, it was open. We were happy… for a while. To our regrets, it hosted another happy wedding. A waitress said “The restaurant is usually open till midnight. If there wasn’t the private party, it would be closed at any case.”
Damn! I felt really sorry and Monika, Mathias, and Jonathan looked very hungry and strained. Mathias said “Now I am ready to eat anything and even outside.” I offered to go back to Lenin Avenue, where we had past by a few dining places recently.
At that moment, I had six more options. Eli-Pili Cafe (13 Kirov Street), Polyarnya Zvezda Hotel (24 Lenin Ave.), Broster Fast Food Restaurant (21 Lenin Ave.), Grill House (20 Lenin Ave.), Tamerlan (8 Lenin Ave.) and even so-called Chicago Bar (13/2 Yaroslavsky Street). I told guys that Eli-Pili, Grill House, Tamerlan and Chicago Bar could be open till 4 am, but they were usually full of noisy young people, who prefer to drink beer rather than to eat. They are actually a sort of local pubs.
Two options were left.
Polyarnaya Zvezda Hotel has three restaurants with menus in English. Unfortunately, we found all of them closed. A receptionist Dora informed that hotel restaurants work till 11 pm only. “If you don’t care what to eat, you can buy sandwiches at the 24hr lobby bar,” she said. When Mathias saw sandwiches kept in the fridge, he said definitely “No.” Cold small bread pieces with ham slices for German-speaking Swiss people, who didn’t eat anything sufficient in the course of the day, is not worth to spend money.
Dora gave me an idea to lead guests to Duet Restaurant (20 Ordzhanikidze Street, open till 4 am, with relatively tasty meals, but with loud dance music) and Malenkaya Venezia (Little Venice) Pizza Restaurant located on 14 Lenin Ave.
So… at that moment we had one old option, Broster Fast Food Restaurant, and the new one, Malenkaya Venezia.
Well. Broster was located just across the avenue. It was closed! Open till 11 pm. Mathias was desperate. How come no good dining place works late night? Jonathan was also painfully hungry, he decided to run down the street to Malenkaya Venezia. Btw, I couldn’t join him to run. I was with my 4-year-old son, Aidar.
It was dark. No more white nights at the end of July. And no street lights on the main street either, because town hall thought that there was no need to lit lamps as the darkest part of current nights are too short, maybe, for 2 hours only.
At long last we noticed approaching Jonathan’s silhouette. He was relaxed. He said “Yeah, everything is okey now. It is open till 2 am. We have enough time to enjoy pizzas.”
That was what we did. We ordered cold Coca-Cola, Russian beer, two pizzas (one with ham, another with tuna). Very calm, not big premises on the second floor of the old Soviet-like stone building. You can see it in the above picture.
Photographers and a Brit correspondent got happy finally. And it was the first time, when my boy decided not to refuse a pizza… he said lately “Will we come back to this place?”
CONCLUSION:
Where to eat in Yakutsk at midnight?
1. Just keep in mind that most restaurants with good hot meals like Tygyn Darkhan, Polyarnaya Zvezda, Indigirka, and others work till midnight.
2. If you don’t care about drinking loud young visitors, you can eat in Eli-Pili, Chicago, Tamerlan, and Grill House. Remember, food served there are supposed to be combined with beer. These places are like pubs.
3. Certainly, you can eat in night clubs, but you will be still feeling yourselves hungry.
4. Go to Malenkaya Venezia (if you wish to enjoy your meal) or Duet (if you feel to eat and dance).
Right, Yakutsk residents don’t tend to go out for late night dining.
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