TUCC discovers tasty Chinese cuisine at the riverside eatery Mandarin.
If you frequent Kyiv’s Podil district, and like taking walks along the quay, you surely have passed it more than once – a big Chinese-style construction floating on the waves, bearing a signboard “Mandarin,” located just a few steps from the Poshtova Ploshcha metro station. And if you haven’t been there yet, you probably can’t help wondering, what’s there? I finally got a chance and a cause to find out, when The Ukrainian Connoisseur Club chose to conduct its next meeting there.
After I crossed a small bridge leading to the restaurant entrance, I found myself in a dimly lit hall, where I handed over my raincoat to the coat check and was then led upstairs to a spacious restaurant hall, lively with conversations and music. In the middle the hall was divided by a bar, and I was pleased to see that the connoisseurs had their tables reserved on the side of the restaurant overlooking the river and the opposite bank. The decor of the place was smart, with enough designer elements, such as traditional Chinese lanterns providing the lighting, to make it obvious that it was indeed a Chinese eatery and to create the proper atmosphere, but with a touch of traditional European comfort.
They certainly had a serious approach to setting the tables at Mandarin – there were four forks and knives placed by the side of each plate, plus a pair of chopsticks. I felt more than ready to start using them all.
However, before we even got to our first dish – a cocktail of shrimp and celery – we had to listen to a speech of restaurant’s sommelier. He could go on for ages, it seemed, talking about the wine he picked for the first course (the same went for all the other alcoholic drinks he presented), and while some of the guests jokingly complained about him talking too much, I could plainly see that we were dealing with a real professional here, and that’s always a pleasure, especially when it comes to such a touchy subject as wines.
As for Mandarin’s chef, he turned out to be appropriately Chinese, and presented his dishes in his native language, leaving it to the pretty waitress with a quiet voice to give the descriptions in Russian.
Just as I expected, the wine – a Sauvignon Blanc 2004 from New Zealand – turned out an excellent choice. As for the cocktail salad – a mix of shrimp, sliced celery and carrot – it was quite decent, though nothing special.
My neighbor at the table, a gentleman who turned out to be a rather demanding connoisseur, suggested that I try adding some soy sauce to the plate, and it indeed made the taste richer, though I wasn’t sure if soy sauce complemented the shrimp.
The second dish to arrive was a soup with eel, and being a real eel fan I was excited just upon hearing the description, and it was not in vain.
The soup, which had to be eaten with a wide porcelain spoon, was hot and delicious. And the wine – a French Chablis Vielles Vignes 2002 – was even better than the first one. The Sommelier certainly proved to everyone that he was much more than just a good public speaker. I was already feeling half-full, as the portions were generous, when the real highlight of the evening arrived – a Hebei-style pike perch, “Grape Bunch,” which was actually the fish fried in sour-sweet sauce and served with grapes and salad leaves.
Following the example of my other neighbor, I decided to eat it with chopsticks. I felt it was wrong somehow to leave them on the table clean and unwrapped after dining at a Chinese eatery. And when I put the first bite in my mouth – crunchy, tender and sour-sweet – I thought that such dishes were surely the reason why people all over the world loved Chinese cuisine – for being so exotic, so simple and so overwhelmingly tasty. A light white wine – a Soave Classico 2005 from Italy – only helped to improve the taste of the fish, if that was at all possible.
However, there was still one more course awaiting us – theban, with veal and mushrooms. The stewed meat with mushrooms and sweet pepper went really well with red a Spanish Crianza 2003, though I was a bit too full to fully appreciate the dish.
But the dessert was still coming, and while its description sounded quite confusing – pumpkin petals with sesame and Empreror-style walnuts in sesame – I soon realized that pumpkin could indeed make an excellent dessert if prepared properly. Warm pumpkin leaves covered in sesame seeds made a great combination with creamy sweet sauce, and the crunchy walnuts helped make it into a real culinary discovery for me.
Obviously, to make sure I would never get up from the table, the sommelier also chose a heavy alcoholic beverage to go with the dessert – a seven-year-old Rum Havana Club Anego – but to be honest, I didn’t feel like going anywhere. Sitting and watching the Dnipro and the sky slowly turning dark, I felt quite happy right then and there, and more in love with Chinese cuisine than ever before.
Mandarin (Naberezhno-Khreshchatytska, Pier No. 6, 599-0877). Open daily noon till the last customer
English menu: Yes
English-speaking staff: Yes
Average meal: Hr 200
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