Concord restaurant finally reopens after renovation with new interior, delicious food and great service
Dining at Concord was to have a three-fold function: 1. As I was leaving for Odessa for a month, , this would be my last meal in the capital for a while, and I wanted to end on a note that I knew would be extravagant; 2. a good friend of mine was celebrating her birthday that week and, at the very least, she deserved a nice meal (she’d eaten there only once before and her eyes glazed dreamily at the prospect of a return), and; 3. this very same friend had endured nearly a month of hassle with an obnoxiously persistent suitor and needed the kind of cheering up only a great meal can engender.
I was feeling flush that night so I decided to order as much of whatever I wanted, and admonished my guest to do the same. You must understand: that’s theeffect a nice restaurant can have on people – as if simply by entering you become as wealthy as your surroundings. A dangerous response, I know. But it’s hard not to in Concord. The place itself is sumptuous. And by that I don’t mean overwrought with decadent gaudiness the way many high-end Kyiv establishments tend to lean. No, Concord is tasteful from the entrance to the dessert.
Run by the elite Carte Blanche consortium that also controls such exclusive “krutoy” establishments as Marokana and Decadence House, Concord is nothing if not central. Located on the 8th floor of the Kiev-Donbass Center on Ploshcha Lva Tolstoho, the first thing that greets you upon entering the reception area is a stunning view of central Kyiv. Having just undergone an extensive renovation, the main dining room is tastefully appointed with dozens ofrelaxing candles and large brooding sepia toned photographs of Native American heroes (Sitting Bull’s perpetual frown looks as if he’s daring you to dislike the food).
But, as relaxing as the dining room may be, if weather permits, make sure to eat on the terrace, whose wide tables, high-backed chairs and unadulterated view will charm even the hardest of hearts. And one of the high points of comedy for the evening was, indeed, watching the waiters roll the small number of moveable heatlamps back and forth from table to table in the hopes of democratically spreading some warmth.
Thisraises another crucial aspect of restaurant dining at this level of expense: service.Unfortunately, in many places around the world this often translates as a half-dozen servers hovering like stinging summer insects, their insipid smiles frozen as they pluck away your napkin an instant after you’ve returned it to the table only to give you another they’ll snatch back again just as fast. I don’t consider cloying overattention to be good service – and I’m happy to report that neither does Concord. In fact, our experience was near perfection: a team of sedulous young servers waiting hidden just out of sight until the moment our menus closed or our wine glasses neared empty. They were warm, helpful and took the time to answer our questions in English, or, if that proved impossible, to find somebody who could.
Of course, decor and service are only two parts of the trident of fine dining, and these merely the outer tines. Food is the reason to go to restaurants, and the dishes here truly don’t depart from the quality displayed in the more ephemeral categories. Calling itself a fusion restaurant (of course), those who’ve dined before at Concord may be interested to know they’ve overhauled the menu as well as their interior. And one of the new additions is a truly wonderful tuna carpaccio (Hr 85), a generous portion of red raw strips of fish covered in a dense forest of fresh soy sprouts and dotted with flecks of velvety cream cheese. The tuna was of the highest quality and the fresh snap of the sprouts provided the perfect counterpoint to the soft consistency of the cheese. Our only complaint – and this is minor – was that the morsels of cream cheese were so rare that we were offered only a few bites of all three ingredients together. We’re not asking for a bagel’s worth: just a few more gobs.
We also ordered the salmon carpaccio (Hr 54) because, after our wonderful sushi at Nobu, we’ve been a bit obsessed with raw fish. But it’s the word “raw” that seems to be exactly the problem in Kyiv. Raw, as I understand it, means not cooked. And not cooked means not cooked at all. It doesn’t mean cooked a little. It doesn’t mean just a second in the pan. Raw, especially for carpaccio, means raw. The citrus in the fresh wedge of lemon you squeeze over the plate – that’s as “cooked” as the dish should ever be. Besides, serving something raw is a way to showcase the quality of your ingredients. It takes guts to say “our meat is so tender and fresh that we can leave it untouched on a plate and you’ll still think it was delicious.” A place like Concord should be willing to take that wager. Our salmon was still certainly “good” and the quality was still high, but the dish tasted more like gravlax than raw fish. Room for improvement.
Considering that tomatoes are just getting into season, I also took a gamble on a simple plate of mozzarella, tomato and basil with “Balsamico” sauce (Hr 54). If you catch this dish at the right time and with the best ingredients, it can change the way you look at food. While ours was not so life-altering, it was certainly survivable.
The same could be said for our first entree: steamed zander fillet with mashed potatoes, shitake mushrooms and foie gras (Hr 94). For a country as obsessed as Ukraine is with putting “sauce” on everything, most restaurants become oddly reverent when it comes to dressing pieces of fresh fish, often leaving them shockingly bland. Indeed, ours too had little flavor, letting the delightfully prepared accompaniments – particularly the foie gras and the potatoes – too easily outshine the main event.
However, the grilled veal medallions in cherry sauce served with potato pancakes and fried vegetables (Hr 81) made up whatever ground had been lost by the fish. Not only were we asked how we wanted it prepared (a rarity in a city that usually cooks all its meat well done), but they actually delivered medium-rare as we’d ordered (a rarity, sadly, anywhere). What’s more, the sauce itself delivered a mellow shock of tart citrus rather than overwhelming the whole dish with the saccharine sweetness cherry sauces can often lean toward. Sop it up greedily with one of the four kinds of bread delivered gratis to the table, but make sure you try the complimentary chive butter as well. And also make sure to take advantage of one of the most varied and extensive wine lists in town. For Hr 280 we had a wonderful Sauvignoin Blanc from Argentina, but if you’re feeling really decadent you can easily drop over $1,000 on one of their incredibly choice vintages. Luckily, I displayed a bit more self-control.
Either way, for impressing important business clients or an inevitably romantic evening, few places in Kyiv can show you and your guests a better time than Concord.
Concord
42/4 Puskinska, 8th floor (234-7788)
Open daily noon till the last customer
English menu: YesEnglish-speaking staff: Yes
