Partizan forest beer pub invites you to its joyful guerilla party
While brainstorming what places to take my good friend Katya, who was visiting from St. Petersburg, I was determined to try and make her stay memorable to the utmost. Not to say I don’t try to give all my guests the most memorable stay in Kyiv possible, but I felt particular pressure to show off the best of Kyiv to my special friend. Reason being that we had spent four months studying in St. Pete together while in college, and it was something like a reunion on our old stomping ground (we’re both from the US), with a Ukrainian twist. And above all, since moving to Ukraine, I have felt a little animosity towards that “big brother” I used to feel so fondly towards and wanted to impress Katya with some superior Ukrainian flare.
I decided to bring her to Partizan forest beer club, a sleek restaurant located near some of Kyiv’s ritzy suburbs. “Partizan” is the Ukrainian term for insurgent, or warfare guerilla – which may not scream light-hearted, summer-camp-and-beer fun – but that is exactly what the eatery evokes.
The people responsible for the restaurant’s theme obviously tried to combine the vibe of the Cossaks infamous outdoor beer-merrymaking with the aesthetics of the old World War II days of the UPA (Ukrainian Partisan Army) – both the embodiment Ukrainian partisans. What could have been a better choice than to bring my friend to a restaurant so perfectly symbolic of Ukraine’s rebellious heroes trying to stick it to the “Man,” a.k.a. Russia?
The eatery was immediately impressive. After pulling into the parking area in front of the restaurant’s giant wooden fortress, we were greeted by an army tank emblazoned with the word “Pivo” (“Beer”) and wrapped in bright red Christmas lights. A friendly hostess greeted us and brought us to the restaurant’s porch dining area, which overlooked a nice artificial lake and wooden cabins that apparently are camp-style lodgings.
Sitting at our wooden tables and enjoying the view of the lake, we got to relax after the long, rigorous day of sightseeing. The restaurant, in addition to being relaxing and picturesque, had a host of quirky diners to look at and a few resident cats creeping around, obviously profiting from the restaurant’s own partisans – sympathizers willing to toss a few morsels towards the cats’ cause.
Everything fit into the “partisan” theme – from the eatery’s logo, a grenade-mug foaming with beer, to the dishes’ army-themed names and the menu, printed on brown, thick parchment-like paper and presented in an army-grade leather case. Right away we ordered ourselves some beer, a 5 liter Hoegaarden (Hr 30.80) for me, and a Leffe Blonde (Hr 34.10) for Katya. As the place is a “beer club,” there is a fairly large beer menu, with local and imported European brands.
When the server laid paper placemats in front of us that featured a comic parodying Star Wars, an advertisement for the restaurant group’s network of restaurants, Katya burst into a fit of giggles. The restaurant group was called “Pees Boy Club” and its logo was a statue of a boy peeing like a fountain. Being familiar with the logo and not putting much thought into the possible connotations of it, it didn’t strike me as that funny. Katya, however, pointed out that the poorly-worded English could lead to several perverse, South Park-esque connotations, and I burst into giggles as well.
We took our sweet time deciding what we wanted to order, which didn’t seem to bother our server, who was friendly enough, but disappeared for such long periods at a time that we started to think she had forgotten us. The menu offers mostly Ukrainian dishes, with a modest Uzbek menu. When the server finally returned from the restaurant’s depths, Katya ordered an avocado salad, made of shrimp, greens and avocado in a light oil sauce (Hr 49.50) and Khachapuri (27.50), while I ordered the “Mechta Boytsa” (“Warrior’s Dream”) for Hr 30.80, a salad with chicken, tomatoes and mushrooms under a spicy mayonnaise sauce and sprinkled with poppy seeds, and the wheat porridge with chicken (Hr 39.60) for my main.
Our meals were completely satisfying. Katya praised the avocado salad for its light taste and lack of mayonnaise, and the rich goodness of her pizza-shaped Khachupuri, while I contentedly munched on the big chunks of chicken and tomatoes in my staple Ukrainian-style salad and enjoyed the mixture of spices, chicken and wheat porridge in my main course, which came served in an army canteen. Katya also enjoyed a chocolate ice cream (Hr 25.30) for dessert, while I finished my beer.
After the meal, we did a quick walk through the restaurant, which actually had two large dining areas on the first floor and a nice Cuban-themed eating area on the second. There was also a band playing in the eatery’s front yard, which we hadn’t noticed out on the porch.
We walked around the artificial lake and saw that there were docks fitted with tables and chairs, where you could eat or even fish, as well as separate open-air rooms for larger dining parties that want privacy. We both agreed this would be a great place to celebrate a festive occasion.
Partizan (Nova Obukhivska highway, 28th kilometer, Pidhirtsi village, 467-7343). Open 24 hours
English menu: Yes
English-speaking staff: Yes
Average meal: Hr 100
