Find out where to shop for the tastiest bread in Kyiv
Traditional baton and dark rye-bread “Ukrayinskiy” (“Ukrainian”) have been Ukraine’s favorites for many years, but now they no longer meet Kyivans bread needs. The demand for bread is universal, we want it delicious, healthy, and of course, fresh. In many romantic French films characters run out in the morning to get a freshly baked baguette. This fancy is now accessible to Kyivans as well, though of course the finest breads are available only in select areas, the city center or Podil.
In the Western Europe, the panary culture is so well developed that it’s possible to find bakeries on in every street. In Italy most bakeries are family-run businesses and may specialize in particular types of bread, such as sourdough. Therefore the secrets of profession and receipts are carefully guarded and are passed from a generation to generation.
The most bread loving country is probably Germany. There are over 300 types of baked breads and the number of bakeries exceeds 20,000. Actually, the name “bakery” is adopted from the German word “backerei.”
Backerei culture derives from the old-time traditions of private city bakeries, providing bread for inhabitants of near-by streets. The modern backerei is a hybrid of a cafe and bakery, where the visitors are able to get a cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy the freshly baked goods on the premises. The backerei tradition is especially strong in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In the best backerei or bakery cafe, visitors are offered bakeries piping hot out of the oven.
European style bakeries
Videnski Bulochki (Viennese Rolls) bakery chain works with partly baked bread, and use bread refrigeration technology. At the factory the bread is baked until 90% done, then refrigerated, and baking is completed at the point of the sale. At first they made only yeast-leavened dough rolls with various fillings, but later extended their panary choice. Presently Videnski Bulochki’s produce counts up to 130 types of bakery. They sell croissants, baguettes, puffs, muffins, ciabattas, focaccias, sweet pies, sandwiches, wheat and rye floured bread, with olives, raisin, nuts, brans and much more. Fresh bread is delivered to the shops in the mornings.
Videnski Bulochki’s special pride are their Graham’s bread made from six different cereals with pumpkins, sunflowers and linen seeds (Hr 19,) dark cereal baguettes (Hr 7) and spicy “Piquant” bread (Hr 10).
They bake many ciabatta variants. Ciabatta integrale is made with whole wheat flour, with olive oil, salt, and marjoram, if milk is added to the dough, it’s called ciabatta al latte. Ciabatta with olives contains lots of olives and tastes really great (Hr 15). They also make sandwiches made from small loaves of ciabatta, known as a panini.
What’s more, in any of their shop-cafes you’ll be offered cup of fragrant Viennese coffee with a newly-baked puff or an appetizing hot sandwich-baguette with diverse fillings, and salads. The Videnski Bulochki chain is expanding and new cafes are constantly opening. Recently I found another shop of theirs opposite to National Bank building, on Instytutska.
When Repriza confectionary chain began operating, it’s main focus was centered on making pastry. Now that the chain has a big manufactory workshop in Obolon and now you can purchase a variety of bread products at Repriza. There are “Viennoiserie” – Viennese pastries similar to French croissants, Danish pastries simply called “Danish” with jam, custard, apricots, raisins, flaked almonds, pecans or caramelized toffee, stuffed turnover rolls, and others. In total Repriza offers 17 kinds of bread divided into three categories: white, special and healthy bread. First come various German rolls “Kayser” with sesame, poppy seeds (Hr 2.50) and French baguettes (Hr 7). The second category are German “Schinkenbrots” with smoked ham and cheese (Hr 18) and various ciabattas – classic, with paprika and olives (Hr 11) and other. Finally, healthy breads are baked from coarse flour with various seeds. For instance, bread “Dunkel” with sunflower seeds (Hr 14), “Kornknakers,” grain rye-wheat rolls from wheat flour (Hr 3), traditional German “Rustikales” (Hr 14) etc. They use about 300 ingredients from European producers such as Austrian flour, Belgian chocolate, Danish cream etc. Freshness, exquisite taste, calorie balance are all characteristics of Repriza’s breads. The widest choice is to be found at Reprizas on Lvivska Ploscha and the one near Ploscha Lva Tolstoho metro.
At the two Wolkonsky Kayser cafes local chefs bake under the supervision of French colleagues. The difference of Wolkonsky from regular bakeries is that its bakers use sour fermented dough without yeast method, which was invented by Eric Kayser, artisan and baker who founded his own bakery. After seven years of training many bakers all around the world, Eric Kayser finally decided to open his own bakery in Paris in 1996. Now more than 30 bakeries of his are working internationally, including Japan, USA, and here. Eric Kayser received France’s highest and most important distinction for bakers: “Compagnon du Tour de France.”
Wolkonsky’s assortment includes about 40 kinds of bread, and its freshness is strictly controlled: new products are brought to bakeries twice a day – in time for opening and about 3 p.m. in the afternoon. On the whole Wolkonsky confectionery carries about 150 products, including cakes, croissants, biscuits, cookies, puffs, baguettes, pies-quiche, wheat, rye and buckwheat floured bread, with fruit, olives, raisin, nuts, brans and more. Among the rare treats are “Ekmeks” with apples in a light dough prepared on the basis of milk, honey and olive oil (Hr 28), bread with lard and garlic (Hr 18), that will certainly satisfy the taste of Ukrainian customers, chess bread made from liquid malt extract (Hr 18), and “Byelorussian” bread with potatoes, bread with paprika and spring fresh herbs. Expect bread types uncommon to Ukrainians such as bread with turmeric (Hr 35), and there are common sorts like dark “Borodino” (Hr 10) and sliced long loaf (baton) (Hr 15.)
“Fougasse” it’s a type of bread typically associated with French Province. It’s similar to Italian focaccia, flat oven-baked Italian bread, which may be topped with onions, herbs or other foodstuffs, related to pizza. Wolkonsky offers three types of fougasse: delicate with olives, piquant and slightly sour with mozzarella and tomatoes, and with bacon (Hr 27).
Coming to Wolkonsy for the first time, you’re sure to spend a quite a long time choosing among various sorts of bread – looking, inhaling its wonderful aromas and even consulting with a shop assistant, who can tell you which bread would go better with red fish or with foie gra.
You can watch how the bakery works from the outside, if you stand next to the window of the Wolkonsky located on the first floor of Premier Palace Hotel.
The third Wolkonsky bakery will open in the Arena Class shopping center, soon.
Videnski Bulochki (21 Khreschatyk; 1-3/5 Pushkinska)
Repriza (40/25 Khmelnytskoho; 38 Velyka Zhytomyrska; 10/5 Sahaydachnoho; 26 Chervonoarmiyska; 34 Malynovskoho)
Wolkonsky Kayser (15 Khreschatyk; 5-7 Bulvar Shevchenka, Premier Palace Hotel)
Bread from chef
Restaurant Amici Mi has its own stove and makes all its bakeries wares itself. When restaurant Amici Mi opened, there were talks of a panary boutique opening within the restaurant. It hasn’t happened so far, however anyone can purchase Amici Mi’s tasty bread at the restaurant.
There are five kinds of bread, with cereals, tomatoes and Bulgarian pepper, coriander, corns and various ciabattas. At Amici Mi you’ll find four kinds of baguette: dark with cardamom, red with dried and sweet pepper, with four types of cereals, and classic white wheat (Hr 40). After you’ve chosen the kinds of bread you’d like to buy, you’ll have to wait 10 to 15 minutes, while it is baked for you.
Shangrila restaurant located in heart of Podil cooks mixture of Japanese and Uzbek cuisine, and its main special feature is a tandoor – cylindrical clay oven in which food is cooked over a hot charcoal fire. It was specially brought to Kyiv from the Fergana valley. The cooks bake a number of bread varieties in the tandoor, such as spicy round cake with sesame “Gyzhdanon” (Hr 8) – which is more delicious when eaten just out of the oven. “Katlama” a layered flat bread fried in a frying pan is delicious, but is inconvenient to transport it because it’s greasy.
Everyday the Belfast Irish pub bakes different bread. The chef decides what kind of bread to make just before he starts to knead the dough. So, if you want something specific, only with onions, wheat or with the sunflower seeds, you should better ring up the pub and ask the administrator, what the bread chef is planning for the day. At Belfast they sell bread by weight but the price averages around Hr 18 to Hr 20.
Marakesh restaurant offers a couple kinds of bread – “Brivat” (Hr 9) and “Moroccan” bread (Hr 7). “Brivat” is an aromatic small cake with oriental spices, prepared in an oven. “Moroccan bread” is small dark bread with malt. Both kinds of bread are offered for sale on the premises. Upon your wish they will warm up the bread in a stove.
Amici Mi (67 Honchara, 501-1690)
Shangrila (5/2 Yaroslavska, 417-7316)
Belfast (4 Kontraktova Square, 425-6000)
Marrakech (24 Sahaydachnoho, 494-0494)
Ukrainian breads and more
Bake House, the Ukrainian chain of bakery-shops offers a wide choice of bread and loaves, including “Zhulik,” the kind popular in Soviet times, but now not often found at bread shops. Myself, I was tempted by an original name of “Alpine” bread (Hr 2.50). But its taste reminded me of ordinary “Arnautsky” bread. However, I was assured that “Alpine” would stay fresh up to three days. The rolls “Zerniatko” have delicious crust and sweetish taste (Hr 3.10).
Bakery-shop Bulochna on Yaroslaviv Val, won’t impress you with the variety. There is quite a selection of different pastries, but only one kind of bread – with sesame and nuts (Hr 5.10). The bread “Kirpichik” (Brick) turned out not especially fresh, and the dough is too dense.
Except for the above listed places, most restaurants order elite types of bread from state bread-baking factories, such as O’Panas (10 Tereschenkivska), Pervak (2 Rohnedynska), Korona (4 Rohnedynska.) Some developed their own original recipe. For example, Tsarske Selo (721 Sichnevoho Povstannya) has its own wheat bread with dill. The products of the Videnski Bulochky are included in the menu of restaurants Lipsky Osobnyak (15 Lypska) and Dejavu (30 B. Khmelnytskoho.) and in the hotels Premier Palace and Radisson SAS. At restaurant Persona (3 Vorovskoho) they bake their own bread: sprouted grain with a malt and cumin and wheat bread with herbs and poppy seeds.
The low-caloric sorts of bread can be found in baker-shop Ukrayinsky Khleb (Ukrainian Bread) on Maydan Nezalezhnosti, in supermarkets Furshet and in a shop for diabetics Tovary dlya Zdorovya (2 Borysa Hrynchenka). Recently we have seen the rise of chain stores, Mega Market, Metro Cash & Carry and West Line, are selling the same range of bread and bakery products.
Bake House (23 Sofiyivska; 19 Suvorova)
Bulochna (13 Yaroslaviv Val)
