While most city cafes offer food and drinks, others can entertain you in other ways.
For example, while waiting for your order at Hudgraph on Tarasivska street, you can amuse yourself by drawing, painting or modelling. In Kupidon on Pushkinska, you can dig through the shelves of antique literature and stands of hand-made accessories. In art club 44 on Khreshchatyk, you can browse exhibited photos and paintings.
Antresol, a book cafe on the corner of Khreshchatyk and Taras Shevchenko Boulevard, focuses mainly on literature, although you can also purchase DVDs, exhibited photos and paintings there, as well as choose funny presents designed by Artemiy Lebedev’s studio.
An impressive lineup of bonus features, I should say!
Even when passing Antresol in the street, you cannot help noticing the place is special – big windows offer a fine view of the interior and the windowsills are studded with flowers growing in bright-colored pots, while bird cages decorated with colorful fabric hang from the ceiling. Inside you are welcomed by comfortable sofas draped in natural materials of different shades and covered in small cushions. Soft unobtrusive music is always playing at Antresol, merely creating the atmosphere, and doesn’t bother those trying to read. Cozy seats by the windows seem to be perfect for sitting with a book – the bright daylight provides a far better condition for your eyesight then the depressing dim light in regular city eateries.
While at present Antresol is the only proper book cafe in town, there used to be two more – all three being members of the Baboon Family of restaurants. After Baboon on Khmelnytskoho and Kvartyra on Khoryva closed down, Antresol remained the only lucky survivor. However, Baboon promises to open more book cafes in the nearest future, offering not only an impressive selection of books, but also writers presentations and poetry readings there.
All literature sold at Antresol is managed by a so-called “librarian,” an assistant sitting at the entrance near the book shelves. He or she will help you to choose something from fiction, science, books for children, and books in foreign languages. There are also some Ukrainian magazines lying in a pile on the cashier’s desk and on the bar, so you can always get updated on the latest events in the capital. The library at Antresol is regularly supplied with new additions, which are advertised on a special page in the menu and exposed on the front shelf. Among the latest arrivals is a collection of short stories by the Russian writer Viktor Pelevin for Hr 77, a collection of articles written by the prominent music critic Artemy Troitskiy during 1974-1991 for Hr 105, and “The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana” – the latest novel by Umberto Eco (Hr 189). You can borrow any of the books to read while you’re there, and if you choose so, you can buy it. The prices are lower then those in central book stores, as books are usually not brand new – someone has scanned through them before you.
Antresol is one of few places in Kyiv, where you can purchase Moleskines. These popular notebooks, usually with a black cover and a rubber string to fasten the pages, have become a real fetish abroad. In Ukraine, they are seldom met and are quickly sold out. When I dropped by at Antresol not long ago, I found only a narrow assortment remaining: small diaries for Hr 88 and large ones for Hr 110-150, and city notebooks for Hr 135. However, the shop assistant assured me that a new Moleskine collection is expected in November.
As for DVDs of classic and arthouse movies, they are sold for standard city prices – Hr 50 on average. The choice isn’t too outstanding: the same assortment is offered in audio-video stores at Metrograd.
Besides literature and films, Antresol boasts a wide choice of dishes and drinks as well, though the prices are rather high for a cafe – tea for Hr 35 is an expensive addition to regular book readings, I daresay. Actually, before Antresol, the place existed under a different name – Fruktopia (the combination of words “fruit” and “utopia,” probably aimed to advertise fresh and healthy food of the eatery). Though the name changed, the menu still offers lots of healthy options, like a long list of fresh juices, including pineapple (Hr 90) and mint-lemon-grapefruit (Hr 35). As for food, the menu contains not only European dishes, but a wide sushi menu as well (standard price for a roll is Hr 75). Besides, as one of my friends claims, Antresol mixes decent Mohito cocktails.
Antresol (2 Tarasa Shevchenko Boulevard, 235-8347).
