You think it’s nothing special when you walk into Tomatoes, a tiny new eatery on Symon Petliura Street near the main railway station.
Clearly decorated on a shoestring, with plain tables and a ventilation system that needs improvement, this new Spanish/Italian restaurant is nevertheless a bit of a hidden gem. It’s still very rough and waiting for a polish – but hey, it’s only been around for a month.
The Spanish jamons (hams) hanging behind the bar are the first hint the restaurant might be something special. Another one is that, if you come at dinner time, all the tables are reserved.
I ended up coming for two days straight, and inviting a friend of mine on the second day. Knowing that I am an eager cook and tend to invite people home for a meal, she was surprised, but said: “When I looked at the menu, I realized why you invited me here.”
Tomatoes has a small menu (by Ukrainian standards), but the selection of dishes is good, and so are the ingredients. If you expect pizza this is not the place to go, but the homemade pasta is one of Kyiv’s best.
The chef says it’s made out of a mixture of farina and semolina flours, using egg yolks to bind the mixture. One day, we asked for plain boiled spaghetti with butter for a child, which is where you can really taste the difference. As a side remark, not only were the staff accommodating about serving a pasta that was not on the menu, they also charged half price for it because it had no sauce (Hr 31.5).
We tried a salmon and mascarpone pasta in a creamy sauce (Hr 67), and it was very smooth and silky, and the sauce ingredients complimented the flavor and texture of the fettuccine.
The gnocchi with two sauces (ricotta with spinach and beetroot, Hr 49) was delicious. Cooked al dente, it was far better than the pumpkin gnocchi with prawns I had at Pantagruel on the same day, even though it’s one of the oldest and most loved restaurants in Kyiv.
While waiting for pasta you can try a cured meats platter (Hr 83). It’s expensive for the size of the portion, but it’s all genuinely Spanish and tastes great. The salad with spinach and goat cheese (Hr 62) was also good, with a placid dressing combined with aromatic cheese, raisins and pine nuts. Lovers of tar-tar (Hr 69) will be happy, too, especially if they ask the chef to leave the tiny croutons out.
The waitress will tell you that meat dishes are good there, and she’s right. I hit the jackpot twice by ordering osso buco with mash one day (Hr 93) and veal ribs with cranberry couscous the next (Hr 99). Osso buco, veal shanks slowly braised in a wine sauce, was falling off the bone and was well worth the money. The ribs were also extremely tender and aromatic.
Tomatoes has an open kitchen, which is very unusual for Kyiv. You can see the cooks working elegantly, knowing they are being watched, from behind the glass from the back room where there is only one table.
Ingredients are key for Tomatoes, and there is even a shop operating on the premises that sells locally sourced farmer produce. The farmers and their foods are advertised through leaflets, as well as the Lavkalavka.com site. Prices here do bite, though.
There are a few disappointments in Tomatoes, too. The menu advertises both white and red Sangria, which was not available on two consecutive nights. With cider, the same story. The choice of wine is poor and even the most basic Italian red from the Valpolicella region goes for Hr 175 per bottle. The home-made lemonade (Hr 25 per glass) is very tasty, though. It comes in several varieties, flavored with different herbs, like thyme and estragon.
Another disappointment was the Crema Catalana, or lack of. This signature Spanish dessert is an equivalent of France’s creme caramel, but the waitress said it had not been made once since the opening even though it features on the menu. The chocolate fondant (Hr 43), a small pastry with a melting heart, is the choice for dessert lovers. An espresso to wash it down goes for Hr 17.
Our waitress had loose long blonde hair, something that is frowned upon in eateries, and is actually forbidden by Ukraine’s strict health regulations. But service was very good, smiles seemed genuine and food and drinks came fast.
Tomatoes might still have a few wrinkles to iron out, but it is certainly one of the tastiest places to eat in Kyiv at the moment. They will certainly see me back – at least while the prices hold.
Gastro Bar Tomatoes
6 Petliura Street
+380-67-502-6604
Dinner for two: Hr 400, approximately
Two-course lunch: Hr 59
Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at gorchinskaya@kyivpost.com
