It is difficult to surprise Kyiv citizens with new tastes and flavors. But Canadian-born Anton Waschuk knows one simple recipe that is still unknown to most Ukrainians.
Waschuk, who moved from Canada to Ukraine more than three years ago, recently launched a street food cafe called Os Los that has become the first venue in the capital to serve poutine, a traditional Canadian meal that includes French fries, cheese, and gravy.
Waschuk, 26, says he felt the need for Ukrainians to try something new instead of the “pizza, sushi, burgers, and shawarma that are offered on every corner.”
He launched Os Los (“here is a moose” in Ukrainian) together with his partner, Iryna Volokha, in March 2019. Shortly after it opened, the co-founders realized that poutine was growing quite popular among Ukrainians. Now, they plan to expand the menu and launch a second venue offering some more Canadian snacks.
“Ukrainians are eager to broaden their taste palates. That is why we are here,” Waschuk says.
Canadian in Ukraine
Even though Waschuk spent most of his life in Canada, where he was born, he speaks Ukrainian fluently and says he was raised in a family that honors Ukrainian customs and traditions.
“I did not feel like I’m a Ukrainian in Canada. I always felt like a Canadian of Ukrainian origin,” he says.
Waschuk’s grandparents immigrated to Canada during World War II. So both Waschuk’s parents are Ukrainians who were born in Canada. He also has another important tie to Ukraine: his uncle, Roman Waschuk, is Ottawa’s ambassador in Kyiv.
Waschuk visited Ukraine for the first time as a child in 2004 and says he will never forget that first trip.
“It was all different,” Waschuk says. “At that time, I could not really understand why it was different, as I had never been to any of the Eastern European countries before,” he says.
Waschuk says one of his brightest memories of Ukraine is when he first tried pizza at the railway station during his visit to Uzhhorod, a city behind the Carpathian Mountains that’s located some 800 kilometers west of Kyiv.
He never expected to get a pizza with mayonnaise instead of mozzarella cheese and was “literally shocked” when he tried it.
“That was the point when I figured out where I was,” Waschuk laughs.
Despite unpleasant experiences in Ukraine — Waschuk had his passport and plane ticket stolen here — he still decided to come back to the country. In 2015, he returned for an internship at the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, an economic technical assistance fund that supports private enterprises in Ukraine and Moldova.
He says he was inspired by the people around him, who were “not born in Ukraine, but truly in love with the country.” For that reason, he decided to stay.
Waschuk has worked at Western NIS Enterprise Fund since 2016, and currently combines the job with his other passion: food.
But despite having a fulltime job, Waschuk says he still works at Os Los on weekends. And before they hired employees, he and Volokha had to prepare and serve the food themselves.
Not Vladimir Poutine
It took Waschuk and Volokha nearly eight months to make their dream come true and to finally establish a Canadian fast food restaurant in Kyiv.
The co-founders say they named the venue as they did for a reason: a moose is a typical animal for Canada, but a rare one in Ukraine.
“In Canada, we usually make jokes that a moose is our house pet,” Waschuk says.
Waschuk and Volokha decided to combine images of Canadian and Ukrainian “house pets” and use their own pet as the symbol of the cafe. As a result, the logo features a Yorkshire Terrier dog pictured with moose antlers.
Os Los is hidden in Kyiv’s downtown in an archway on busy Velyka Vasylkivska Street. The small venue can currently seat only two people, so most of Os Los’ clients take poutine to go.
According to Volokha, they never wanted to change or hide the name of the dish, which some Ukrainians might pronounce incorrectly and make it sound like the last name of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Instead, we explain to all our customers that it is a French word that has nothing to do with Putin,” Volokha says.
And despite nearly 50 customers dropping by each day, the co-founders still explain to almost every person that poutine is not regular French fries: it is cooked and served in a different way.
Waschuk and Volokha never use frozen ingredients, only fresh potatoes that were soaked before cooking and then hand-cut by the venue’s employees. To serve some authentic poutine in Kyiv, the co-founders also import the gravy from Canada every week, hoping to bring some new eating habits to Ukraine.
“This is what Canadians eat on every street corner,” Waschuk says.
New Flavors
Unlike traditional Canadian poutine, which is mainly served with meat gravy, the Ukrainian version uses vegetarian gravy made from soy. But despite the difference in ingredients, the taste is the same.
“The sauce has some meat, vegetable, and mushroom flavors,” Waschuk says.
Apart from fries and gravy, poutine is also served with cheese that melts on top of the fries, making the meal even more flavorful.
Canadians traditionally use cheese curds, salty pieces of curdled milk that taste similar to cheddar. But Ukrainian poutine is served with local cheese, which is less salty and has a milder taste.
Os Los offers one size of poutine: a standard portion of 300 grams. It is also possible to add some additional ingredients like avocado or meat cut into cubes for an additional cost. One can also choose between spicy and mild options.
The standard portion costs Hr 50 (less than $2). For some additional avocado or meat one will pay another Hr 20 ($0.75). The food is served in a takeaway paper box with the customer’s name on it.
Waschuk says he does not plan to launch any food delivery services as he believes poutine should be eaten hot, right after it is prepared.
Even though Os Los currently serves only one dish and some drinks, the co-founders say they will expand the menu soon and plan to launch some “tasting weeks,” when visitors can try different offerings and choose which one they want added to the menu.
Apart from that, they plan to add some Canadian desserts and to open a second venue in Kyiv, where visitors can sit and enjoy some new flavors from Canada.
“I think that when people launch something new in the city and add some new tastes and flavors, they make (Kyiv) better,” Waschuk says.
