Chinese cuisine is rightly famous for mixing a range of different flavors in one dish: pineapple with fatty pork, chicken with sweet and sour sauce, or shrimp with garlic and coconut. Chinese cuisine is found in every major city and in a lot of minor ones as well.
The Kyiv Post checked out some of the best Chinese restaurants in the capital.
Bao
Opened in 2015, this restaurant offers a less spicy and fatty version. The menu, developed by a chef of Columbian origin, Hector Jimenez-Bravo, offers soups, seafood, meat, noodles, desserts and vegetarian dishes. Meat lovers should try the traditional Peking duck, made with the chef’s special secret recipe. Bao’s range of vegetarian dishes include Chinese ravioli dim sums, spring rolls and romaine lettuce rolls with mango, avocado and spicy peanut sauce.
Bao greets its visitors with a modern chic look. The two-floor restaurant has seats for up to 120 visitors as well as a spacious summer terrace. The restaurant includes four separate rooms, and has a traditional Chinese banquet table that can seat up to 42 people.
Bao positions itself as a premium class restaurant, with prices ranging from Hr 300–600 per dish. The restaurant also offers four-course lunches for Hr 349, Mon — Fri, 12–17 p. m.
Prices: Peking duck full — Hr 1,377, fried rice with seafood — Hr 439, golden crispy lobster bites — Hr 397, red dim sum with crabmeat — Hr 477.
BAO (14/1 Mechnykova St.) 12 p. m. — 12 a. m. +38067 693 9898
Kitayskiy Privet
Located at the bottom of Afanasyev Yar, the restaurant has a modern Asian café look, surrounded by bamboo sprouts and bushes. Opened in August 2016, the venue soon became popular for its traditional Chinese chicken in sweet and sour sauce, together with its exotic appetizers — fried crickets and maggots.
Kitayskiy Privet offers plenty of traditional Chinese dishes, including Peking pork, prawn crackers, beef soups and others, prepared by Chinese chef Xiang Wensheng. The restaurant has a number of options for those who relish hot and spicy food, such as hot-sauce duck, spicy beans with shiitake mushrooms, and hot soups with beef or chicken. The current special offer includes various fruit bowls, alcohol and non-alcoholic cocktails, as well as its famous Hong Kong waffles, which come in two flavors: chocolate and vanilla.
The white walls of the restaurant are decorated with a number of bright neon signs, and a three-meters-high sculpture of cat greets visitors. There is live piano music every Thursday.
Kitayskiy Privet’s colorful menu is also in three languages: Ukrainian, Chinese and Russian.
Prices: Vanilla Hong Kong waffle — Hr 125, shrimp chips — Hr 60, chicken in sweet and sour sauce — Hr 100, spicy beans with shiitake mushrooms — Hr 125.
Kitayskiy Privet (7 Ivana Franka St.) 12–11 p. m. +38095 556 9977
People sit inside a three-meters-high sculpture of a cat, try Chinese cuisine at Kitayskiy Privet restaurant in Kyiv, on Aug. 28. (Volodymyr Petrov)
Kitai
Established in November 2015, the two-floor restaurant features luxurious furniture combined with Chinese red paper lanterns. The venue also offers outdoor tables for its guests.
Peking duck is among its most popular dishes, with its crispy skin and juicy meat inside. Kitai also offers a selection of Chines teas, including traditional green tea, citrus with saffron, or mint tea for Hr 70.
Besides Chinese food, the restaurant also serves some Thai dishes, such as traditional tom yam hot and sour soup. However, staff say the menu is about to be changed, so some items might not be available for much longer. The lunchtime meal deal includes two courses and a drink for Hr 133, Mon — Fri, 12:12–16:16 p. m.
Prices: Rice with chicken and shrimps — Hr 188, spring roll with eel — Hr 155, pork or chicken with pineapples — Hr 155, eggplant with tofu — Hr 155.
Kitai (29 Vyacheslava Chernovola St.) 10 a. m. — 11 p. m. +38098 177 977
Jiu Long
One of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Kyiv — Jiu Long (nine dragons) — is probably the best choice for those looking for authentic Chinese food. Located in a courtyard across the boulevard from Universitet metro station, the venue boasts an assortment of more than 250 dishes, including beef and pork with hot sauces, crispy fried tofu, shrimp with pineapple, Gong Bao shrimp balls, seafood soups and stewed young bamboo in butter sauce. For dessert, try the fried litchi with caramel, or Chinese pumpkin pancakes.
The restaurant has two floors, with five halls seating almost 130 people.
Prices: Chicken with sweet and hot sauce — Hr 190, Gong Bao shrimp balls — Hr 215, fried shrimps — Hr 215, fried octopus — Hr 178, apples with caramel — Hr 80.
Jiu Long (46V Taras Shevchenko Blvd.) 11 a. m. — 11 p. m. +38044 235 7350
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee, a restaurant with tasty food and a simple design, is best known for its Peking duck and carp in soy sauce. The venue also offers typical Chinese Sichuan veal and pork with fish flavor. One can also try snake vodka or wine, a traditional Chinese alcohol infused with whole snakes. Vegetarians can experience homemade tofu with vegetables, roasted wood mushrooms, bamboo shoots sautéed with mushrooms or seafood with vegetables.
Visitors try traditional Chinese food at Bruce Lee restaurant in Kyiv, on Aug. 28. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
Bruce Lee has a special Happy Hour offer: two dishes for the price of one from Monday to Friday, 3–6 p. m. Food delivery is also available.
Prices: Crispy duck with sweet and sour sauce — Hr 188, pork in garlic sauce — Hr 138, tiger prawns in spicy sauce — Hr 368, fried milk — Hr 78.
Bruce Lee (55 Zhylianska St.) 10 a. m. — 11 p. m. +380044 360 7060
