Kavkazskaya Plennitsa serves decent Caucasian cuisine in downtown Kyiv
To be honest I never took much notice, when passing it on Khreshchatyk before – a notice saying “Kavkazskaya Plennitsa” (“Caucasian Prisoner”) in plain letters. Somehow I never even made a connection with the classical Soviet comedy which is its namesake. For some reason I always dismissed it and never felt tempted to find out what was hidden behind the sign pointing into an inner yard. It was so until later, when my friend first mentioned the restaurant and kept bringing it up for a few weeks, saying he feels like some Caucasian cuisine. Unlike me, he noticed the signboard the first time he saw it, simply because he’d been to an eatery of the same name in Moscow and liked it a lot. At last I gave in, checked the place out on the internet, and finding that it sounded quite decent, suggested dining there.
The fact that the restaurant was indeed themed after a film was evident right from the start – first of all by the odd-looking statue which apparently depicted Shurik (the main character of “Plennitsa”) welcoming us by the door, and the hostess, a young girl, was so sweetly amusing in her expressiveness and manners that she herself seemed like a film character. She led us inside the restaurant and offered a seat in the very middle of the hall, but my friend turned the offer down quickly, as it meant not only being out in the open, but also right next to the stage where the band was performing some Soviet pop folklore. As a result we found ourselves in an oblong hall, that looked most appropriate for banqueting, and was obviously used for it, but the music there was not so loud, and we were at least partly hidden from strangers’ eyes, so it was just perfect.
The inside of the place, located underground, was designed as an old castle – walls laid with bricks, with plenty of decor elements referring to its famous namesake. For those who are not familiar with the very classics of Soviet cinema, “Kavkazskaya Plennitsa” is a romantic comedy about a student, the aforementioned Shurik, who goes on holiday to study Caucasian customs on location, and a girl who goes there to visit relatives and gets kidnapped by a middle-aged local official, willing to marry her. Mind you, everything is purely innocent – they keep the girl locked up to persuade her to agree to marry the guy, and she’s not to be harmed in any way.
The menu is also full of connections to the film – every dish bears a name that’s references the movie in some way, but if you have no idea what the means, don’t worry – just choose by the descriptions. All kinds of variations featuring cheese, vegetables, fish and meat, complete with a choice of kebabs and six kinds of shashlik speak for themselves.
Though there was a lot to consider on the menu, I kept my choice simple – a khachapuri (one of about six kinds) and a shashlik. My friend also picked a khachapuri – only a different kind, and salmon steak, as well as a dish of mushrooms with cheese.
It will be fair to observe that the first good impression we got of the service remained the same till the end of our meal – our waitress was very attentive, coming up and introducing herself (something quite rarely seen in Kyiv restaurants) and later on advising us what to choose, offering various options, and asking when to serve the second courses – all that combined with quite outgoing simplicity. I was genuinely impressed.
Soon, we discovered that the food was of a similar, decent nature. My khachapuri “Shampurdze” (Hr 42) – was a roll of puff pastry fried on a brazier and generously filled with suluguni cheese. Just enough pastry for a crunchy feel, lots of cheese and a smoky flavor made it the best khachapuri I’ve had so far. My friend equally enjoyed his Ajarian khachapuri (Hr 38) – a popular kind with a fresh egg on top.
Our second dishes arrived soon after we were done with the starters. A plate of pork shashlik (Hr 77), along with chopped fresh vegetables – just the way I like my shashlik – and a salmon steak (Hr 81) with “Kamasokos Kudebi”(Hr 42), mushrooms with cheese, for my companion.
I must confess, I like shashlik a lot, but as it’s not one of the healthiest dishes, I don’t have it often – except when I just can’t skip it, like when I visit my grandpa in the village, and my uncle, who is a big shashlik fan and unlike me does indulge in it, makes it on an open fire. That’s pretty much all I know about shashlik, which means my judgment about it cannot be called very competent, but the one I had at Caucasian Prisoner was not outstanding, and I thought I liked my uncle’s better. It wasn’t juicy enough, though perhaps this was due to the way it was marinated, which I was not used to. Still, it went quite well with Satsibeli tomato sauce (Hr 12) – one of the less spicy of Georgian sauces, and fresh cucumber, tomato and Bulgarian pepper.
My friend on the other hand was quite happy with his salmon steak, though I especially liked “Kamasokos Kudebi,” the champignon caps filled with cheese, which were perfectly juicy and aromatic.
As my friend finished his Graf Grey tea, I told him the plot of “Kavkazskaya Plennitsa,” as he hadn’t seen it. I insisted he must watch it sometime – luckily films like this are shown on TV repeatedly, and we’re bound to catch it at some point, especially in the pre-holiday weeks – so that when we came to the restaurant a second time, he had a better idea what it was all about.
Kavkazskaya Plennitsa (12A Khreshchatyk, 278-1852). Open 10 a.m. till 11 p.m.
English menu: Yes
English-speaking staff: Yes
Average meal: Hr 150
