Entering Malevich, a tiny wine bar in the heart of Kyiv, people usually wonder where the rest of the bar is, says Mitya Yatim, one of its co-owners.
According to him, Ukrainians are not used to microbars — places like Malevich, with only a few tables, a bar counter, and a small restroom. However, he argues that the atmosphere in such bars is usually much friendlier and livelier, which helps visitors to connect.
“Malevich has already become a clubbish set,” Yatim says.
Dmytro Suvinskiy, who is better known under his assumed name Mitya Yatim, opened Malevich in late 2016 with his partner Andrew Peluhovskiy.
The bar serves only Ukrainian wine, and bears the name of a Kyiv-born avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich. Shortly after it opened, the founders learned that Malevich had in fact once lived in the house next to the bar.
Yatim and Peluhovskiy also own three coffee spots called Rozumna Kava (“Smart Coffee” in Ukrainian) in Kyiv, and are preparing to open another bar in the city in June.
Coffee for the erudite
Yatim, 29, and Peluhovskiy, 33, became friends nine years ago after meeting at a party. Both were involved in photography and photojournalism. In 2012-2014, they ran a small photogallery.
In early 2014, they decided to open a coffee place. Investing just about $1,500, the partners set up a coffee kiosk on Kontraktova Square. Being participants of the EuroMaidan Revolution, an anti-government protest of 2013-2014, they offered coffee and tea to their fellow protesters for free.
To comply with the “smart” name Rozumna Kava, they installed a box with paper notes that had questions from all fields of knowledge written on them. While waiting for their coffee, customers could draw a question from the box, and if they answered it correctly, they got a discount.
“Therefore, for the erudite, the coffee was cheaper,” Peluhovskiy says.
Partly due to this perk, Rozumna Kava became popular quickly and paid back as well — less than in two months the partners were able to open a small coffee bar. They have been expanding and moving places since then, in line with the growing and fast-changing Kyiv coffee scene.
“We travel a lot, and we can compare things,” Peluhovskiy says. “In Europe, and worldwide, Kyiv is among the top cities in terms of the intensive development of the coffee culture.”
But while in Western Europe full-size coffee bars dominate the coffee scene, in Kyiv it’s all about small coffee points that serve top-notch drinks for moderate prices, Peluhovskiy says.
Bar for friends
With wine bars, the situation is the opposite to coffee places. In Ukraine, Yatim and Peluhovskiy believe, the perception is that a bar has to be big and fancy. But none of the city’s existing bars appealed to the two friends, so in 2016 they decided to open their own place.
Malevich cost them not more than Hr 100,000 ($3,900), they say, and paid back quickly as well.
According to Yatim, the secret behind the success of Malevich is their friends.
“Our friends saved us in the first month,” he says. “The number of friends who have been coming to Malevich, the number of their friends they have been bringing.”
Peluhovskiy agrees, adding that their “friends help the bar come to life, and have been keeping it alive.”
Anton Pozdnyakov, a 31-year-old event manager from Kyiv, is one of those friends who fell in love with Malevich. He came to the bar for the first time on its opening night, invited by Yatim, whom he had known for almost 10 years.
“I loved it from the first glass of dry red,” he says, adding that the bar’s cozy atmosphere, complimented by the music played there “prove that there are still places with a soul in this city.”
Many restaurateurs like to claim that they opened their places “as if for themselves,” but Peluhovskiy says that in their case it is actually true – they literally opened Malevich for themselves and their friends.
Promoting Ukraine
In terms of a menu for Malevich, Yatim and Peluhovskiy also relied on their own taste. While working on the bar’s concept, they taste-tested Ukrainian wines, and decided to make them the bar’s theme.
Peluhovskiy says they didn’t do it simply to follow the trend of supporting local producers. They wouldn’t have gone for Ukrainian wine if the quality hadn’t satisfied them.
“It needs to have a tradition, a history. Only that way can wine, as with cheese, be good,” he says.
Malevich serves red, white and rose wine, dry and semi-dry, from five Ukrainian wineries. The price of a glass starts at Hr 40. There isn’t much food. The bar offers sets of Ukrainian-produced goat- and cow-milk cheese (Hr 160), as well as olives, stewed tomatoes, peanuts, and Italian grissini breadsticks.
The bar also offers the same coffee menu as Rozumna Kava: 14 types of coffee, including a lavender latte, a salted caramel latte, and a cold brew coffee.
Yatim and Peluhovskiy say they love their 20-square-meter bar and would not want to move to a bigger place.
“The main requirement to a bar is that it has people in it,” Peluhovskiy says. “A bar has to be alive. The smaller the place, the more likely it is to be filled. It’s math.”
The two believe that Kyiv needs more cozy bars where visitors can meet the owners and become a part of the bar’s “family.”
So they are opening a new bar in Kyiv in June, on 33 Olesya Honchara St. It will serve wine and strong spirits on its menu. The working name for the bar is 33, because of its address, and because it’s also the age of Peluhovsky.
And the owners believe the new bar, like Malevich, will soon build a community of regulars.
Malevich. 9 Yaroslaviv Val St. Mon-Fri 8-1 a.m., Sat-Sun 10-1 a.m. +38073 400 7139
Rozumna Kava. 37 Saksahanskoho St., 8 Stepana Bandery Ave., 7 Okhtyrskyi Ln. Mon-Fri 8 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sat-Sun 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
