While borscht and varenyky are some of the best-known Ukrainian dishes, local cuisine has much more to offer than just soup and dumplings.
Kyiv’s top restaurants upgrade authentic Ukraine recipes with new ingredients to produce new tastes that might surprise not only the city’s guests, but locals as well.
The Kyiv Post has picked out some of the best places serving modern Ukrainian cuisine.
Kanapa
This restaurant is the perfect spot to take a break from walking around the historical part of the city, Andriivsky Uzviz, and to grab a bite of tasty Ukrainian cuisine. Kanapa, owned by Ukrainian restaurateur Dmytro Borysov, offers both traditional Ukrainian dishes such as borscht and holubtsi (stuffed cabbage rolls), as well as the ones with a modern twist: black varenyky (dumplings) with pikeperch, goose liver marinated in white wine and aspic with hare and pheasant meat.
Kanapa also offers tasting sets so guests can sample lots of different kinds of dishes, and has a wide choice of desserts, including their specialty — chocolate candies with salo (raw pork lard). To drink, they serve uzvar (a sweet boiled fruit beverage), tinctures, Ukrainian vodka, signature cocktails, and much more. Apart from a big hall with comfy couches, the restaurant has pleasant tables outside on both floors, and a small courtyard.
Prices: tasting set with alcohol — Hr 1,000, holubtsi — Hr 129, varenyky — Hr 89–129.
Kanapa. 19A Andriivsky Uzviz St. 10–12 a. m. +38044 425 4548
Barvy
Barvy is not only a restaurant but also an art space that exhibits paintings, holds live music events and invites visitors to enjoy art and explore the colors (“barvy” in Ukrainian) of the local cuisine. Apart from traditional red borscht, the restaurant serves green borscht made with sorrel, which is also quite popular among Ukrainians. Barvy also offers Carpathian grilled trout, duck with banosh (corn flour porridge with sour cream) and four kinds of varenyky with both savory and sweet fillings, including must-try ones with cherries.
The restaurant has a choice of desserts, including Kyiv Cake, which combines two airy layers of meringue with cashew, chocolate glaze, and a buttercream-like filling. Their drink menu includes uzvar, berry compote (a sweet cold fruit beverage) and all kinds of alcoholic drinks.
Prices: Carpathian grilled trout — Hr 310, Kyiv Cake — Hr 145
Barvy. 3 Mechnykova St. Mon-Thu, Sun. 10 a. m. — 11 p. m. Fri-Sat. 10 a. m. — 12 a. m. +38098 306 3333
Lubchik
While Ukrainian cuisine differs slightly by region, the southern Odesa region located next to the Black Sea coast has its own gastronomic traditions, as well as distinctive local charm. Lubchik restaurant and beer bar, another place of Borisov’s, is decked out in Odesa style — everything here, from the food to the design, creates a seaside atmosphere.
The restaurant offers a wide range of seafood dishes including crayfish, sprats, mussels with tomato in wine sauce, small shrimps served in cups (as they are sold on Odesa’s beaches), as well as various kinds of fish. They also sell pork kebab, chebureki (deep-fried turnover with meat) and fish broth. The drinks menu lists beer, apple cider and kvas (a very low or no-alcohol beer-like beverage commonly made from rye bread).
Lubchik is located on the charming and quiet Vozdvyzhenska Street and has a beautiful terrace where guests can enjoy their meal in the open air.
Prices: sargan — Hr 149, crayfish — Hr 249–498.
Lubchik. 10B Vosdvyzhenska St. Sat-Sun. 12–3 p. m. +38050 390 6131
Sho
Sho is a newbie in the world of Ukrainian cuisine — the restaurant opened less than two months ago. On their first day working, they say, they had 800 visitors and made over 20 kilograms of varenyky. The restaurant has been a hit for two main reasons — its stylish design in light colors, and modern Ukrainian cuisine.
Sho, which means “what” in Ukrainian, offers veal cutlets with mashed potatoes, holubtsi, borscht, mushroom soup, nalysnyky (thin pancakes) with savory fillings, turkey and rooster in aspic, borscht and more. The restaurant’s drink menu includes mors (a cold berry beverage), uzvar, nastoianky (strong alcoholic drinks made of fruit and berries), cocktails and other liquors.
Prices: holubtsi — Hr 90, nalysnyky — Hr 110–280.
Sho. 18 Mechnykova St. 8–12 a. m. +38044 466 0305
Ostannia Barykada
The name of the restaurant Ostannia Barykada means “the last barricade” and has a double meaning — it is named after the bar that used to be a get-together place for Ukrainian intelligentsia in the 1990s, and it also honors the three revolutions that have taken place on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) over the last 27 years. The restaurant’s halls exhibit artifacts from the revolutions, such as clothes and the weapons of the protesters.
Apart from its educational function, Ostannia Barykada is considered as one of the best restaurants of Ukrainian cuisine. Appetizers include canapes with sprats and tomatoes, various kinds of caviar, and herring with potatoes. The main menu includes home-style fried sausage, which is popular with the locals, red and green borscht, chicken Kyiv (chicken fillet pounded and rolled, coated with eggs and breadcrumbs, and either fried or baked), varenyky, and more. The restaurant also serves wines from Ukrainian wineries and over 20 kinds of cheese made by local farmers — visitors can pick any kinds they like to combine in their own custom cheese set.
Prices: borscht — Hr 49, fried sausage — Hr 69, chicken Kyiv — Hr 98.
Ostannia Barykada. Maidan Nezalezhnosti Square. Enter Globus shopping mall from the side of Liadski Gate. Press the “OB” button in the elevator. 10–12 a. m. +38068 907 1991
Shynok
This restaurant’s internal design recreates the style of village houses made with clay that Ukrainians used to live in hundreds of years ago. Shynok’s dining halls are spacious and light, furnished with comfy couches and chairs. In keeping with its name, which was used for local bars in Ukraine in 18th and 19th centuries, the restaurant serves various kinds of nalyvka (a strong alcoholic beverage made from fruit and berries) and other liqueurs.
As for food, Shynok serves sets of salo, local mushrooms and cheese, deruny (potato pancakes) with mushrooms, caviar or chicken, pechenia (baked potatoes with pork and mushrooms) and 10 kinds of varenyky. They also offer popular Ukrainian desserts: nalysnyky stuffed with cottage cheese and raisins, and syrnyky — pancakes made of cottage cheese, served with strawberries and sour cream.
Prices: salo set — Hr 194, deruny — Hr 99–183, syrnyky — Hr 79.
Shynok. 28B Lesi Ukrainky Blvd. 12–11 p. m. +38044 285 5777
