olha pryymak

Last night my husband turned “..” and we decided to pop into a bar to celebrate. It was Monday night but the scene at Arena bar was very happening. Expats hanged by the bar, tired executives in suits, pimp-looking Ukrainians lounged in booths. Girls in pairs (one pretty girl and another – wing woman) – occupied booths, sipped chardonnay, talked on cell phones, smoked hookah and waited on Mr. Pinchuk to drop by.

Otherwise it’s a very typical “new Ukrainian” place, fully equipped with sushi bar, exposed stainless steel kitchen, mini brewery, and sports on tv. The bar was on the ground floor, the lift in the hall lead into a restaurant on the second, casino on the third, and night club on the fourth, what else? In short, a perfect place for a restless oligarch to meet his needs all-in-one. Fabulous!

Arena City Entertainment – off Baseyna St. across from Besarabka

We finally visited Yakitoria sushi restaurant. Since it was labeled “democratic” I was a bit skeptical about potential food quality. Since I had low expectations, the place actually proved to be quite nice. Usual fare: sushi, other Japanese dishes, teas, at one ethnically asian server per restaurant and fashion TV without sound on. This is about the Artema St. location. Also, I saw a suspiciously similar-looking store front with the same name in London walking on the canal towards Little Venice… The web does not mention this to be an international chain. Marketing idea rip off? Common Japanese term for sushi place?

Great to discover wonderful things around the corner from your house! This specialty fish store is a great find for a fishyterian, particularly precious amongst this meat-centered national cuisine. There are guys there taking the fish apart in bright blue overalls, equipped with saws, all covered in fish blood, brr…
Turgenyivska St. ?35

On a corner of Besarabka market people watching is fun. Cafe Mono offers this and some yummy pastry. Their eastern sweets selection is particularly good. The music there is good, though the messages in between the songs whispered by a particularly sexy woman’s voice promoting their menu annoyed me greatly. Also, they seem to have added a sushi bar downstairs.. next thing will be pasta/caprese salad on the second floor?

2 Besarabska Ploshcha

Lovely concept and decor presented at Puzata Hata in Kyiv. The environment is very relaxed, menu is solid and the prices are low. The most quaint environment is at Besarabka location, the best view from the top floor (on Andriyivska church) from Podil!  There is no menu in English, but foreigners can choose easily get though ordering by pointing at foods they like.

Baseina 1/2A
Sagaidachnogo 24
Khreschatyk 15

It’s terribly hard to find in Kyiv a decent cafe that does not turn into a smoky, boozing bar at night. Repriza offers liquor, but no cigarettes, at least at its Velyka Zhytomyrska St. location. No pictures either to illustrate the post since a very sleazy guard (every Ukrainian establishment has one) whispered me that interior is not to be photographed. Good for them, because this is one thing I was going to criticize – they are too close to Soviet chic in their decor to be charging the prices they do. The chain won awards with Kyiv Post guide.

40/25 B. Khmelnytskoho, 246-4900
38 Velyka Zhytomyrska, 212-1380
10/5 Sahaidachnoho, 417-1908

In the past two years Ukraine survived a supermarket boom. A good example of the species is the Silpo on Podil. It’s in an old building, with great natural light plus super-cute lamp-posts around the perimeter. Things for sale here seem to be somewhat more posh then at the rest of the Silpos in town.

Corner of Sagaidachnogo St. and Skovorody square.

Today I passed by the Ukrayinski Lashoshchi (Ukrainian Sweets) store on B. Khmelnytskogo St. – left with some prunes coated in chocolate. One can not stop listing all kinds of tasties offered there. From looking at still Soviet-styled store display, Roshen brand takes over the market, second runner up is Svitoch, bought up by Kraft and in the past year not living up to its old standards, and other smaller regional sweets producing factories. My favorites are the prunes, classic Bilochka (Squirrel), Ptashyne Moloko (Bird’s Milk), and Strila (Arrow). Even though Strila looks most decadent, beware of taking the box of these though metal detector. On the last trip customs officers opened a box!
12? Bohdana Khmelytskogo St.

Parmesan restaurant on Andriyivsky descent is the latest arrival in Italian fair of Kyiv.  The decor is gorgeous, especially in the restroom.  The sommelier is a cute chubby man. As for food – the second time we were there most our selections wished for the better.   Andriyivsky needs more places at any point of the price range to draw pedestrian public there by night after the art bazaar wraps up. Else, it’s dead there after the dark, apart from rare gallery goers or packs of kids hiking up and down to Podil.

Parmesan
Andriyivsky descent. 34B
279-7896