Newcomer restaurants

In September the whole cycle starts again – back to school, back to work, traffic jams all over the city, weddings and the start of the new restaurant season. Practically all establishments in Kyiv hailed in the first weekend of autumn by organizing evening parties and corporate presentations. Despite the financial crisis, the pre-election battle and the negative forecasts, restaurants are packed and new players are entering the market

Cafe de Paris

Kyiv. 34b Andriyivskiy Desc.

This is e brainchild of Pascal Jean, former head chef of the restaurant at the Premier Palace Hotel.

Cafe de Paris, formerly the restaurant Parmesan located at the very top of St. Andrew’s Descent has proven its popularity. Indeed, reserving a table for dinner is quite difficult. The main idea behind this project was to open the best possible establishment for tourists. The concept was manifested in the “a la Paris” bistro menu, where you will find salads (e.g. traditional tossed lettuce, herbs and warm goat cheese with honey croutons), flaky tarts, light desserts and inexpensive wines by the glass. The cafe works 24-7.

Though the service is not always consistent, the professional attention to detail makes up for it. For example, hot plates, heavy enough silverware, light butter and warm bread.

Old Zaporizhzhia

 27 Sahaidachniy St., Kyiv

A pretentious attempt to revive a legendary restaurant.

The average Soviet cafe Zaporizhzhia was turned into a cult establishment in Kyiv that together with Eldorado, Apollo and Surprise represented the elite restaurant business in the mid-1990s. This is where the brains behind the Old Zaporizhzhia started their professional careers. The owner of the establishment Vitalina Lavrynenko, later the director of Da Vinci and Da Vinci Fish Club, once worked as a waitress here, and Christian Matisse (Havrosh, Svitlytsia) returned to his initial position as head chef.

In the early years of 2000 the attempt to revive the former reputation of Zaporizhzhia with the new concept and name Casa Bella was a complete failure. Besides the tagline “Back to the Future”, today’s attempt number two is based on an expensive eclectic. Dishes like tiger shrimp with guacamole and borshch and dumplings with potatoes and forest mushrooms can be found together with frog legs a la provencale, quail stuffed with goose liver pate (foie gras) and lobster filet.

Shastra

Kyiv. 126a Chervonozoryaniy Ave.

This is a copy of New Bombay Palace with the same owners.

Shastra (weapons in translation) was named in honor of the popular Indian film of 1996. The restaurant’s honorary guest was Sanjay Dutt, an Indian Bollywood film actor and politician.

The interior of the restaurant is decorated in gold with opulent rugs and a collection of weapons. Just as in New Bombay Palace you can watch Indian films on a wide plasma screen TV and the menu offers over one hundred Indian, Indo-Chinese and vegetarian dishes. The establishment is targeted mainly towards for Indians living in Kyiv and lovers of Indian food. Nevertheless, the number of restaurants offering authentic Indian food in Kyiv can be counted on one hand – Bombay Palace, Shastra, Himalaya and Taj.

The Golden Calf

Kharkiv, 79-b Pushkin St. The signature cuisine restaurant opened its doors on August 18 within the “children’s cafe” concept.

Curious residents of Kharkiv immediately checked out The Golden Calf and shared their impressions on the website www.resto.kharkov.ua.

Interior: “Stylish. The furniture, oven and lighting are top of the line. Though it is clearly visible that the expenses were moderate, the place looks fabulous. There are too many tables in the dining area and they are too narrow for two.” Hlamurenko.

Music: “Live jazz. Female vocalist has an awesome voice.”

Personnel: “Untrained. They don’t smile, offer or tell.

Prices: “Above average. I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting we would spend more money.”

Kitchen: “We ordered so much, but could only eat the mushroom soup and drink the tea. The food is great. The steak was delicious and properly done. The desserts are simply indescribable. Work on the cuisine guys!”

FIRST TIME IN UKRAINE

Contemporary cuisine in color

The pilot issue of the new magazine about life and leisure was released in August and the first full issue will come out in September. The monthly magazine Gourmand is a brand new project of the publishers of the male high-gloss magazine Max, which is conceptually a mirror image of the Moscow equivalent Afisha. Yeda (editor: Alexei Zimin).

The main thrust of Gourmand is interviews with celebrities about their gastronomic preferences, culinary sojourns, full-scale presentations of food products and libations and restaurant reviews. Fashionable photo sessions demonstrating elite food products together with luxury items are an appendix to the magazine.

The publishers of Gourmand believer the magazine’s readership is well-to-do people that respect high-end brand names and have money to spend on gastronomic pleasure. 

FIRST TIME IN UKRAINE

Blind folks in Lviv get a Braille menu

A year ago the Lviv Restaurant Guild adopted a decision to gradually introduce Braille menus in its member restaurants on a voluntary basis. As of late Lviv has begun actively developing its tourism industry and the city should be prepared for tourists with sight defects. So far the only printing house in Ukraine that has the equipment to print such menus is in Kharkiv. The printing and paper for them is pretty expensive (UAH 2,000 for five copies).

The first restaurant to introduce a menu for the blind was Centaur in Lviv. There are plans of opening a Braille printing house in Lviv in order to employ blind people that are proficient in reading Braille.