Restaurants in Kyiv
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Varenichnaya #1
Specialising in varenyky (Ukrainian dumplings), this mimics the homy interior of an early-20th-century private apartment. Nearly 25 different varenyky fillings are offered. Surely, though, the live piglet in the basket near the door (so cute!) must deter anyone from ordering pork? Careful – beer is obnoxiously expensive here.
reviewed
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Puzata Khata
Puzata Khata ‘Hut of the Pot Belly’ is an upscale stolova and an excellent place for budget travellers to sample traditional Ukrainian cuisine. There are cheap veggie options, delicious pastries and beer, and even hard booze. Other branches are on vul Sahaydachnoho 24 and Pasazh.
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Vesuvio Pizza
Vesuvio serves delicious pizza and sensibly priced Italian food in a quiet, no-frills space near Zoloti Vorota. Long one of Kyiv’s most popular pizzerias, it now has a second location on bul Tarasa Shevchenka, near the St Petersburg Hotel. Both restaurants deliver.
reviewed
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Svytlytsa
This little French eatery in the middle of Andriyivsky uzviz is wonderful and wonderfully affordable. Its famous stuffed crêpes have been curing hungover expats for years, while its summer terrace is one of the best places in Kyiv to watch the world go by. French staples like frog legs and steak tartare liven up the menu, and peckish backpackers can revel in omelettes and pasta dishes for under 20uah.
reviewed
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Mlyn
The upscale Mlyn is a waterfront restaurant housed in an old wooden mill in Hydropark. Open year-round.
Hydropark and Trukhaniv island are both full of fun outdoor restaurants where the emphasis is on eating shashlyk, drinking vodka and dancing to synthesized Russian tunes. You can't say you've been to Kyiv until you've had a long, boozy afternoon or evening in one of the places here.
reviewed
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Le Grand Café
The height of opulence, this French eatery is the place to take a date if you’re out to impress and money is no object. Naturally you’ll spot plenty of politicians, many of them just here to have a snifter of Hennessy in the extravagant piano bar. If you’re wondering what costs 400uah, it’s the Dover sole.
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Khutorok
This wooden paddle-steamer moored on the Dnipro has a cosy Carpathian-style interior. Sit on the deck in summer, or huddle up to the fire in winter, while partaking of delicious shashlyk, green borshch,khrushchenky (beef roulades) or vegetarian options. Watch out for the wandering musicians though.
reviewed
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Concord
Concord delivers the entire package: incredible Euro-Asian fusion food, effortlessly slick interior design and impeccable service. The DJ spins tunes that everybody else will be playing three months from now. The mouth-watering salads here are like temples to the sultan of sassafras, like shrines to the Raman of radicchio.
reviewed
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Kartoplyana Khata
Kartoplyana Khata ‘Potato Hut’ has exploded into a national chain, but this smoke-free original location remains its flagship. The ribs, dripping in grease, have attained legendary status, and burritos are its other speciality. Despite its moniker, the potato is but a minor player here.
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Krym
This dirt-cheap Crimean Tatar basement restaurant spills right out onto sunny maydan Nezalezhnosti in the summer months. There’s a compact menu of Central Asian favourites such as plov (pilaf), manty (dumplings) and laghman (meat stew), plus reasonably priced Chernihivske beer.
reviewed
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Garbuzyk
This fun, if slightly hokey, eatery offers a great introduction to Ukrainian food without breaking the bank. Appetisers like deruny (potato cakes) and borshch cost less than 20uah, and even salmon shashlyk is only 45uah. Wash it down with horilka (vodka; 5uah per shot).
reviewed
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Shalena Mama
This diner-like shrine to the Rolling Stones is a great place to slay the late-night munchies. The Asian-influenced food is named after Stones’ tunes. Try the ‘She Said Yeah’ (sautéed glass noodles with white cabbage and chicken) and follow it with their massive apple strudel.
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Tsarske Selo
This is Kyiv’s quintessential Ukrainian theme restaurant, decorated in rustic 18th-century style and filled with tour groups. Ukrainian staples are superbly done, but the most famous dish is the dessert of salo (cured pig fat) in chocolate – only for the most adventurous.
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Alaverde
Of Kyiv’s many Georgian restaurants this unpretentious little affair is the best value. There’s no English menu; if you’re stuck order some suluguni (Georgian cheese) and anything from the ‘hot dishes; it’s all good (unless you’re vegetarian).
reviewed
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Baraban
This popular journo hangout is hard to find but a colourful cast of regulars manages to do so on a nightly basis. This is the place to talk politics and plot revolutions, and it also has decent food at good prices – including burgers in the 35uah range.
reviewed
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Vernisazh
The atmosphere is arty and the menu eclectic. Dishes exhibit Ukrainian, Thai and French influences and, yes, the chef is talented enough to pull it off. If it’s raining you can kill time admiring the art or thumbing through their colourful coffee-table books.
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Celentano
This is where it all started for the country’s most popular chain restaurant. Its (dare we say revolutionary?) design-your-own-pizza formula remains as wildly popular today as ever. There are about 15 more Celentanos in the city if you miss this one.
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Domashnya Kukhnya
This was the first of the now-ubiquitous fast-food stolovy (cafeterias) to grace the city, and it’s still the largest and the second best in quality. Heap a few dishes and a 4.50uah beer on your tray and skedaddle out to the huge patio.
reviewed
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Osteria Pantagruel
Homemade pasta, risotto and bruschetta is turned out at this whitewashed cellar restaurant by Zoloti Vorota. The warm months see tables and chairs spill onto the square out front – probably the best place in Kyiv for a beer on a summer evening.
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Pasazh
This Austrian-style coffee house is one of several cafés found on and around Pasazh, a hip street accessed through an ornate archway off vul Khreshchatyk. Great for people-watching as you tuck into some of its delicious cakes.
reviewed
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Gorchitsa
Gorchitsa is a tale of two restaurants, one rather stuffy and expensive, the other a frivolous café with an outdoor patio and great breakfasts. Both are French and draw plenty of deputies from the nearby parliament.
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Marrakesh
This showcases three things Ukrainians apparently love – ‘1001 Nights’ Arabian design, couscous and hookah pipes. The food is good but perhaps too bland for true connoisseurs of Moroccan cuisine.
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Himalaya
Himalaya has occupied a prime perch overlooking Khreshchatyk for some time, and somehow it just gets better with age. The Indian food is spicier than you expect in these parts and there are many veggie options.
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Kray
The Chinese chef at this well-kept secret in Pechersk cooks a mean broccoli with garlic sauce, spicy ‘chicken panic’ and various other dishes for vegetarians and omnivores alike.
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King David
This certified kosher restaurant behind Kyiv’s main synagogue has a small café-bar area in front where you can find affordable falafel and pita wraps, and hamburgers for 35uah.
reviewed
