The best place for late night talks with a glass of good wine is the kitchen. And Kyiv’s new Kitchen gastro-café claims to be even better for such a purpose. Located in downtown Kyiv on Saksahanskoho Street, the restaurant catches the eye with a number of bright paintings on the walls and small plants in green pots on each of its wooden tables.
The place turned out to be a good spot to catch up on work or reading. The music wasn’t too noisy and the green lamps hanging from the ceiling created an atmosphere to hang out and relax. The venue offers live piano music at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday nights.
The dining room can seat up to 70 guests, so it’s easy to find a table even during unch time. We found one on the pedestal near big window with a nice street view. The waiters showed up immediately to offer their advice on the menu. They also showed up to clean the table mere seconds after we finished the meal.
The menu is a mixture of several cuisines, including Ukrainian, Italian, Georgian and more. It offers traditional Ukrainian varenyky (dumplings) with fruit filling, Italian pastas and a number of steaks, including such unusual ones like ostrich. Ukrainian borsch (Hr 39) is one of the cheapest items on a menu.
Meat lovers will find great choice here, while vegetarians can try one of the many green salads or creamy soups – Minestrone soup and pumpkin soup decorated with pepitas go for Hr 44 each. Anyone with a sweet tooth will appreciate sweet pappardelle pasta with pears and nuts, topped with creamy dressing (Hr 69).
I chose a salad with mushrooms and salmon, with soft cream cheese for Hr 79. It arrived nicely decorated with rucola leaves, and the tomatoes appeared to be rather substantial.
The desserts, however, were not that impressive. One can choose from among Napoleon cake, Italian panna cotta, cheesecake, homemade ice-creams and sorbets. The desserts start at Hr 50. The humble choice of desserts is compensated with a wide range of beverages, including homemade beers and fruity drinks. Bilberry compote turned out to be a good option and helped to wash out somewhat insipid cheesecake (Hr 54) that came topped with raspberry jam. Traditional espresso, cappuccino, ristretto and lattes are available at around Hr 30.
While the venue is on the pricey side, it’s still a cozy place to drop in after a tiring workday.
Kitchen
68 Saksahanskoho St.
Mon-Wed 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Thu – Sun 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.
tel. 502-0272
