“Have you been to the Milk Bar?” was a question somebody asked me every other week since early March. By the time I finally decided to try out this new venue, it seemed that everybody I know either had been there or tried to get in, but found the place overcrowded.
Tuesday afternoon turned out to be a suitable time to get a table in Milk Bar, a middle-size restaurant in Shota Rustaveli Street. The place was almost filled, with two or three tables left free, but not outside, unfortunately – restaurant’s terrace is very small and fits in just four tables.
The name – Milk Bar – suggests that the menu here has some special emphasis on the dairy products, but it hardly does. The presence of the milk is limited to “hot milk” in the beverages and “The Three Milks” cake.
The menu is a balanced combination of hip but well-tried foods, and includes soups, salads, appetizers, sandwiches and desserts. The Russian-language menu has an irritating number of unnecessary English loanwords, a pretentious gesture common for many venues in Ukraine. A menu in English is available.
The service turned out to be quite fast. It took just around 10 minutes for the staff to bring my lunch companion and I everything we ordered.
We used the time to look around. The crowd was patchy. A young woman at next table was reading a book of Lars von Trier interviews, a middle-aged pilot was having lunch in the corner, and at least two women looked extremely familiar. Just when we came to the conclusion that one of them had something to do with the fashion industry, our food arrived.
Of impressive selection of desserts, I picked “The Three Milks” (Hr 55) and it was a jackpot. Served in a small glass jar, the cake is a soft biscuit soaked with sweet condensed milk and topped with cream. The diet-killing kind of dessert that should probably be banned for sale March to August.
Tomato soup with pesto (Hr 55) lived up to the best expectations. Served with a vegetable muffin with cheese – as any other soup in Milk Bar – it was tasty and substantial.
Taking another glance around, I was surprised to find myself the only one eating dessert. In the restaurant with an impressive choice of desserts exhibited in a showcase, it was salad that ruled the place. Almost every table had a plate of fresh vegetable salad on it. Was it a sign of preparing for the summer season or salads are known to be the best thing here, I don’t know.
My companion, a huge fan of Greek salad, did enjoy this version served for Hr 70. Middle-size cut vegetables and feta cheese were served on a pitta bread, with the salad’s tasty dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar soaking the bread. The feta was “absolutely perfect,” as my friend recalled next day with a dreamy smile.
Overall, Milk Bar seemed a little overpriced, with the average price of any dish bouncing around Hr 70. However, our visit there didn’t bring the slightest dissapointment in food or service – a perfect lunch it was, indeed – so we felt like it was worth it.
If you are watching your weight and have a weakness for perfect desserts, stay miles away from Milk Bar. But in any other case, do book a table here.
Kyiv Post lifestyle editor Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter at
@olya_rudenko.
