We cover it all: cafes, artists, buildings, musicians, places and more.
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The pizza at Limoncello Grill.
Think Kyiv’s not a pizza town? Check out these pies, especially the one with tuna fish.
Podil’s side streets. Moody, underlit blocks straight out of the 19th century.
The Hairy Lemon Cafe.The most comfortable restaurant in Kyiv, for a number of reasons: the good stuff on the menu, the low prices, the charming waitresses, the pool tables, the discount cards. This place is truly our home away from home: the soothing place we drop into after work a couple hours after midnight, to down some beers and omelettes and watch sports as the air-conditioning hums, the traffic passes on Lesi Ukrainky on the other side of the picture windows, and the billiard balls click softly.
Bill Pawlowsky, king of expats.
Originally from: Lachine, Quebec, Canada
How he got here: “I’ve been here for five and a half years. I was here six times up until 1999; I worked for a major corporation [in Canada] and all of a sudden my job didn’t exist anymore. So I said I’d to come to Ukraine for a couple months. It was elections in 1999, with a lot of contract people that work in the NGO community, and I ended up staying and helping them, working in communications with the donor community.”
On Kyiv: “It’s Kyiv. It’s very cosmopolitan and at the same time it’s got a certain, as the French say it, je ne sais quoi about it that makes it unique.”
Favorite drink: Summer: Chernihivske “Biyle” with a slice of lemon. Winter: dry red wine or vodka on the rocks with a slice of lemon.
Where to find him: Baraban (The Drum).
Yulia Tymoshenko.
We suspect that if she’d been the opposition candidate for the presidency this fall, it would be a different campaign. Maybe not a different result, but a different campaign. It’s always a thrill to see her kicking her opponents’ asses in the Rada, or, in her sunglasses, out on the town.
Cuban cigars. U.S. citizens will understand.
BREAD.
Oleh Hapon. Marche’s Oleh Hapon hasn’t steered us wrong yet: He’s part of what makes one of our favorite high-end Kyiv restaurants so good. Plus, he won the Best Sommelier in Ukraine 2003 honors, among other awards. There are other people in this town who know their wines, but this month, he’s our favorite.
The bar at Le Cosmopolite. Kyiv isn’t a place in which people are used to sitting at bars: it’s a cafe-table kind of town. That’s fine, because it means we can always find a stool at this brasserie straight out of Montmarte. Little is more pleasant than hanging out at the spacious zinc bar and having a beer, or ordering some food from the menu.
Ghurt Yo’Ghurt. The music of Ghurt Yo’Ghurt is often called Irish quasi-folk. That’s not quite true, but it’s not incorrect, either. Frontman and violinist Kyrylo Borodin leads his huge band through traditional Irish music, jazz and rock. Check ’em out at O’Brien’s Irish Pub.
Jogging on the Pedestrian Bridge.
The metro. Whatever anyone might hate about Kyiv’s underground (it’s crowded and smelly, among other things), it is quick, efficient and a cheap way of getting around the city. Plus, it’s fun to people-watch on the escalators.
Furshet, the western-style food hall in the Mandarin Plaza basement. Lots of expats would starve without it.
Turn-of-the-century tools and household items for sale at the Sinniy Rynok.
Hydropark. Kyiv’s rinkdy-dink amusement park is a seedy, run-down paradise. We love the rides, the beer, and the rows of ping-pong tables and badminton courts, if not the early-summer hordes of mosquitoes.
Andriy Kovalyov. He’s that strange breed: a celebrity bartender. He’s worked at all the Eric’s Family eateries and moved last year to Marokana, where – with his charm and charisma – he fast became a favorite. Now he’s at Decadence House, on Shota Rustaveli. Kovalyov isn’t only a mixologist, he’s also a bit of a psychologist, knowing when to pick you up or ease you down, and what you need to be drinking at any given moment.
Public holidays.
Kyiv movie theater. Soviet luxury remade for Ukraine’s new bourgeoisie. You can go to sleep in the chairs. A prince could set up his court in the lobby.
Walter Rossit. Italian Walter Rossit came to Kyiv from Venice in 1994 to revive restaurant Apollo, then stayed to create two great Italian eateries: Moskovskaya 22 and Limoncello Grill. His formula is PPG – Pizza, Pasta and Gelato – and that sounds good to us. He’s done more than anybody else here to mainstream Italian food.
The Babyn Yar monument. A rare example of how oppressive Soviet esthetics can be expressive, powerful and totally appropriate.
Being able to open a beer anywhere in the city, anytime of day.
Fresh trout. For a while now, the city’s been lousy with them, and in a country where the seafood isn’t great, that’s a fine thing. Choose your own from the live tanks at Furshet, Simpatic and elsewhere.
Second Breath Blues Band. Blues-rock that can play anywhere. The rhythm section is tight, they play with lots of energy and they have tons of material, only a fraction of which they play on any given night at Docker Pub, Garage or elsewhere. Catch them when you can.
Antonio Ruiz. Antonio Ruiz, chef at the Argentinean gem El Asador, had to come the long way around to get to Kyiv. He’s worked in France, the United States, Israel and Russia, but we hope he likes Ukraine best, because we like having his deft grilled meat dishes around, especially now that it’s getting colder and we need the iron.
Svetlana Yermakova. This Kyiv artist highlights Ukraine’s rich folklore traditions as well as themes from western folklore, astrology and mythology. She sells her etchings every other day from a stall right next to Gallery 36 on Andriyivsky Uzviz.
Mad Heads. Ukraine’s only rockabilly band: loud, sweaty and energetic. They’re Ukraine’s answer to the Reverend Horton Heat. No one sits when they play. Look for them at Docker Pub, Store 205 and elsewhere.
Julia Borodaj. This young enamelist creates works that are splashed with color and alive with energy and motion. Lately she exhibited at Art Blues on Andriysky Uzviz; look for her work around again soon.
Fireworks.
Contrabanda. Speeding Lisa has a lock on the hard-rock classics like AC/DC and Nirvana, but Contrabanda bashes out tunes by the Police, early 1990s stars like the Spin Doctors and Blondie. In other words, the lighter stuff. No one does a better take of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and “Call Me” than Contrabanda. Lead guitarist Ihor is the band’s secret weapon.
Beaches.
Serhiy Kolyada. Serhiy Kolyada got in hot water with Kyiv’s art establishment with his ballpoint-on-construction paper productions, portraying Kyiv as a melancholy zone of shadows. Check out his Web site (www.kolyada.com) to see his nude or semi-nude women depicted against shadowy backgrounds of corporate slogans. It’s art as social commentary: gutsy reflections on money, power and gender issues in Ukraine.
Vladimir Kirilenko. Pianist Vlad Kirilenko plays jazz that’s just right for the early evening, especially in the relaxing confines of the Baboon bookstore/restaurant. Kirilenko and his accompanying musicians on stand-up bass and drums are accomplished musicians, but it’s less about chops and more about the atmosphere they create. Within it, you can read a book with a glass of wine or talk to your friends about politics without having to struggle to be heard over the music.
Golden-domed churches. St. Volodymyr’s, St. Sofia’s, St. Michael’s, the Lavra, the Uspenskiy Monastery and many others. Seeing one over the next hill while out for a walk can be inspiring.
…And 20 Not-So-Great Things About Kyiv
1. Black Mercedes sedans.
2. Black Mercedes SUVs.
3. Man-purses.
4. The #14 Lesi Ukrainky marshrutka.
5. Addicts passed out in the woods above the Pedestrian Bridge.
6. Those shoes with the curled-up, pointed toes.
7. You can’t cross the damn street. Just try to walk from one side of the intersection to the other where Lva Tolstoho and Chervonoarmiyska meet, behind Mandarin Plaza. Without risking your life, you can’t. You have to take a dingy detour through Metrograd, the underground mall.
8. Underground malls. Kyiv is a beautiful city. Why hide so much of the shopping away in dingy underground tunnels with stale air and depressing light?
9. Carp dishes.
10. The pay toilets at Libydskiy Market.
11. Overdubbed movies. Subtitles are good enough for the rest of the world. Only in Kyiv (and the rest of Eastern Europe) does Bernie Mac talk Russian.
12. Poor zoning. Get set for a 57-story office-tower, coming soon to a quiet residential district near you.
13. “Caesar salad.”
14. Sunflower oil instead of olive oil.
15. Mayonnaise instead of olive oil.
16. The shakedown artists who check for punched tickets on the buses.
17. No pick-up-after-your-dog laws
18. Georgian tobacco.
19. Bulgarian/Turkish fashions.
20. Russian television.
