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The members of The Ukrainian Connoisseur Club enjoyed Ciro’s Pomodoro Italian food and warm hospitality. Courtesy photo The main intrigue around the opening of Ciro’s Pomodoro last month was its owners – Eugenia and Sean Carr, daughter and son-in-law of Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

However, the members of the Ukrainian Connoisseur Club who gathered for the meeting at the new restaurant on May 18 soon discovered that the celebrity couple (who were not present at the event) are far from being the only reason to check out the place.

First of all, the true star of the place is Ciro Orsini – the founder of the Ciro’s Pomodoro international restaurant chain which has venues in London, Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Beijing, among others. Secondly, Orsini himself is friends with many world-famous celebrities, who have become his dedicated clients. The evidence of this can be seen all over the restaurant – photographs of Orsini with actors Johnny Depp, Andy Garcia, Al Pacino and Denny de Vito, singers Lionel Richie, Phil Collins and Kylie Minogue and designer Stella McCartney to name just a few, solidly cover brick walls in several halls of the restaurant. In fact, even the menu is studded with famous names – certain pizzas are indicated as favorites of Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery and Clint Eastwood. There is hardly a better advertisement for the place than this. Besides, it’s also enjoyable to know that you’re dining on the same food as your idols, without having to pay a fortune for it.

Reportedly, the idea to open Ciro’s Pomodoro in Kyiv emerged when Eugenia Carr became a patron of the London restaurant, and offered Orsini to expand his chain to Ukraine. Ciro’s occupies an expansive space in the basement on Shota Rustaveli with three stylish halls – a bar by the entrance and two restaurant areas, including one for non-smokers where concerts of small local bands are held every evening. The tables of dark wood are accompanied by retro-style chairs with rounded backs and leather upholstery with rivets, as well as red sofas.

As the gourmet dinner began, and the waiters rolled out the starters, I noticed one peculiarity – every guest was simply offered to choose between a red and a white wine, as opposed to getting a designated wine to accompany every dish, as it is usually the case at the TUCC meetings. On the other hand, this fitted the concept of the place – simple and delicious home-style Italian food and very easy ambience called for one main drink of the evening rather than meticulously picking wines with a skilled sommelier. The white wine that I preferred was appropriately cool and refreshing – perfect for the warm weather.

The dinner began with Vitello Tonnato – thin slices of veal topped with tuna capers sauce and Angus beef carpaccio with rocket lettuce and parmesan – both enjoyable and satisfying. The hot appetizer, Rollino, was a pizza bread roll with radicchio, mozzarella and fresh diced tomato and garlic mix, giving the guests a good idea of what Ciro’s pizza (Hr 47 to Hr 120) is like – obviously magnificent.

The starters were followed by homemade pasta (Hr 72 to Hr 120), which in Italy is considered a first course – like soup in Ukraine. We sampled ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach in radicchio sauce, Tagliatelle with Porcini mushrooms and truffle oil – perfect Italian classic, and gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce that make my mouth water even as I write these lines.

For the main course we were offered to try both meat and fish: Saltimbocca – veal with Parma Prosciutto and butter sage sauce, served with mashed potatoes that tasted like an improved version of popular Ukrainian veal chop; and Branzino – grilled Mediterranean sea bass on a bed of lettuce – aromatic fish with smoky flavor.

The dinner was finished off in a smart and very expected way – with Tiramisu, that was as airy, soft and overall delightful as it could ever be. Shots of Limoncello served along with it only added to the pleasure.

As I walked out, saying hearty goodbye to the Italian host of the evening, I saw Ciro’s patrons leisurely hang out by the bar, while the band played in the next room (its performance was broadcast live to other parts of the restaurant). I thought that it definitely deserves another visit: to try Jack Nicholson’s favorite pizza and dissolve in the Italian welcoming atmosphere, listening to live music till the early morning hours.


Ciro’s Pomodoro (12 Rustaveli, 221-4545). Open noon till 5 a.m.

English menu: Yes

English staff: Yes

Average meal: Hr 150