It’s good that I get back to America once a year at least, so that I can reconnect with the great international cuisine that my nation offers. Sure, too many of us Americans are fat, but eating well is one of life’s great pleasures.
My first days back in America are usually spent in Vietnamese restaurants, which we have in abundance, thanks to a mistaken war that my nation waged — and lost — against the communist-nationalist forces of Ho Chi Minh.
One of the upsides to that awful tragedy is a vibrant and entrepreneurial Vietnamese immigrant community, now in their second and third generations in the United States. And the fresh spring rolls and Pho soup served up by those immigrant restaurateurs are exquisite and cheap. America also has loads of Thai, Cambodian, Chinese and others, if Asian food is your favorite.
No such luck in Kyiv.
Does delicious Vietnamese Pho soup exist in Kyiv? Where?
I think I have tried out most of the sparse supply of Chinese restaurants in the capital.
I would say the current king is Bruce Lee, which moved from Prorizna Street to a basement on 3 Gorkoho St. I eat there often and, while I’ve never seen a real Chinese person there (the wait staff are primarily Ukrainian guys), the quality, portions and prices are attractive. I haven’t been down the whole menu, content with the spicy Thai beef salad, chicken with pineapple, szezhuan beef or spicy-sour soup.
Jui Long is also a longtime mainstay on 46B Taras Shevchenko St. It is frequently crowded and visited by real Chinese people, always a good sign, and has authentic Chinese chefs and also waitresses with longevity — another good sign. While waitresses have nothing to do with food, they can be a restaurant’s best ambassadors and longevity suggests that the owner cares and treats them well. But I find the quality of Jui Long only so-so on many dishes.
Downhill from there. I used to visit Lun Van on 26 Bohdan Khmelnytskoho St. The food was good but overpriced. I stopped going after I noticed that, not only was the restaurant mostly empty a lot of the time, the service was terrible. I walked out one time after a long wait to be noticed and predicted this place would go out of business. It did and the building sits empty to this day.
I also had been a long-time customer of Harbin Restaurant on 33A Artema St. Situated in a basement, its surroundings were never pleasant, but the food and prices made up for it. I must have tried half the menu over the years. While the quality occasionally slipped, the place offered up some of the tastiest and most authentic Chinese food in the city. I also saw real Chinese people in the kitchen and got to know the owner at least by facial recognition. I had a 10 percent loyalty discount card, but this place — like other restaurants — cancelled that benefit amid Ukraine’s protracted recession. Then I noticed the excessive turnover of waitresses, always a very bad sign, leading inevitably to bad service and, I feared, slipping quality overall. So I have stopped going.
Then there’s Panda, a Chinese restaurant I have followed from Saksahanskoho Street to its current digs near Palats Sportu metro at 15B Shota Rustaveli St. I used to love their spicy-sour soup and various spicy beef dishes. No more. I went there for lunch the other day, settling in its slightly smelly basement (not a pleasant ambience at all). First, the meal took too long to get to me. Secondly, it didn’t taste good and seemed like the recipe had changed or that it was reheated from a can. I left most of it on the plate. Thirdly, the waitress didn’t even bother to ask why. So Panda is off the list.
I read about other Chinese restaurants in town, like China White on 24 Lesi Ukrainky St., but none of them are near where I work or live, in the center, so I would have to go out of my way to find them.
As for Vietnamese food, I have given up. I don’t think a good bowl of Pho soup exists, much less fresh spring rolls (not fried). The real spring rolls are wrapped in rice paper and contain mint leaves, cooked shrimp, rice vermicelli, lettuce leaves and bean sprouts. If anyone knows of a single Vietnamese restaurant in this city, please send the directions my way. I will gladly go out of my way for the real thing.
I am not sure how Kyiv — a metropolitan area of three million people — ended up with so many Japanese restaurants yet so few from nations with combined populations of more than two billion people — Chinese, Indian, Mexican and Vietnamese. But the unfortunate situation limits the options for diners, leaving us hungry and dissatisfied as we head to another Georgian, Turkish or Italian joint.
Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected].
