I surely couldn’t help noticing it: a plate with Zer Gut pub written on it. It was placed on top of one of those big green tubes that cover up the entrances to underground parking lots near office complexes, one of which houses the Kyiv Post.
I’ve walked past it several times, wondering what it might turn out to be, and when the “Very Good” place finally opened up a while ago, I hurried to have lunch there with a couple of colleagues.
Behind the door to Zer Gut, you’ll find a kind of a tunnel with a round roof of green plastic that creates a greenish glow, and makes you feel like you’re entering a different dimension. But once you’re past the tunnel, there is a traditional-looking pub that consists of one big room, separated by columns, with a bar and heavy wooden tables (there are 140 seats overall), castle-style high-back chairs and lamp shades of forged metal that also look slightly medieval. There is also a small stage where live music is apparently played in the evenings.
The menu is a nice combination of drinks and food to go with them. The focus is obviously on beer, mostly draught, and mostly famous European brands (you won’t find any Chernihivske or Slavutych here) – Blanche de Bruxelles (Hr 25 for 0.5), Carlsberg, Krusovice light and dark (Hr 25), Murphys Red (Hr 30); Paulaner – light, dark, and unfiltered (Hr 26); Heineken, Leffe Blonde and Brown, as well as Corona and Desperados – in bottles.
Once you pick your suds, choose yourself a perfect beer snack – flambe sausages (Hr 28), fried cheese sticks, grilled sausages, pork leg German-style (Hr 120), tiger shrimp with garlic (Hr 67). In addition you can order a plate of assorted vegetables (Hr 25), pickles (Hr 45), cheese (Hr 60) or meat (Hr 50).
If you feel like a serious meal, though, check out the salad section that contains classics like Greek salad and Caesar – with turkey (Hr 47) or salmon (Hr 55), Mexican spicy salad with fried chicken seasoned with sauce called “mayonnaise-ketchup-chili” (Hr 38) or seafood cocktail (Hr 67). Hot snacks are represented by pancakes and several kinds of deruny (Hr 18 to Hr 37). Finally there are main dishes such as grilled chicken fillet, chicken shashlik (Hr 40), chicken with pineapple and cheese (Hr 52), French schnitzel with tomatoes, cheese and mushrooms (Hr 55), Zer Gut assortment of meats (Hr 180), and fish – teriyaki salmon (Hr 65), oil-fish under with cheese sauce (Hr 70), and four kinds of spaghetti – Hr 47 to Hr 65.
If you’re not into beer, check out the extensive wine list, which includes bottles from France, Italy, Georgia and Chile, plus a selection of whisky, rum, tequila, vodka and other alcohols. The menu of cocktails is a long one too.
We made our choices rather quickly and the food started coming soon enough, but in an awkward order. I, who opted for cream of mushroom soup and Cesar salad with turkey (Hr 47), got the salad first. This could be somewhat understood – as salad is generally a cold dish, and the soup – hot. However, one of my companions who also ordered soup and a main dish had gotten nothing at all yet. The other received her pancakes with mushrooms and chicken (Hr 28) before her salad, which obviously should have been the other way around. Moreover they were cold (while listed among hot appetizers on the menu) and the “cream sauce” turned out to be common sour cream. Apart from that, they were quite all right for homemade pancakes. My salad was fine, with bits of turkey fried in sesame seeds and seasoned mustard sauce, and the portion was generous. Our third friend helped herself to bread, as 15 minutes later her soup hadn’t arrived.
In the meantime the friend who finished pancakes got her salad, dubbed on the menu as “Unagi Eel” (considering that unagi means “eel” in Japanese, it was quite funny) for Hr 70. What she got was pieces of eel topped with a heap of several kinds of lettuce mixed with wakame seaweed. She finished the salad, but the two soups still hadn’t arrived. I didn’t care much as Caesar was enough for me, but my companion who didn’t manage to get any food yet was starving. It was amazing. How could a soup take so long? Usually it’s the easiest thing to order (it was also officially lunch time at the restaurant, with a special discount of 15 percent on all dishes). Alas, when I indignantly demanded from the waiter to tell me what was wrong, he calmly replied that it was almost ready. He certainly was being professional – keeping his composure despite his customers’ irritated remarks. But this didn’t cheer us up so much. When the two cream of mushroom soups (Hr 40) were finally placed on the table in small deep bowls, we found that at least there would be no complaints about the quality – the soup was of thick, creamy consistency with a distinct mushroom flavor, though it could use a little extra salt. Whether the chef had to cook it from scratch, or if there were any other reason it took so long, we never found out. The waiter refused to acknowledge there was any problem. So I guess we could have burst into the kitchen and demand ed some answers. But I was already too full, and my starved companion was busy stuffing herself – first with the soup, and then the main course – salmon with mushroom sauce (Hr 70) and grilled vegetables (Hr 38). Both dishes turned out well done, though nothing extraordinary.
As we had our fresh juices – apple (Hr 25) and grapefruit (Hr 20), watching our third friend finish her meal, I observed that though it was good to have Zer Gut in the area – there are very few decent eateries around – the place had a few things to improve, like the timing and serving dishes in decent order. After all, the assortment of beer was certainly impressive, the menu looked fine, the TV sets showing sports could certainly be a hit during important games. A bit more serious attitude – and it will surely be all zer gut.
