Some good news for fans of Vietnamese cuisine: Finally, there’s a place in the heart of Kyiv where one can find a bowl of traditional pho soup and fresh spring rolls.
Bite & Go, a tiny café on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard near Khreshchatyk Street, decided in December to start serving up two of the most popular Vietnamese dishes.
The café’s owner, Vladyslav Maksymov, told the Kyiv Post that he added Vietnamese dishes sampling the cuisine in France and Germany. With more than 20 years in the business, he’s sure that Vietnamese cuisine will soon be a hit in Ukraine.
“This trend will catch on in Kyiv, because the food is healthy, nourishing, but light and affordable,” Maksymov said.
Bite & Go, which opened almost two years ago, tries to stay on top of the latest trends. The café is has only about a dozen small tables and an open kitchen at the end of a single room. But food is king: Bite & Go also specializes in street food delicatessens from various countries.
Maksymov hired Vietnamese cook Hien Phan. Maksymov said that he reached out Kyiv-based Vietnamese diaspora and even went to local markets to ask people who makes the best pho they know. Then he visited families and sampled the soup consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs and meat.
It took him a month to find Phan, who does not have specialized training but who has cooked for her family since childhood. Born in Hai Phong, a port city in northeastern Vietnam, she moved to Ukraine 12 years ago with her husband. Phan received Ukrainian citizenship and staff gave her a Slavic name – Sveta.
Maksymov said pho soup has many variations. Phan cooks pho bo according her family recipe, makes her own sauces and cultivates soybean sprouts that are usually served with the soup.
For those who never tried pho bo, it’s served with noodle sticks and a special spoon. It comes with sprouts, lemon, a red and tangy sauce and red spicy pepper on the side. It costs only Hr 89.
Another Vietnamese must-try dish is fresh spring roll called nem song – shrimp, lettuce, vegetables and rice noodles wrapped in rice paper. The roll sells for Hr 49. There are also fried spring rolls with meat and vegetables (nem ran) for Hr 25.
Maksymov said that the vegetarian option of pho soup will be available soon along with a chicken option. But for now, Bite & Go serves pho only with beef. He also plans to include bo ban salad to the menu.
It’s worth a visit, especially in a city starved of Vietnamese dishes at affordable prices.
Here are some places to go for Vietnamese cuisine in Kyiv:
Bite & Go
1 Taras Shevchenko Blvd.
9 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Kitaika
16 Zlatoustivska St.
12 p.m. – 11 p.m.
BMT
44A Zodchykh St. 10 a.m. –
10 p.m.
Sapa
61/2 Mykoly Zakrevskoho
St. 11 a.m. – 12 a.m.
