In Kyiv the business lunch is a veritable institution. Most restaurants, both up-market and middle of the range, tend to have one (it’s not only reserved for working people by the way).
A business lunch is often made up of a soup and/or a salad + a main course+ a drink, all for a price which is extremely competitive: between Hr 50 and Hr 250 (Hr 300 for the very fanciest). This makes it cheaper than the ‘Best of’ menu at McDonald’s in France and cheaper than a lunch formula at a Parisian bakery (where you get a sandwich and croissant with a luke warm Coca-Cola served by a grumpy Parisienne).
So why miss out? Here is a selection of three really good business lunches which you can order at some of the more modern and trendy restaurants in the capital.
Let’s begin with Reef, a large fish and seafood restaurant in Shota Rustaveli street. The business lunch, which is ultra fresh and mostly sea-food inspired, offers a choice of starter, soup and a main course for either Hr 160 or Hr 190.
There are optional extras such as a dessert, coffee or glass of wine. For those of you with a sweet tooth, I recommend the Banoffee pie!
Reef, a large fish and seafood restaurant in Shota Rustaveli street, offers offers a choice of starter, soup and a main course. (reefkiev.com)
At Bao, the formula lunch is deliciously simple, a selection of dim sums and a soup, and the price depends on the number of dim sums selected (Hr 220, Hr 250 or Hr 270). By the way, the crispy duck soup is totally delicious.
Last but not least, I feel I must add the business lunch from Bottega, a tapas restaurant. The lunch formula for Hr 96 and Hr 126 allows you to sample all of the house specialties: tapas, salads, soups (including their famous gazpacho) as well as main courses. We couldn’t resist the call of ‘Churros’ for dessert.
These formula business lunches are a good way of discovering a new place for an incredible price! There’s no excuse, now’s the time to go!
