A meeting with Kirill Kislyakov, a co-owner of three of Kyiv’s top bars — Barmen Dyktat, Torf and Sklad — starts, obviously, with a drink.
“I spend a lot of time in bars, although I’m not only drinking, but also working and thinking,” Kislyakov says, sipping rum from his glass.
Kislyakov has a long black beard, from which he gets his nickname — “Black Santa.” He also often wears a black shirt with a white inscription reading “the place which doesn’t exist” — an oblique reference to his “secret” bar, Torf.
Apart from the bar business, Kislyakov makes his own programs on the “Torf TV” internet channel, the studio of which morphed into Kislyakov’s first bar, Torf, a place popular among artists and reformist politicians.
Kislyakov never planned to open a bar, but always loved alcohol, especially strong drinks. One of his favorite drinks, now included on the menus of his bars, is a cocktail named “Ebanitka,” which is a mixture of 70-percent rum and coke.
Accidental opening
Kislyakov said that he opened Torf four years ago by accident: he met there with his friend and business partner Volodymyr Kostelman, a co-owner of Fozzy Group, which owns supermarkets, pharmacy chains, electronics stores and a restaurant, to record programs for Torf Tv.
However, soon their friends started regularly coming over their studio between production nights, then they brought their friends, and eventually the place regularly became packed with people.
So Kislyakov hired a cook and other staff, applied for a license and turned the studio into a bar.
“We still work only two days a week, but when other bars are empty this one is packed,” Kislyakov said. “I think we’re the only place of this kind in Kyiv, with this serpentarium of like-minded people.”
Even after opening Torf, Kislyakov didn’t plan to concentrate on the bar business. But that changed when he and Kostelman learned that Art Club 44, the venerable old venue opened in the 1990s by celebrated restaurateur Eric Aigner, was up for sale after a decade of slow decline.
Legendary location
Before opening his bars, Kislyakov used to work as photographer for celebrities and various parties with famous guests. He spent lots of time taking pictures in the Art Club 44, which had in the past been a Mecca for the capital’s arty people.
So Kislyakov and his business partner, who used to perform on the guitar at Art Club 44 from time to time, both had special feelings for the place, and decided to open a new bar, Barmen Dyktat (meaning Dictator Bartender), at the legendary location.
Kirill Kislyakov talks to a patron of one of his three bars in Kyiv, Barmen Dyktat, on April 21. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
The place has a giant 13-meter-long bar backed by shelves bearing a vast selection of drinks bottles. Kislyakov says his idea was for someone who is sitting at bar, as they raise their glass to take a sip of their drink, to find themselves looking up at the bottles “almost like looking at an iconostasis.”
“There is a saying: if you know how to do it better — do it. So we weren’t going to tell anyone how to make their bars better — we just opened our own.”
Now, a year after opening, Kislyakov says the bar is turning a profit. And in the first time for the market, Kislyakov says his bar is itself directly importing alcohol, including mezcal, gin, and rum, without involving intermediaries.
“I think of Barmen Dyktat as (a place) that changes the rules of the market,” he said.
Neat drinks
Encouraged by the success of Barmen Dyktat, Kislyakov has opened a new bar called Sklad (which means “storeroom”) in the former premises of another legendary bar, Divan, on Bessarabska Square.
Sklad has a young staff, offers only neat drinks (no cocktails) and hosts DJ sets on its dancefloor most nights.
Kislyakov says the bar-boom of recent years is partly due to the economic crisis: people, who can’t afford to buy houses or other big-ticket items can still console themselves an expensive drink in a fancy bar.
Meanwhile, Kislyakov has yet to realize the plan he had from the very beginning — to open a small bar with around 12 seats.
“But the fate challenges us with these ‘giants,’” he jokes, looking around the cavernous hall of Barmen Dyktat.
Barmen Dyktat.
44 Khreshchatyk St.
6 p.m. – 6 a.m. +38050-3461636
Sklad.
2 Bessarabska Sq.
6 p.m. – 6 a.m. +38067-5649488
