The 8 best restaurants in Kiev where to eat Ukrainian specialties

Are you going to visit Ukraine? A good trip often goes through the taste buds! Here is a top 8 of the best places to eat in Kiev!

Knowing Ukrainian specialties will undoubtedly help to know Ukrainian culture and traditions. How do I actually visit Kiev and other cities in Ukraine without going to taste the culinary specialties of the locals? Kiev is the capital of Ukraine, located northwest of the country and bordered by the Dnieper River. It has nearly 2.9 million inhabitants and is one of the oldest bastions of Christianity in Europe. On horseback between Eastern Europe and the Asian continent, Kiev has a must-have cultural, historical and gastronomic heritage.

Would you like to know the best restaurants to eat in Kiev? The Wanderlix redac’ puts on its gastronomic guide apron to help you prepare your trip through the best tables in the Ukrainian capital! Here is a brief selection of the best restaurants to taste Ukrainian specialties!

What are Ukrainian specialties?

Most importantly, Ukrainian cuisine is based on campagnard productions marked by cold and very long winters and short and hot summers. But the Ukrainian specialties stem from the legacy of German, Turkish, Polish or Russian culture. Thus, Ukrainian agriculture is based on cereals, vegetables (potatoes, cabbage, squash, beet, mushrooms, carrots), pork meat, chicken, beef and dried or smoked fish. Traditional dishes are made of soups, salads, breads, dishes with a wide selection of local drinks. Here are some examples:

• Bortsch : Vegetable soup, based on beet,
• Solianka : smoked meat soup, carrot kidneys, onions, tomatoes,
• Youchkra : potage based on carp and fresh water fish,
• Russian salad : a Russian macedoin,
• Vinihret : red beet salad with small peas, onions and white beans,
• Oseledets : marinated herrings, with onions, pepper and sunflower oil,
• Paska : Easter bread, decorated with Easter symbols,
• Korovai : round bread braided,
• Kalatch : ring-shaped bread, served at Christmas,
• Varenyky : boiled ravioli, potato stuffed, cabbage, fresh cream, cheese and seasonal fruit,
• Holubtsi : stuffed with chopped meat and rice,
• Kapustiany : cold cabbage salad, oil and mayonnaise,
• Galoubtsi : meat stuffed cabbage,
• Chachliks : meat brochettes (porc or chicken).

There are many others, to be enjoyed with vodkas, Crimean wine, local Ukrainian beers, like Chernigovski, Obolon, Rogan or Lvivsky.

1. Puzata Hata

Puzata Hata , it is not a restaurant, but a chain of restaurants (here it is not pejorative). It will taste typical Ukrainian specialties at noon and in the evening. Puzata Hata means “the ancestor of the bedaine”. Let’s say that we’re going to "break the belly" at less cost: salads, soups, salted or sweet pies, meats, sweet or salty varenyky, thousand and one vegetables, rice and pasta, pancakes and desserts, etc. There are several establishments in the city of Kiev.

2. Varenichnaya

Varenichnaya is another very popular Ukrainian channel. There are traditional dishes such as the "Chicken in Kiev", the chicken blueberry sauce, the varenyky. The dishes are not copied: for the hunger of wolf, you will have to order several things to "pepper" in several plates: the tapas of the east!

3. Barvy

This traditional cuisine restaurant allows to explore Ukrainian specialities and is very popular with locals. The kitchen is known to be tasty, copier and succulent. What to eat Barvy ? Pasta and foie gras, varenyky (local dumplings), golubtsi.

4. Korchma Taras Bulba

Other unmissable restaurant, the Korchma Taras Bulba : in fact, it is less a restaurant than a chain of restaurants. The place is specialized on Ukrainian specialities and the room is decorated in the colours of the local culture. On the menu, test the Bortsch, the Varenyky, the « chicken in Kiev », the Russian vodkas and local liqueurs.

5. Khutorets on the Dniepr

Eat Ukrainian specialties on a well-equipped barge, do you think? Khutorets on the Dniepr is original but the kitchen, it, is traditional. You will enjoy this Ukrainian meal with a view of the Dniepr: ravioli, pork meat, lamb, Varenyky, etc.

6. Petrus-b Restaurant

This is restaurant is run by locals and tourists. It displays a fairly complete card that should satisfy all taste buds. The ingredients are fresh, and the must-haves of Ukrainian specialties are found: Bortsch, varenyky, golubtsi, watered with local beers and vodkas. For the tourists who have tested it, most of the reviews collected on the web are praiseworthy.

7. Klukva ' Brukva

Klukva and Brukva is one of the first restaurants in Kiev to offer local cuisine. The menu has mainly local and seasonal Ukrainian food, carefully crafted. Bortsch with pork is replaced by duck for a more innovative mixture. The typical traditional dishes and Ukrainian specialties are composed with a look for relief, which should ask you if you are looking for how to eat, fresh and healthy!

8. Kanapa Restaurant Salon

Here is a small last, an enema restaurant rising among the best restaurants in Kiev: the Kanapa is affixed to all the praiseworthy comments for its frame – a view of the Dniepr -, its bortsch, the "Chicken in Kiev", the goluptsi (chu farci), the trio of caviar (sturgeon, pint, herring), the turn of Kiev for dessert.