Kiev, Ukraine

Before I start writing about the food in Kiev, let me just say that I ALWAYS want to add "The" in front of Ukraine.  I don't know why, I just do.  And, there was a cat made out of plastic forks in a tree, and that makes a great city in my book.

But, I don't think you came here to read about my opinions on grammar and cats in trees that are made out of plastic forks.  Food is the reason, so on we go.

We flew to Kiev from Krakow since driving was out of the question.  15 hours one way?  No thank you.  There was one meal that was so bad it made you want to weep.  Another that was good, but marred by a sting of some sort on my stomach from some unknown creature and one meal that you will read about starting....now!

Lipsky Osobnyak was our choice for our last night in Kiev.  The inside does look like a Victorian restaurant and the staff in period costumes makes it seem more like a tourist trap than fine dinning.  However, they are serious about their food.

For the starters, I opted for the celery and walnut salad with kiwi and oranges.  It was actually a celery root salad, but it was still tasty.  There was a lot of it, so I didn't eat it all.  The dressing added a nice bite to it from the vinegar that was in it.  It was needed to cut through the sweetness of the fruit that was in the salad.  Apples were also included in the salad.  Lynn chose the Ukrainian borscht with garlic rolls that were strong enough to repel vampires from 100 yards away.   The soup was very good though. 

For our main dishes, I got stewed rabbit in a white wine sauce.  The rabbit was super tender and there was a huge portion of it.  It didn't have a very game taste to it at all and the wine sauce was a nice way to add more flavor without being needed.  Lynn chose the duck breast with foie gras with apples and raspberry sauce.  The duck was moist this time as well, and there was also a huge portion of it.

We did go for dessert this time and chose the local favorite, honey cake.

That top photo is actually half a serving.  They split it in the kitchen for us.  It was sweet and filled with nuts.  And look at all those layers!  It was served with a sour cream sauce swirled with dark chocolate.  It was needed to cut through all the sweetness that the cake had to offer.

Overall, it was a good, but expensive meal.  As for the wine choice, it was a French wine.  There were Ukrainian wines on the menu, but when we asked about them, our waiter pointed out that they were a nation of vodka drinkers, not wine.