Ukraine, and specially Kyiv, boasts hundreds of restaurants offering delicious meals and refreshing drinks with a very friendly service. There are often traditional Ukrainian restaurants where you can taste the unique flavours of Ukrainian food. If you are seeking other flavours, you can try the restaurants serving Indian, French, Italian, Georgian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese or German cuisines.

Ukrainians love to cook; you will find at most towns in Ukraine very good restaurants serving properly made and tasty food. Besides Ukraine’s restaurants there are a variety of pubs, bars, cafes, and delicatessens serving splendid dishes.

Ukrainian cuisine is quite tasty and well-known for its great diversity and amazing flavours; the traditional Ukrainian cuisine uses a great number of ingredients such as pork, beef, fresh vegetables, potatoes, berries, grains, chicken, fruit, herbs, fish and mushrooms. The availability of ingredients is often dependent on the season.

Popular traditional dishes include the very tasty shashlik, Salo (salted or smoked pork flavoured with garlic or other species), Borscht (a soup made with red beets, cabbage, beans and meat), Solyanka (a delicious vegetable soup), Varenyky (boiled dumplings filled with meat or vegetables), Golubtsi (cooked cabbage rolls stuffed with rice, carrots and meat and often with a thin tomato sauce), Deruny (potato pancakes) and Pampushky (rolls with garlic and melted butter on top). In the summer, when vegetables are plentiful, you will find Okroshka, a cold soup made of cucumbers, spring onion, radish, boiled potatoes, dill sausage, eggs, ham and buttermilk. Other Ukrainian specialties also include Chicken Kiev and Kiev Cake (layers of crumbly raised wafers, hazelnuts).

Bread is a staple in Ukraine, there are dozens of ways used in preparing breads, Honore de Balzac counted 77 different methods. Pastries and cakes are also popular, but not very sweet. The cult of bread is well observed in Ukraine customs and rituals, at Ukrainian weddings, it is traditional to offer korovai, a special bread up to form a tall cylinder; during Christmas, a bread called Kolach is given to each member of the household; it is habitual to give guest and departing or arriving travellers the gift of loaf of bread and salt.

Tips are appreciated; service is sometimes included in first-class restaurants and hotel bills.

As Ukrainians are extremely hospitable, their meals are served in very generous quantities.

Eating & Drinking in Ukraine

Eating in Ukraine

Drinking in Ukraine