Domashnya Kuhnya

This is the famous Ukrainian-food chain that was not once but twice named the best fast food by the Kyiv Post (in 2000 and 2003) and it also provides delivery. The minimum order is Hr 100 plus a delivery charge from Hr 10 to Hr 25.

To order by fax you need to download a pricelist, mark the dishes you want, include your contact info and then fax it back to the restaurant, and to order online you need to register at the site and use the online menu. Either way, you should also call to confirm what time your food will arrive.

Because this is primarily a delivery service for offices, though, you have to call, fax or order through the Internet at least 24 hours ahead of time. Obviously, then, use this primarily for planned events rather than as a late-night hunger cure.

There’s an assortment of about 80 dishes that includes a salmon salad for Hr 5.90, Ukrainian borscht for Hr 3.45 and varenycks with meat for Hr 6.25. Call 234-2918, fax 234-2914 or click on www.hk.kiev.ua.

Zakroma

This is another delivery service for offices so again you need to order 24 hours ahead. Orders over Hr 100 are

delivered for free and a typical lunch costs between Hr 9 and Hr 15, consisting of a soup, main dish and salad.  Additionally you can choose pancakes, sweets and desserts from a downloadable menu off the site. Have a Greek salad for Hr 4.70, mushroom soup for Hr 3.30, Chicken Kiev for Hr 4.50 and shashlik for Hr 7.70  Order by phone or online: (044) 254-0754, www.zacroma.com.ua.

Sushi Maniya

Sushi Maniya delivers sushi to your home or office. A simple and convenient site provides a menu complete with pictures. The selection is mall but decent – sushi sets starting from Hr 70, as well as maki (the rolls), nigiri (a slab of fish atop rice) and sashimi (just a piece of raw fish). Hr 36 will get you a few pieces of salmon and a couple of house rolls. To order call 578-0361 or 459-3948 or go to their website at sushimaniya.kiev.ua. Your order will process within an hour and are accepted daily from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m.

Sushi-Express

Sushi Express offers a pretty similar assortment of sushi as Sushi Maniya does, but with one possibly important difference: They have an online menu in English (though, as with many cuisines, it’s not too hard to figure out what’s what if you know your tuna from your mackerel and at least a bit of Cyrillic). Once you pick your platter, make sure to ask about the assortment: Based on availability the pieces that actually arrive can vary wildly from what’s pictured. They’ll get your order to you in 60-90 minutes (ours took 65). Call 599-1832, 495-1832 or 592-2441 between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. or check out www.sushi-express.org.ua.

Kiev-Lunch

This is another service that caters mainly to businesses. Check Sunday to see what they’re planning for the next five days and have a full Ukrainian meal delivered to your office. For instance, a Monday lunch menu one week consisted of potato soup (Hr 3.50), meat stew with mushrooms (Hr 6), rice (2.50), syrnyky (sweet cottage cheese pancakes at Hr 5.50) and a “Season” salad of cabbage, cucumber and greens dressed with oil (Hr 2.50). Your order must be placed no later than 8 p.m. the day before you want your food, and your delivery will arrive between 12:30 and 2:00 p.m. depending on the size of the order and the location. Call 502-4755 or 8-097-466-3551 or go to www.kiev-lunch.com.ua.

More Food for thought

Various catering and food service companies have sprung up in the past year or so, and most of them are full-service institutions that can accommodate any event, whatever the budget or location.

Crystal Catering, an arm of the Mirovaya Karta chain of restaurants (Sam’s Steak House, Tequila House, Mimino, Lypsky Osobnyak), offers food provided by the chain’s restaurants, meaning party planners can order tacos and nachos with salsa and guacamole, or burgers, ribs and steaks, not to mention Georgian shashlik and more.

On the phone, ask to speak with Volodymyr, who has a decent grasp of English. He says Crystal typically charges between 15 and 20 percent beyond the menu price for the food, but this covers staffing and delivery costs. Volodymyr also says they can handle groups as small as five and as large as a few hundred. Call 254-0449.

Smachny Express also offers services from restaurants under the Mirovaya Karta banner but it also includes the 21st-Century consortium as well: Choose from Sam’s Steak House, Tequila House, Mimino, Lypsky Osobnyak, Asahi, SSSR, L’Amour, Golden Gate,  Marakesh, Tsarske Selo, Taras and Pervak.

If you don’t have a menu, call to have them fax or email you one. English menus are available if you need them, but the Russian/Ukrainian ones aren’t too much of a hassle. L’Amour even sent us their bar menu, including a page of special cocktails, but we’re pretty sure those wouldn’t deliver well, and even if they did, your boss might not exactly be pleased.

A lot of these choices, however, don’t exactly lend themselves to delivery. Georgian and Ukrainian foods are the best bets if you don’t want your meal to be destroyed in transit; and if you want to order in English, stick to Sam’s and GG, where that language is regularly in use. The time the food takes to get to you will be relatively quick but they may not want to show you the bill, preferring instead to confirm the amount over the phone. There are no restrictions for an order and the delivery time depends on how long it takes to prepare the dishes and the distance to your place. Call 592-9888 for delivery from 11 a.m. to midnight or check www.kartamir.com.ua.

Top-notch service would naturally be expected of Royal Catering, and if they’re good enough for the U.S. Marines and the British Embassy, they’re probably good enough for you.

Royal Catering certainly boasts an impressive list of clients, largely because they’ll take the extra time to make sure your food has been adequately prepared and that the service matches the quality of the dishes. Also, for groups of 20 or 2,000, Royal can set up a low-key buffet or major banquet anywhere. They’re great for weddings and high-end events. They can even arrange a barman show a la Tom Cruise in “Cocktail.” Call 204-1947/1369 or go to www.royal-catering.com.ua.

 When it comes to American-style submarine sandwiches, Sub Service really does the job. They serve all kinds of subs for a bit more than you’d pay back home, but with loads of styles to choose from (Italian, club, egg salad, veg, etc.), for roughly Hr 20 for a small (15 cm) to Hr 35 for a large (30 cm). Toppings, salads, drinks and desserts are also available, and they can organize service and delivery for up to several dozen people anywhere in the city in about an hour. The only catch: They’re only open Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 279-2681 or go to www.sub-service.kiev.ua.

Walter Rossit’s Italian eateries, Limoncello Grill and the eponymous Walter’s, offer some of the best Italian cuisine in Kyiv, and though they’re admittedly geared towards banquets and catered events for up to 500, you can still place small orders of food for 1-6 people and expect it in about two or three hours.

Choices for delivery from Walter’s include a variety of soups (including minestrone and cream of mushroom) and risottos (Milanese, truffle with mushroom); cold and hot appetizers (traditional antipasti, beef carpaccio, prosciutto and more); vegetable dishes; all manner of pastas (including ravioli, lasagna and gnocchi); poultry, sausage and meat offerings; fish and seafood; and of course, pizzas, of which Walter’s has 21 varieties.

The Web site, in both English and Russian, has descriptions of all menu items. Small (same-day) orders will incur a small delivery fee, whereas large orders are typically free.

Shooters Catering offers pretty much  whatever you desire, though they’re best for great grilled meats as well as pizzas, pastas and more. All parties are full-service, meaning they take care of the food, drinks, service, equipment leasing and delivery so you don’t have to.

Adding to the fun, Shooters can arrange special surprises upon request. They’ll also send along their own Shooters waitresses and bargirls – they of the plaid hotpants and fishnet stockings.

Find both Walter’s and Shooters at www.happydays.kiev.ua or call 8050-469-8629, 8050-419-0842 or 416-0213 from 11 a.m. to 11 a.m.

 Kuldeep Kumar and Sanjay Grover’s beloved Indian restaurant New Bombay Palace does, in fact, deliver. If you don’t really know the menu you’ll have to be advised by the waiter – if, that is, you can get the one speaking English.

Among the delights that NBP can offer are starters like vegetable pakoras and samosas, and dishes such as shahi paneer (cottage cheese), tandoori chicken or lamb, chicken tikka, fried daal (lentils) and butter nan (flat bread). There are also many vegetarian dishes.

In addition to Indian dishes, NBP also serves up a range of Chinese dishes, from spicy Szechwan beef and chicken to more savory Cantonese offerings.
The minimum order at NBP is Hr 200, with a seven-percent charge for delivery on orders of any size, anywhere in the city. And they say your food will be delivered within an hour. Call 285-8708.

 

Alexandra Matoshko, Kyiv Post Staff Writer

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Beets, sweet tubers with a bright colour and a tender-crisp texture, play a significant role in Ukrainian cuisine. Many appetizers, soups, salads, and other simple dishes of Ukraine feature cooked or fermented beets as a main or complementing ingredient. Beets are native to the Ukrainian land, where they were cultivated in peasants’ vegetable gardens already hundreds of years ago.

Beets are valued as a blood tonic and praised for their nutritional qualities, since they contain many natural vitamins, such as carotenes, B complex and vitamin C, and beneficial minerals, such as calcium, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus. Some researchers believe that eating just a few spoonfuls of beets a day is a sure way of ingesting all necessary nutrients, as well as detoxifying the body. Beets are capable to protect the liver from food pollutants and to stimulate the flow of bile. Due to their high beta-carotene content and the presence of other beneficial components, beets and their juice have been successfully used in cancer therapies. In Ukraine, beets are often eaten together with the leaves, which makes delicious and nutritious meals as the sweetness of beet roots makes a good contrast to their bitter greens. Traditionally, beats in Ukraine are boiled, baked, roasted, fermented, distilled, or added to soups or stews.

Ukrainian Beet Kvass

This sour-sweet beverage is used in the preparation of Ukrainian borscht or as a refreshing and beneficial tonic. Peel and chop coarsely 3 medium raw beets. Place in a 2-quart glass or clay container together with 1/4 cup home-made whey and 1 tbsp salt. Add filtered water to fill the container, stir well, and cover tightly. Keep in room temperature for about 2 days before transferring to a cold storage. When most liquid has been drunk, fill up the container with water again and keep at room temperature for another 2 days. After the second brew, discard the beets and start again.

Ukrainian Beet Salad

Bake 6 medium beets at 350 degrees for about 1 hour (until tender). Let cool, peel, and chop finely. In a bowl, mix together 3 tbsp homemade beet kvass (see above) or raw apple cider vinegar, 4 tbsp extra virgin sunflower oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, 1 tsp caraway seeds, and a pinch each of salt, cayenne pepper, cloves, and cinnamon. Toss the mixture with the beets and refrigerate until well-chilled. Serve on lettuce leaves as a starter.

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Borscht, a deep red beet and cabbage soup, is popular all around Ukraine. The recipe might slightly differ by regions, but the main ingredients still remain the same – cabbage, beets, potatoes, onions, garlic, sour cream, and dill. Depending on a season, borscht can be served hot and cold, with cold varieties often being light or vegetarian.

Hot borscht is a staple hearty lunch meal in the cold months of Ukrainian autumn and winter. It is usually a meal by itself and is accompanied by a few slices of dark and dense rye bread. In order to make it, you will first need to cook a stock. Beef bone marrow, meaty pork bones, or chicken, with an addition of root vegetables, such as onions, carrots, and parsley stalks, should be simmered for at least three hours. After that, the stock is filtered, and the cooked meat is separated from the bones and returned to the pot, while the bones and vegetables are thrown away. Meanwhile, thinly shred 1 medium-size cabbage and a few small beets, and cube about 4-5 peeled potatoes. Shredded beets have to be sprinkled with lemon juice not to lose their deep colour. Add potatoes, beets and cabbage to the pot, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are soft. While the vegetables are being cooked, prepare “zapravka”: in a heavy skillet, sauté in lard or goose fat 1 thinly sliced onion and 1 chopped carrot. Add about 2 tbsp tomato paste, salt, sugar and pepper to taste, and sauté for about 10 minutes more. Add to the pot and simmer for additional 5 minutes. When the borscht is almost ready, check again for the spices, and add a bunch of chopped dill and a few cloves of minced garlic. Remove from the heat and let stand for about 10-15 minutes.

Serve borscht hot with “smetana” (home-made sour cream), sourdough bread or “pampushki” (hot rounds buns with chopped garlic), and a tiny glass of “horilka z pertsem” (Ukrainian vodka brewed with hot pepper). For the Ukrainians, a pot of borsht usually lasts a couple of days, and it is especially delicious on the following day.

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