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Ukrainian Food

In depth: food·Kyiv

Borshch and pampushky, varenyky, holubtsi, chicken Kyiv and syrnyky, and the Crimean Tatar table: what to eat in Kyiv.

By the ULTIMATE Kyiv Editorial Team

Borshch with sour cream and dill, served in a bread bowl — Borshch with sour cream and dill, served in a bread bowl
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © MarianaSenkiv · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Ukrainian table is generous and seasonal: beetroot and cabbage, sour cream and dill, dumplings filled with potato, cherries or curd cheese, and the ferments of the long winter. In 2022 UNESCO inscribed the culture of Ukrainian borshch cooking on its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

Borshch

Borshch is the soup of beetroot and vegetables, served with sour cream and pampushky, the soft garlic buns; every family has its own. UNESCO inscribed the culture of Ukrainian borshch cooking on its urgent-safeguarding list in 2022.

Dumplings and cabbage rolls

Varenyky are boiled dumplings filled with potato, cabbage, curd cheese or sour cherries, served with sour cream; holubtsi are cabbage leaves rolled round rice and meat.

Chicken Kyiv

Chicken Kyiv, a breaded chicken breast round a core of herb butter, carries the city’s name; cut it carefully.

Breakfast

Syrnyky, small fried cakes of curd cheese, are the Kyiv breakfast, with sour cream or jam.

Chicken Kyiv with mashed potato and lemon — Chicken Kyiv with mashed potato and lemon
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Bev Sykes from Davis, CA, USA · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Crimean Tatar table

The Crimean Tatar kitchen is part of Ukraine’s table: chebureky, the crisp fried pastries, are the dish to try at Musafir.

Order borshch with pampushky, then varenyky.

Our advice: eat Ukrainian at lunch, when the kitchens are calm and the curfew far away.

Why it's on our list

Borshch
Dumplings and cabbage rolls
Chicken Kyiv
Breakfast
The Crimean Tatar table

Location

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