Kyiv travel guide

Borscht

Ukraine is widely attributed as borscht's homeland—the Kyiv version uses beet, cabbage, beans and pork hock simmered until deeply ruby-red; garnished with smetana and served with salo-rubbed dark bread; a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage

Varenyky (dumplings)

Ukraine's beloved half-moon dumplings—boiled and served with sour cream; filled with potato-onion, sour cherry, cottage cheese (syr) or sautéed cabbage; Kyiv's grand restaurants and market stalls fill entire tables with steaming platters

Chicken Kyiv

Butter-enriched ground herb compound stuffed inside a flattened chicken breast, breaded and deep-fried; the butter spurts dramatically when sliced; genuinely invented in 19th-century Kyiv hotels and still perfected best here at the source

Salo (cured pork fat)

Ukraine's culturally beloved cured fatback—salt-cured, sometimes smoked, sliced impossibly thin and laid on dark rye bread with raw garlic; consumed as snack or appetizer; deeply embedded in Ukrainian identity beyond its humble appearance

Ukrainian beer

Kyiv's craft beer revolution is remarkable—Pravda, Good Wine, Varvar and Zibert breweries make extraordinary IPAs, stouts and wheat ales; the 1990s-era industrial lager culture has been entirely displaced by craft; try them at Kyiv's Podil neighborhood bars