How often do you wonder: where to go in Kiev? For me this question became more or less clear at the beginning of last year, when I visited Kanapa Restaurant for the first time. This place is very memorable to me. It has its own certain atmosphere and its own mood. This restaurant cannot be called expensive or cheap. It’s worth the money. But first things first.
A trip to Kanapa Restaurant
After my guest and I visited the Mezhigorie residence of runaway President Viktor Yanukovych, we got very hungry and had to decide where to take our acquaintance for a meal. There are a lot of ethnic restaurants in Kiev, but they are unremarkable for me, there is no zest to them, or maybe I just don’t go to many restaurants. But Kanapa is just the right restaurant with a twist. This place should, in my opinion, be remembered for a long time. And if not remembered, at least I hope it will be associated with one of the places where you can eat good food in Kiev .
My guest, in addition to Mezhyhirya, wanted to see Vozdvizhenskaya Street with its scandalous buildings, so we decided to stop there first. Walk around there and take pictures. By the way, if you decide to go to Kanapa restaurant on Andriyivsky Spusk by car, I do not recommend you to consider Vozdvizhenka as a place to park. When we were there, there was a real traffic collapse! People parked along the road in two rows. Thanks to this, we witnessed screams and all sorts of hysterics of drivers who tried to get separated there.
Walking down an upscale street of restaurants, boutiques, hotels, and other establishments that position themselves as premium, we stepped over ramshackle pallets, mountains of construction debris, and other junk. On Vozdvizhenskaya Street cars are parked haphazardly, you have to maneuver between them.
First impression
We are approaching our goal. Kanapa Restaurant seems to be in a small wooden house built in the Russian style at 19 Andriyivsky Uzviz (St. Andrew’s descent); the building does not look remarkable but this feeling is deceptive.
We go through the gate, and I’m starting to get scared by the number of visitors in the courtyard, I didn’t want to hear that there were no seats available for us.
Inside, we are kindly greeted by a throng of people in the “foyer” where we can deposit our things in the checkroom, the only joyful thing is that those who happened to be there with us were already dressed.
We take off our clothes and go into the restaurant. Immediately at the entrance, I as a big fan of cheese drooled, there is a mini cheese store, where you can buy different kinds of cheese produced in Ukraine!
We are greeted nicely by the receptionist and asked if we have a table reservation? At this point I was slightly embarrassed, as it would have been very uncomfortable in front of our guest if we were not accommodated, as we had no reserve. To our great joy, some of the guests who had reservations were not there, and we were able to offer a free table. I’m starting to get a sense of the restaurant atmosphere – the work is boiling!
The first room is decorated in the English-dacha style, with my favorite Cherchel sofas and massive wrought iron chandeliers. The association I have with this room is that I would like to sit in a warm wool sweater with a hat like Sherlock’s and smoke a pipe, even though I don’t smoke it. But this association arose only now, earlier when we had dinner in this hall such associations did not arise, probably because then it was spring and it was warm.
Alas, this time we were invited to sit in the second room, which of course I suspected existed, but had never been in it. The second room is smaller and more modest, the low ceiling puts a lot of pressure on me, but nevertheless it has quite a cozy atmosphere.
There are also advantages, such as a real fireplace.
As for the menu, all the dishes are worth trying. There is a great variety of food, the taste of which is very difficult to imagine without trying it. As I’ve written before, the prices at Kanapa restaurant, not cheap, but not expensive, I consider them moderate. The dishes are worth the money. For people whose income is not in hryvnia, the prices can safely be called ridiculous. For example, where in Europe, in the city center can you buy varenyky for 3 euros?
Considering how many people were in the restaurant, our order was taken quickly enough.
While our food was being prepared, we drank tea. The tea, by the way, is so-so. When you order a pot of tea, they bring you a mini teapot for two cups. After Azerbaijan, this is nonsense to me.
The contingent is very different, here you can meet both a large family who came for dinner, and a foreign grandfather who found his Russian-speaking granddaughter or niece in Ukraine.
Prices are affordable even for retirees.
While we were looking around and taking pictures in the chair next to the fireplace, they brought us an appetizer-the most delicious pâté I had ever eaten, it was guinea fowl and pheasant pâté. By the way, even though the pâté is served in a tin, it is made and rolled in these tins right at Kanapa Restaurant, and it really is very tasty.
Restaurant dishes
They serve very fresh bread with the pâté, and while you are served the first one, you can enjoy the starter while everyone enjoyed it – I of course, took pictures. That’s why I enjoyed all the shades while tasting the piece that’s left in the photo below.
As a first course, I ordered mushroom soup. I knew I was going to order it when we first went to the restaurant. Not because it’s so good, but because when it’s served. You become a spectator of a little gastronomic show! Mushroom soup in Canapés is served in a special plate in the form of a spiral, at the bottom of the plate is a composition of ingredients. The waiter pours the broth in a spiral and you watch as the broth slowly fills your plate! This is exactly what is memorable and what I was absolutely delighted with the first time! And I also really liked the author dishes with the logo of the institution, the logo adds charm.
For the second course I ordered black dumplings with pikeperch, smoked lard, with herring caviar sauce, how could they come up with such a thing? The taste of this dish is very specific, unforgettable, I really liked it. It doesn’t feel like lard at all. There is a slight hint of fishy flavor in your mouth, and when you get caviar, it’s like a little bonus. All the magic of this place is probably that hardly anyone would cook such a dish at home.
I’m sure that to make the same dumplings at home would cost a lot more money than they cost at Canapés.
And for dessert – Lard in Chocolate. Ukrainian improvisation, there is actually very little lard, so if you want lard – better just buy lard 🙂
How much does it cost to eat?
My friends ordered other dishes, and I didn’t want to get my lens on their plate. I can say that Kanapa restaurant is one of my favorite restaurants in Kiev. I recommend this place for everyone to visit. The cost of a meal for three adults was about 1,000 hryvnias, which is about $35. Another recommendation, be sure to make a reservation . You can check out the menu by clicking on this link
