The borsch is attractively presented on simple brown crockery, and accompanied by fresh dark rye bread, ham and garlic. (source: Mark Taylor)
In March 2022, like many other people here in Slovakia, my family and I opened our doors to refugees from Ukraine, who were seeking safety as they fled from Russia’s invasion. We were able to greet, and hopefully provide a little comfort for several groups, and the people we spent the most time with were three generations of the same family, a young boy from Kyiv, his mother and grandmother. One of my abiding memories of these lovely people, was of the grandmother’s determination that she would cook for everyone – her family and mine – and the first thing on her menu was an enormous batch of borsch. We spent a long time visiting just about every shop in my village until we had found enough beetroot, extra garlic, the right sort of bacon and so on, so that our temporary matriarch could go to work in the kitchen. As she spent hours chopping and simmering, the house gradually warmed with the sounds and scents of cooking until finally this iconic Ukrainian dish of was proudly announced as ready. When our guests subsequently moved further west we were left with fond memories of our short term friends, and in the fridge remained one last portion of bright, delicious soup.
(source: Mark Taylor)
Until last week, borsch was basically all I knew of Ukrainian cookery, although of course a big country, with many centuries of its own culture, has plenty of other foods worth discovering. Inside restaurant, on the edge of a small shopping precinct in Ružinov, is the place where you can go if you also want to get to know some good Ukrainian food, whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner that you are after.
I wasn’t aware at the time of booking, but currently on Friday evenings you get a free cocktail while you are reading the menu. I can vouch for the whiskey sour, as one of the more satisfying and grown-up aperitifs that I’ve had for a while. For kids or drivers there is also a range of soft drinks including excellent home-made ice tea.
