Chef's Table

Kyiv, Ukraine

It may be difficult for the uninitiated to pronounce but Volodymyr Yaroslavskyy is a household name in Ukraine. Not only is he a judge on the country’s version of MasterChef, he is also leading a new wave of restaurateurs and sommeliers keen to create a fine-dining movement in a country whose citizens rarely got the chance to visit restaurants at all during their 69 years under the USSR. His open-kitchen and low-waste, seasonal approach were breaking new ground in Ukrainian dining before the war, although he is now focusing more on simpler dishes that are big on flavour. Think pizza topped with forest mushrooms, shrimps topped with salmon roe and comforting pasta with capers and truffle. During the first few months of the war, he won recognition for leading a team of chefs to prepare several hundred meals a day for soldiers and those in need at sister site, Lucky Restaurant Vinoteque.

Key Information

Location

9 Mechnykova St, Kyiv, 2000