Category Archive

In the nearly unpronounceable town of Dnipropetrovsk sits Reporter, one of the best restaurants I’ve found in Ukraine — at the recommendation of a reporter, naturally. (Want to know where to eat in a weird place? Ask a journalist. Or just read this blog.) Reporter bills itself as an “unusual restaurant,” so-named because (and I must crib from its website … Read More

Van picnics: because sometimes there’s no time to eat, no place to eat, and no appetite to speak of.  Among the good finds in Ukraine: sweet, soft sugar cookies; coffee-flavored, candy coated peanuts; Ukrainian sausage and hot coffee, poured from our driver’s thermos. He also brought a bunch of parsley and raw garlic clove. Because why not.

It was only May when I was here last, and there was such a thriving restaurant scene — real life going on amid the scuffles — that to see Donetsk now is a bit of a shock. There are estimates that 80% of the population have fled this area, and indeed, many of my friends from my last visit have … Read More

Tucked inside a nondescript glass office building, which is itself tucked between the Donbass Palace and Tequila Sushi Boom Boom – i.e. not terribly easy to find – Loft Cafe is perhaps the only restaurant in Donetsk that feels like a proper modern, hip eating establishment.  No weird Soviet kitsch, no ham sushi. The restaurant is sleek and well-lit, with … Read More

I couldn’t possibly come up with anything more interesting as a title than the actual name of this restaurant, located in central Donetsk.  There is tequila. There is sushi.  There may or may not be boom boom.  It is a mystery. When I asked the only other customer in the restaurant, he didn’t have much to say. When I looked … Read More