Eating in Kiev: National

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• Ukrainian: There are many restaurants that claim to serve authentic Ukrainian food, but often they prepare Cossack food (which is basically the same, as they are Ukrainian ancestors.

Shynok : in the Pechersk district. 28v Lesi Ukrainki, very traditional food and furniture. 11.00-0.00. Shynok

Pervak : vul Rognidenska 2 , set lunch only 35-42 Uz .......

• Irish: there are several Irish pubs, none authentic Irish, but OK if you're in need of a Guinness and X-pat company. One is located near Golden Gate (Zoloti Vorota) on Volodomyrska (called, eponymous, The Golden Gate Pub). Another (and the first in Kyiv) is O'Briens on Mykailovska (one of the streets running west off Maidan sq., the one to the right, with a branch of OTP Bank on the corner). Both are expensive by Kiev standards. A new one is open in Podil, on the corner of Gostyny Dvor, near the Dutch embassy (can't miss it as it's close to the bottom of Andryevsky) called the Belfast Pub. Other than these centrally located ones, others lie scattered around Kiev, these do not cater to the ex-pat crowd and have better prices than you expect to find in any 'western' country. Keep your eyes open.

• Italian: Momento on Zlatoustovskaya (near the Circus), Napule on Mechnikova (near Metro station "Klovska")

• Georgian: Mimino on Spasskaya (Podil)

• Vietnamese: there are several restaurants, owned by a person from Vietnam (the cuisine is a comprise of "hits", rather than complete luncheon sets; considered above-average within local Vietnamese community; extremely expensive)

• Chinese: There is a good one near Metro Universitet. It's called "Jiu Long", which means "Nine Dragons" (there is a fast food store upfront, but if you go through the arch, you will see an entire Chinese-style building, that's where the real restaurant is; quality is good and prices are lower than some other similarly fancy restaurants). If you don't care about price, go to "Lun Van" near Metro Teatralna. Other above-average venues (but be warned, no one who's experienced anything like the real thing will find satisfactory Chinese food in Kyiv) are Mandarin on a floating entertainment complex near the river port in Podil, and Vostok which is across the road from Mandarin.

• Japanese: There's one called Hanoi which serves Japanese and Vietnamese food. It is located near Metro Arsenalna. The quality is quite high, although the prices are too. Further, you will find various sushi-bar-chains in Kyiv (namely Sushi-Ya, Murakami and Yakitoria)

• Shynok