Business news from Ukraine

The capital’s wine restaurant Wine Love has reopened its doors to visitors at 100 Velyka Vasylkivska Street. After a long pause, the restaurant was reopened, preserving the concept of a wine neo-restaurant with modern European cuisine, a selected wine list and an atmosphere that loses the sense of time.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the restaurant’s kitchen has been working as a volunteer center and preparing about 1000 meals a day for the Ukrainian military. Currently, the Wine Love team has equipped a separate kitchen at another location. This allowed not only to preserve the food for the defenders, but also to resume the full-fledged work of the restaurant for guests.

The period of volunteer work had a transformative effect on the team’s vision of what the establishment should look like in the new realities. As a result, the owners decided to abandon excessive redundancy and focus on the main thing – the gastronomic richness of flavors. The renovated restaurant is based on a seasonal menu, dishes made from local products, niche wine, which is often presented in Ukraine in limited quantities. It also has an atmospheric vintage interior.

“War is a period of transformation, both national and personal. Every day we become more sensitive to our desires and aspirations. We start to appreciate the simple joys of life. My team and I also felt that we wanted Wine Love to be perceived differently by our guests – not just as a place for special events. We will offer more simple, “understandable” food and interesting drinks. We will also do our best to ensure that our guests enjoy enogastronomic pleasure, feel the value of the moment from sincere communication with each other, and lose the sense of time. We want Wine Love to be the first place that comes to mind when you want to taste wine with gastronomic accompaniment,” comment on the opening the co-founders of the neo-restaurant Volodymyr Zadiraka and Serhiy Shkarban.

The menu was created by chef Kateryna Tkachuk. It includes dishes made mainly from Ukrainian products that combine European recipes, modern techniques and the author’s vision. According to Kateryna, she deliberately refused to use complicated technological processes and ingredients that artificially enhance the taste of the dishes. She preferred the simplicity of taste, expressiveness and clarity of the products.

As a result, the restaurant offers improved bestsellers such as chicken pate, artichoke paste, and cheese mousse. The selection of bytes and antipasti has also increased. Among the main dishes, the Wine Love team offers fish, meat and vegetable dishes, as well as desserts.

The wine list combines traditions and experiments. It is based on natural and low-intervention wines, which are often presented in Ukraine in limited quantities. According to the co-owners, the wine list includes only those items that impressed the entire team during the tasting.

In addition to wine, visitors will also be offered cocktails from the restaurant’s chef-bartender Nazar Kachala. The cocktail menu consists of two sections. The first one includes classic drinks in a modern interpretation. Such as French 75, Old Fashioned and Penicilin. The second section is filled with exclusively author’s cocktails with the addition of original ingredients. Thus, guests will be surprised with drinks with the addition of ginger beer of our own production, celery bitters and various spices.

The interior has also been updated. The large-scale flower arrangement on the ceiling was replaced with mystical tree branches and stylized poppies with origami elements. The décor is planned to be updated every season. At the moment, the location is decorated with pine needles and New Year’s decorations.

In addition, the Wine Love team will delight guests with the atmosphere of a crowded bar in the old center of a European city. Tight seating, antiques, a 19th-century spiral staircase, and a secret warehouse room for small companies that need more intimacy. The restaurant will also continue to host wine tastings and chef’s dinners. In particular, to influence the formation of the modern wine and gastronomic culture of Ukraine.

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