A Studio Ghibli anime-like eatery, legendary RESTAURANT KIEV (レストラン キエフ), offers exquisite Soviet cuisine with a Japanese Chinese twist: Ukrainian borscht, Harbin pirozhki, kawaii varenyky sundae, and more.
In 1971, Kyoto City established a sister city relationship with Kyiv. A year later, Japanese entrepreneur/music producer Koshiro Kato founded RESTAURANT KIEV in Kyoto City.
The top floor of Oto Building (鴨東ビル) occupies RESTAURANT KIEV.
RESTAURANT KIEV is considered a Russian restaurant but its culinary range reaches Ukraine, Georgia, and beyond. The website says “food from various regions of The Soviet Union that Koshiro Kato loved during his stay in Harbin, Manchukuo” in Japanese. “Soviet cuisine” can explain what RESTAURANT KIEV offers.
RESTAURANT KIEV’s menu looked like the ones at fancy-schmancy, French-influenced Japanese yoshoku (洋食/Western food) restaurants. Full-course meals on the menu starting at the price of 3,850 yen ($25) almost kicked my petite-bourgeoisie arse, but its lunch options starting from 1,306 yen ($8.70) made me keep behaving. I ordered 1,306 yen “A Lunch (Aランチ)” that consists of 6 items: borscht, pirozhki, guribui (гриб), kapusta salad, and Russian tea.
Borscht.
Borscht is a Ukrainian sour vegetable soup with beetroot. RESTAURANT KIEV’s borscht contains beef, sour cream, and dill. Although the combination was totally non-Japanese, it somehow tasted like a Japanese consommé from a good-old school lunch in Kyoto City. It was delicious.
Pirozhki.
Ethereally crispy outside, terrifyingly fluffy inside.
The better was pirozhki. In general, Pirozhki is considered a Ukrainian/Russian fried bun with a filling. RESTAURANT KIEV’s pirozhki contained Chinese glass noodles that explained the influence of the founder’s experiences in Harbin.
Guribui (гриб).
Kapusta salad.
Russian tea.
Guribui (グリブイ/гриб) means “mushroom” in Russian. It was a piping hot, extra-rich mushroom cream soup covered with a mushroom-like pie lid. This sole dish could have swindled me out of 1,306 yen if it came with pasta. Kapusta salad (cabbage salad) tasted like pickles with dill. Russian tea that came with rose petal jelly couldn’t be any better to wash down with.
Japanese kissaten-cafe (喫茶店)-inspired varenyky sundae with mochi balls was the perfect example of a Japanese Soviet dish. It was worth an extra 770 yen/$5.10.
RESTAURANT KIEV’ dishes were exquisite. The pirozhki was one of the best fried dough foods I have ever had. 1,306 yen for a 5-course meal including such an art was something special. And so was the interior design.
Retro, elegant, and somehow opulent. It was the embodiment of an elusive, Japanese idea of luxury that is somehow synchronized with how Studio Ghibli used to entice Japanese kids with stories such as Castle in the Sky/天空の城ラピュタ, Kiki’s Delivery Service/魔女の宅急便, Porco Rosso/紅の豚, and so on.
Gina from Porco Rosso singing in French.
P.S. Gina was voiced by Japanese chanson singer Tokiko Kato whose brother now owns RESTAURANT KIEV. To see her perform at the restaurant, 20,000 yen/$133 per head will be charged.
RESTAURANT KIEV (レストラン キエフ) | 236 Nijuikkencho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 〒605-0077, Japan
A Lunch: ¥1,306 / $8.70 / £8,20 / €8.70
Varenyky sundae: ¥770 / $5.10 / £4.80 / €5.10
Website | Menu
236 Nijuikkencho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, 〒605-0077, Japan
