Tips for LFC fans going to Kiev (spelt Kyiv in official translations).

Tips for LFC fans going to Kiev (spelt Kyiv in official translations).

To add to my previous post, 8 May 2017.

Kyiv tips for Eurovision & other visitors.

1. Nearly everywhere takes cards. Euros are very easily exchanged at fair rates but pounds will probably be exchanged everywhere. Exchanges on the street are perfectly good. Officially you have to pay in Ukrainian currency.
2. Near the stadium there is a good Silpo supermarket in the basement of Gulliver mall.
3. On Shota Rustaveli Street there are good Georgian restaurants. I’ve been to one and guessing the other is good.
4. Good value self-service Ukrainian food at Puzhata Hata (Пузата Хата) e.g. a branch diagonally opposite the right hand Kreshchatik side of the Bessarabaska market.
5. Porter pub has several branches around the centre. One is near the market, over the road on the left hand side away from the main street Kreshchatyk. Very near the LFC fan zone. One just off the other end of the main street and one on Sofiyska.
6. Look out for shops and shopping centres in the underpasses and subways. Also many good bars and restaurants in the streets off Kreshchatyk before you reach the Maydan Square.

Brief more details.

Supermarket. The giant Gulliver shopping mall is very near the stadium (entrance nearest the Palats Sportu metro, or on the opposite side through what looks like the business entrance. There is a good Silpo supermarket in the basement (find escalators down), & a restaurant. On the 5^th floor (our fourth floor, ground = 1) there is a good food hall for takeaway type food. Plenty of vegetarian options, I even saw a Tofu burger as the second dearest burger on the menu. There is a small perhaps cheaper supermarket along (Bul.) Lesi Ukrainki, 5 minutes walk away from Gulliver, a few blocks, with a very cheap traditional cafe attached.

Nearby the mall there are good Georgian restaurants, a falafel stall (good for vegetarian and vegans), and slightly nearer the centre a branch of the chain self-service typical good value Ukrainian food Puzhata Hata (Пузата Хата) http://www.puzatahata.ua/eng/ That branch is diagonally opposite the right hand Kreshchatik side of the Bessarabaska market. Look for a round red logo, and red writing. I spelt the name wrong in my earlier post.

Shops in underpasses. Ukraine is very hot in Summer and very cold in Winter. So they put shops and shopping centres underground, often in underpasses. Going along the main road from Gulliver mall to Bessarabska market (an old covered market) you may be surprised to find shops in the underpass. The next one in the direction of the main street Kreshchatyk you can get lost in there are so many twists and turns. Open at night to get through, with the shops closed. Under the main Maydan Square itself the whole underneath is a huge mix of prestige and regular shopping centre complex.

Pubs, bars, restaurants. It is normal in Ukrainian bars or ‘pubs’ to get food and drinks, so they look more like restaurants and you usually have to wait to be shown to a table. You can only get drinks but it is normal to get some food as well. I recommend it. As the FCO travel advice says, many drinks are stronger than at home. Their cheap ordinary lager is like our cheap ordinary lager (rubbish) but you rapidly get better, sometimes stronger, Ukrainian beer options, plus all the imported / foreign brands.

Porter Pub. Mentioned above. It’s like a Ukrainian Flannagan’s Apple but more civilised. A great rock covers & own songs band “Drive Music”, sometimes members of “The Brown Sugar” were playing in the branch on Taras Schevchenka last Friday night. Pub in Ukrainian / Russian = Паб.

There are good bars and restaurants on Prorizna. Khmilniy Knyaz on Prorizna is a British type craft beer bar (US / Aus / British type craft beer – not British type bar). Expensive for Ukraine – £16 for 3 beers & 3 small plates of food, good food and drink.

The area off Yaroslaviv, behind St. Sofia’s Cathedral is worth walking around to see lots of spectacular murals. A bohemian feel to it like similar districts in Berlin or Krakow. Thanks to my guide (& colleague) Sofi for showing me the murals district.

To add to my previous post, 8 May 2017.

Kyiv tips for Eurovision & other visitors.