Olena Braslavets
Kyiv-based food journalist with 12 years of experience. Curator of the PlayUkraine restaurant-review desk and author of the guidebook 'Kyiv in 30 Dishes'. Specialises in new Ukrainian cuisine and fine-dining built on local produce.
Articles
16 September 2026Cheese ageing: what happens in the cheese cellarFresh cheese and aged cheese are different products, although they start from the same milk. During ageing, enzymes slowly transform proteins and fats, and the flavour deepens. The cellar is kept at a…
16 September 2026A celebration cake from sketch to displayWork on a celebration cake starts not at the oven but with a sketch. The confectioner settles the flavour combination, the number of tiers and the decoration so that they suit one another. The layers…
15 September 2026From cocoa bean to bar: how chocolate is madeCocoa beans on their own are bitter and hardly smell of chocolate. The familiar aroma appears after fermentation and drying, which happen where the cocoa trees grow. In the workshop the beans are roas…
15 September 2026Honey extraction season: when honey is readyExtraction begins once the bees cap the cells with wax: it signals that the honey has ripened and reached the right moisture. Unripe honey ferments quickly, so the beekeeper takes time and checks ever…
24 August 2026Table Shine: silver serving ware from Myroslav Koval's collectionHalf the cases carry an extra card with a drawing: how the object was held and what for. Asparagus tongs, a fish slice, a marrow spoon — each a single-purpose object that vanished along with the habit…
24 August 2026The Art of the Table: porcelain and faience from Halyna Doroshenko's collectionThe usual way is service by service. Here it is otherwise: all soup plates together, all sauce boats together, all cups together. Arranged this way, something a set display hides becomes visible: how…
24 August 2026Poltava halushky: an exhibition about a dish easier to name than to defineThe exhibition opens with a list: seven recorded versions of the recipe from different sources, and no two match completely. The difference lies in what counts as obligatory — the dough, the shaping,…
17 July 2026Limestone, terraces and living vines: the terroir story of PodilliaThe terroir of Podillia Terraces begins with stone. The terraced slopes of the Ternopil region rest on ancient limestone soils that hold coolness, drain water well and give the vine the very mineralit…
17 July 2026Harvest on the limestone terraces: season results at Podillia TerracesThe grape harvest has finished at Podillia Terraces — one of the most important moments of the year for any winery. This year's season in the Ternopil region proved restrained and cool, giving the ber…
17 July 2026A Cossack Wine Evening: A Tasting Under the Steppe SkyLast weekend Cossack Winery held a Cossack wine evening — a themed tasting that united the craft of winemaking with the living cultural heritage of the Zaporizhzhia steppe. Guests gathered in the esta…
17 July 2026Cossack Winery Unveils Its Barrel-Aged Steppe ShirazCossack Winery is proud to present its newest release — a Barrel-Aged Shiraz matured for eighteen months in oak casks within the cool underground cellars of the Zaporizhzhia region. Rooted in the sun-…
17 July 2026Bukovyna Vine's Odeske Brut Sparkling Wins Gold at CompetitionThe Odeske Brut sparkling from Bukovyna Vine Winery has been awarded a gold medal at a national competition of Ukrainian wines. The jury, made up of leading domestic sommeliers and oenologists, praise…
17 July 2026The Terroir of Transcarpathia: Volcanic Soils and the Character of LeankaTranscarpathia is one of Ukraine's oldest winegrowing corners, where the vine has been cultivated for many centuries. The secret of its wines lies in the ground: the slopes near Uzhhorod and Berehove…
17 July 2026Harvest 2025: Lozova Hora Completes Its Autochthonous Leanka PickThe Lozova Hora team has completed its 2025 harvest, and Roman Lozovyi calls the season one of the finest in recent years. A dry, warm summer and a gradual autumn ripening let the grapes accumulate su…
17 July 2026Open Cellar Day: How the Tasting Evening UnfoldedLast weekend, Kraftova Vynorobnia opened the doors of its cellar to guests — and the evening turned out genuinely warm. Friends of the winery, lovers of natural wine and first-time visitors curious ab…
17 July 2026New Seasonal White from Odesa Region: The First Bottling of the VintageKraftova Vynorobnia in the Sumy region announces the first bottling of its new seasonal white, made from grapes brought in from the Odesa region. Winemaker Taras Vynohradnyi selected fruit from southe…
22 May 2026Cuisine as art — Mystetskyi Arsenal launches tasting art-eveningsMystetskyi Arsenal, in partnership with chef Yevhen Klopotenko, has launched a unique format — gastronomic-art evenings 'Taste of the Canvas'. The concept is simple: visitors view 8 paintings from the…
12 May 2026Gastro-art festival in Kyiv — three days where food, art, and fashion merge into oneVDNG announced the largest cross-vertical festival in Ukrainian history — the 'Gastro-Art Festival' from June 12-14, 2026. In one location, 40 chefs, 30 artists, and 20 fashion designers will unite, f…
12 May 2026Canteen Kyiv — new Ukrainian cuisine with academic precisionCanteen on Kostelna delivers the most coherent authorial concept in the capital this season. The chef has abandoned classical European foundations in favour of seasonal produce from thirteen Kyiv-regi…
8 May 2026Goodwine — Kyiv's most grown-up wine barGoodwine on Velyka Vasylkivska is one of the few Kyiv addresses where wine culture is genuinely primary rather than decorative. The bar carries 60 by-the-glass pours with weekly rotation. Three sommel…
4 May 2026Kanapa — Ukrainian haute cuisine that has held for a decadeThe 'Kanapa' tenth-anniversary celebration was held restrained — no releases, no show. The menu has been refreshed by 40%, but the philosophy remains: the Ukrainian table as a sign system, not ethnogr…
26 April 2026Spotykach — a return to form without loss of characterThe Spotykach relaunch in November 2025 went well — the venue did not lose the authentic atmosphere of its Soviet-Ukrainian decor but solved the cramped-kitchen problem. The tincture list has expanded…
18 April 2026Baczewski — Galician elegance reflected in modernityBaczewski on Shevska is more than a venue — it is a living gastronomic capsule of 19th-century Galicia. Every interior element is a copy or reconstruction of original Baczewski-family furniture, the f…
10 April 2026Dizyngoff — Mediterranean mood with an Odesa accentDizyngoff is not a 'meeting of cultures', it is their merger. The menu interweaves the Tel-Aviv school of presentation (meze-style, shakshuka, malabi) with Odesa produce — local eggplants, Black Sea f…
2 April 2026Cherusti Kharkiv — author's Ukrainian cuisine under shellingOperating in Kharkiv in 2026 is a separate gastronomic art that combines culture, courage, and logistics. Cherusti is one of the few Kharkiv addresses where the team continues full operations despite…
28 March 2026Seasonal Cuisine of Poltava Region — Monthly Dish Reconstruction ProgrammeIn March 2026 the Poltava Folk Gastronomy Museum launches the public programme 'Seasonal Cuisine of Poltava Region'. Monthly one public reconstruction of a dish tied to the calendar-ritual cycle of th…
28 March 2026Reporter Dnipro — a bistro with capital-grade gastronomyReporter on Sicheslavska Embankment is the best example of how the Dnipro gastronomic scene has emerged from a provincial format in the past five years. Chef Dmytro Kalnytskyi, who returned from Berli…
27 March 2026Summer Pottery Workshop — Reconstruction of the Traditional ProcessIn March 2026 the Opishne Museum announced the summer public programme 'Summer Pottery Workshop', which will be held weekly from June to August 2026. The programme offers all interested a complete rec…
20 March 2026Mafia on Vasylkivska — a chain that holds its standardThe Mafia chain with 47 locations across Ukraine and Poland is the largest Ukrainian restaurant brand. The flagship on Velyka Vasylkivska serves up to 4,000 guests per day on peak weekends. Management…
12 March 2026Petrus — the Kyiv bakery that changed the gameUntil 2017 Kyiv had no artisan natural-leaven bread culture — only industrial production. Petrus, founded by Olha Tushentsova, has radically changed this landscape. Today the chain has four locations…
4 March 2026Tavernetta — port-side Italian without pretensionTavernetta on Hretska is an example of how to maintain Italian cuisine in a Ukrainian context without copying Italian clichés. The venue operates as a 'fraterna' — a family Italian tavern — with 16 ta…
24 February 2026Vidkryta Kuhnya — a Lviv experiment in transparent process'Vidkryta Kuhnya' on Lychakiv is Lviv's most radical concept of transparent restaurant process. Instead of a traditional dining room there is one long bar counter for 22 guests right next to the kitch…
22 February 2026KEKHZ Artists — Biographical Lecture Series on Forgotten MastersIn February 2026 the Kyiv Porcelain Museum opens a new lecture cycle 'KEKHZ Artists — Biographical Series'. Eight lectures, held every Wednesday during February-March, illuminate the life and work of…
20 February 2026Chumak Roads — Lecture Series on the Salt Trade of Ukraine 16th-19th CenturiesIn February 2026 the Pyrohiv Museum opens a new lecture cycle 'Chumak Roads — Salt Trade of Ukraine 16th-19th Centuries'. Six lectures, held every Tuesday, cover one of the most important economic pra…
30 January 2026Imperial Porcelain Restoration — Practice for Regional MuseumsIn January 2026 a five-month conservation programme for 19th-century imperial porcelain began at the restoration workshop of the Baranivka Porcelain Museum. Participants in the programme came from thr…
26 January 2026Conservation of Rushnyks of Five Regional Schools — Programme for Regional MuseumsIn January 2026 a six-month educational programme 'Rushnyk Schools of Ukraine' began at the restoration workshop of the Ivan Honchar Ukrainian Centre for Folk Culture. The programme focuses on the con…
28 November 2025Hailo Poshyvailo's Author Collection — 35 Works from the Master's FamilyIn November 2025 the Opishne Museum received as a gift thirty-five author works by Hailo Nykyforovych Poshyvailo (1909-1991) — the leading master of Opishne pottery of the 20th century. The transfer w…
18 November 2025Archive of Handwritten Culinary Notebooks 1920-1940 — New AcquisitionIn November 2025 a unique archive arrived at the Poltava Folk Gastronomy Museum — twenty-three handwritten culinary notebooks of Poltava housewives, written during 1920-1940. The archive was kept in t…
26 September 2025KEKHZ Heritage After 2003 — Mission to Preserve a Closed ProductionIn September 2025 the Kyiv Porcelain Museum announced an updated strategic mission to preserve the heritage of the Kyiv Experimental Ceramic-Art Factory (KEKHZ), which operated in the capital from 194…
25 September 2025Harvest Traditions at Pyrohiv — Annual Autumn Culinary ProgrammeIn September 2025 the Pyrohiv Open-Air Museum concluded its annual autumn 'Harvest Traditions' programme dedicated to Ukrainian ritual practices of grain gathering. The central element of the programm…
