Kiev – Pivna Duma

This looked a tempting location, situated on the city’s main street near to Maidan Square. It was a slightly overwhelming situation when I entered as three people seated near to the door all welcomed me and one asked why I was visiting. It transpired that they were just staff members and one was simply asking so they knew whether to take me to the restaurant or bar area.

I was walked down to a cellar area with a contemporary designed bar and seating, with a staff member who spoke perfect English being welcoming and engaging. I decided to just stay sitting at the bar since it was quite empty, but there were plenty of tables for those customers who preferred that.

There were four beers that were being sold from the taps during my visit, with one dark beer option amongst them. I later discovered that you could get a sample of each of the beers for a low price, which would have probably been a good idea.

When I asked if there was a dark beer, the staff member pro-actively offered me a sample of it and I really liked the glass that it was served in. As the quality met my expectations, it had a smooth taste and had a pleasant aftertaste, I had a larger glass of it.

It seemed sensible to have a little snack with the beer, so I went for the chicken wings. Lots of flavour with the coating on the wings and surprisingly nice celery, which isn’t a phrase that I thought that I’d type.

Total price for the chicken wings and the beer came to around £5, slightly expensive for Kiev, but the quality of the surroundings and the central location accounted for this. It’s really an ideal choice for a professional business meeting as it’s quite a classy set-up, but they seemed welcoming to everyone who entered.