12 Best Restaurants in Ukraine

In Odessa's beautiful Philharmonic building, Bernardazzi's is an elegant restaurant and wine cellar with gorgeous art-deco interiors and a lovely courtyard terrace for summer lunching. The menu places a heavy emphasis on meats, with items ranging from New Zealand lamb to American rib eye steak. They also offer hors d’oeuvres with wine parings and a number of cold appetizers, including pike caviar on toast. Bernardazzi's prides itself on its huge wine list, and offers a huge selection of wines from around the world—Chilean, New Zealand, Israeli, and South African varietals are represented alongside wines from across Europe.

A chic lunch and dinner spot, Fishcafe has an extensive menu of modern European and fusion dishes (including plenty of fish, of course). Dishes come beautifully presented and include items such as Norwegian salmon steak in almond crumbs with caviar sauce, and honey-glazed pork belly trimmings paired with shrimp croquettes. In summer, guests can dine in a covered outdoor space with elegant dark-wood framed upholstered chairs.

In terms of selection, quality, and atmosphere, you won't find a better place to dine than the Yalta seafront, tightly packed with a fleet of cafes and restaurants. Many of these occupy the actual ships or other floating devices—and the Hispaniola is one of them.This sushi-bar/fish restaurant is in an authentic schooner that played the part in more than one adventure movie in its previous life.

Perhaps the most popular seafood restaurant in Odessa well deserves its popularity, and it's nothing like the "red" lobster back home. The interior is elegant, with seating also available in the open-air courtyard. Live piano music enhances the pleasant ambiance. The selection of seafood is impressive and you can pick your own lobster.

Housed in a complex with a banquet hall, a kids' club, and a karaoke area, Nairi is a homey but modern multi-room restaurant. There are several dining areas, including a pretty two-story terrace gazebo flanked by an ivy-covered wall on one side and wrought-iron railings on the other for al fresco dining in summer. The menu features a wide variety of salads and primarily meat and seafood dishes—think veal with pomegranate sauce, and pike served with spinach. There's also a great dessert menu with a heavy focus on rich cakes; don't miss the restaurant's own take on Austria's beloved Sacher Torte.

Popular with locals and international visitors alike, this is a popular Italian restaurant with a wide menu that goes beyond pasta and pizza, offering traditional soups, cheeses, and meat and fish dishes. Prices are a little steep by local standards, but the quality of food is excellent and the house-made pastas get rave reviews. Off-white spackled walls and dark-wood ceiling beams give it the feeling of a medieval tavern, and there’s a plant-filled front terrace for summertime dining.

A good spot to try Ukrainian food, Pervak offers a large selection of popular local specialties in amusingly kitschy surrounds. This funkily decorated spot has a vintage theme, with a hodgepodge of old photos on the walls and child-size dolls on swings suspended from the ceilings. Waitresses garbed in traditional attire serve up Ukrainian favorites ranging from potato pancakes with pork fat to specially prepared eel, and there’s a great selection of beer and vodka to wash it all down.

Housed in the Frederic Koklen Boutique Hotel, this café attracts plenty of people who are not hotel guests, who come for its large breakfast buffets and smaller lunch/dinner menu of meat, seafood, and wine. The ground-floor spot is classically elegant, with a dark-wood bar, wine-colored sofas, and crystal chandelier lighting, but is far from stuffy. Make sure to ask about the chef's list of seasonal specials, which often includes local dishes not easily found outside of Odessa.

Inspired by Manhattan loft-style dwellings, the Loft Cascade serves a wide and varied selection of pub food and barbecue dishes in an industrial-chic environment. Although the beer selection is a bit slim for a pub, the focus is really on the food, and guests can wash down burgers, sandwiches, pastas, and meat and seafood dishes, with a frothy Guinness or a refreshing Hoegaarden White. A selection of steak is also available—think Lamb steak with a Jack Daniel's marinade or imported American T-bone. There’s also a summer menu with a lighter selection and a kids' menu.

This upscale restaurant was designed to resemble a 19th-century village. The menu features traditional country dishes such as borscht and varenyky (dumplings), as well as a selection of fish and seafood. The place is busy and sometimes may dictate some patience before your order arrives (you do get a snack and a shot of local vodka while you are waiting, though).

One of the newest additions to Kiev's culinary scene, Under Wonder has quickly established itself as one of the city's trendiest places to eat. The menu focuses heavily on Western European items—think veal carpaccio and foie gras—and traditional Ukrainian breakfasts of cottage cheese crepes are served in the morning. The interior features exposed brick walls painted cream, multicolored glass windows, and lush red velvet booth seating on the lower floor. Candles and potted plants add a touch of hominess.

This decent fish restaurant can be found in a replica of a Viking ship— is it a Greek galley?—raised on stilts above the sea, right in the main seafront promenade of Yalta. To accompany your meal, try the local wine, the sweet Livadian muscat, dry Oreanda, sweet Alupka rosé, or the local bubbly, predictably dubbed "shampanskoe."