restaurant

Tuesday’s Treats #123

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Pest Pub

Location: Lavina Mall (inside), Kiev, Ukraine

This restaurant is located in the upstairs food court in Lavina Mall. We missed this on our first visit, and we went to the open food court where you sit with everyone, and if it’s busy, it’s loud and crazy. This is a nice and quiet, almost a “no kids allowed” type atmosphere, but not really, cuz there were a few children. However, this is definitely away from the hustle and bustle, and chaos that the other food court can sometimes present.

The atmosphere is very cool, very masculine, and the staff is friendly. There is a plethora of drinks from which to choose; however, if I might suggest the lemonade (non-alcoholic), it was amazing!! Made fresh with s slice of lemon, a slice of grapefruit, a touch of ginger, with a sprig of mint…with ice. 😉 Oh my! It was so light and refreshing. This was so good!!

We just ordered a little snack of Focaccio with 3 sauces: garlic butter, four cheese and branded tomato sauce, and the waiter had brought the sweet and sour by mistake. The garlic butter was my favorite, and the cheese was second. The sweet and sour was definitely an Asian twist, and the branded tomato just tasted funky, more like a canned tomato paste with basil. The bread was so delicious, I ended up eating six pieces before I even realized it!! I felt like a piglet for sure, but it was so tasty!

They have several other choices on the menu, including full pizzas, pasta, etc., but we were just looking for a snack of sorts, and this hit the spot! (The menu below has more food choices on back.)We will definitely return here on our next visit to Lavina Mall.

I couldn’t find a website for them, but I did find a Facebook page, and they have it listed on Google.

Tuesday’s Treats #121

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Lviv Handmade Chocolate

Location: various locations Ukraine

The above pics are from the location in Rivne. It is a pretty small cafe, and there’s not as many “shelf” selections as others I have been in, but it’s very cute, and the menu items are more than some of the other locations.

The cafe in Lviv is the absolute coolest place!! When we walked in, it appeared to be a tiny cafe, but we went up the stairs and kept going, and kept going, and kept going! We went up five stories! We ended up in, what I would describe as the attic. It was amazing!!

They even have a Kids Center on the fourth floor where your kids can play while you drink your coffee, and the restrooms with a changing table are right there, too.

Don’t try to go out the Exit! It will beep at you!! …at least, that’s what a friend of mine said. Lol! 😂

Ok, now that I’ve given you a ton of pictures and described to you the amazing place, let me tell you about the amazing drinks and chocolates you can get.

My personal favorite is the white chocolate latte. It is so delicious! A friend of mine got the milk chocolate latte, and several friends have gotten the melted chocolate cup with fruit (See the picture above with bananas in chocolate). This seems to be a real popular choice among Ukrainians. Another drink that I’ve tasted, but have yet to order for myself (because I’m always getting coffee!), is the ginger tea (See pic). This drink is made with ginger, cinnamon, orange slices, lemon slices, and mint, and it’s served with a little bowl of honey. This drink is amazing. It has an actual healing quality to it, which makes perfect sense if you were to read any article on natural healing remedies. They always include cinnamon, lemon, honey and orange.

They have a plethora of other drink options, and that doesn’t even begin to skim the surface of the chocolate varieties. There’s decorative chocolatier items like lollipops and teddy bears, solid blocks of chocolate, truffles, chocolate with marzipan, nuts, fruits, and all kinds from which to choose. Some of our favorites are the white chocolate coconut, the dark chocolate solids, the white chocolate with pistachio nuts, the chocolate square with a coffee bean on top (tastes like hazelnut chocolate inside), and the white veil, which is chocolate dipped in white chocolate.

They also have different Lviv coffees for sale, as well as, a ton of gifts and novelties. The assortment can almost be mind-boggling but all together wonderful to behold! If you find one of these cafes, be sure to drop by and have a cup of “kaba,” and if you’ve already been to one, don’t think you can just skip another. Each one is unique with it’s own character and design. Each one is worth the time to stop.

Here is their website to find all the locations and various items.

Tuesday’s Treats #120

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La Riva

Location: Rivne, Ukraine

Simply AMAZING pizza!! Oh my goodness! I will crave this when I return home! Don’t let the humble appearance from the outside detour you. It is so good!!

(My apologies for this pic! It’s blurry, but I wanted to be able to give you a glance of the outside. It’s just a simple building with a sign.)

We ordered a four cheese “red” pizza with tomato sauce, salami, and peppers. We asked for green, but they gave red, and I told as actually glad once I tasted it. Those in our party got a four cheese “white” pizza with Alfredo sauce and prosciutto (italian bacon). It was delicious as well; however, I am partial to ours.

All the ingredients were so fresh and delicious! Had I not felt like a piglet, I’d eaten so much more! I cannot say enough good about it.

The atmosphere is cool as well. Note, it’s not a real big restaurant; so, on a busy night, I’m sure there’s a wait. We had a party of six, but we were able to walk right in and seat ourselves. There were 3 other tables filled and only one or two left once we put two together.

Here is their website; however, it is in Ukrainian. I didn’t see an option to translate, but you can check it out.

Tuesday Treats #119

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Rebra BBQ

Location: Bukovel-Yaremche, Ukraine

This place is so cool! The atmosphere is great, and the food is delicious. You can sit along the window and watch the skiers fly, or tumble, down the side of the hill. The staff is nice and friendly, and the menu has both Ukrainian and English translations. If you’re American, and you’re looking for some food BBQ while skiing in Bukovel, you’ll want to check them out.

Now, the locals will tell you it’s way too pricey to eat here, and to their standards of food payment, it is. However, for meals in the States, it’s about comparable to a high-end BBQ place. They have lots of sides, several sauces from which to choose, and desserts a plenty.

We had the beef brisket, ribs, cheeseburger, roasted potatoes and fries. The beef is beefy, and the cheeseburger is thick. Everything was delicious. The desserts were different, but yummy! The cronut was not at all what I expected, but it was very tasty. It’s a croissant doughnut, filled with a lemon chocolatey cream, glazed with this strawberry, caramel icing, and this is served cold. The “brownie” is more like a cake, but it is chocolatey good.

*Note to all Americans: upon your entry, if you see a sign that says, “Administration is not responsible for staff,” please know this doesn’t mean what we think it means! 😂 It means they aren’t responsible for stuff! This cracked us up, and I did try to mention it to the staff, but I’m not sure they’re going to change it. So, if you happen to drop in, and you are greeted by this sign as you hang up your coat, just know it’s not a reflection on what you’re about to encounter! 😂

Here’s their website as well; so, you can take a look at stuff.

Tuesday’s Treats #118

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Pasta Mia

Location: Rivne Oblast, Ukraine (Kyivska vul. 84)

Ok, so I’ll be honest. When our translator and driver said we’d stop to eat at a little cafe, along the highway between Rivne and Kyiv, and we pulled up to the gas station here, I was a bit skeptical…well, a lot skeptical. Here, in the US, when you stop for a bite to eat at most gas stations, you better just grab a prepackaged bag of chips and a coke, cuz if you eat in the “cafe,” you may very well wish you hadn’t a later on! Lol!

If you find yourself in this same scenario, and you pull into this cafe/gas station, go ahead and order up a plate! It’s that good! Our translator got the pasta with Parmesan cheese, and I had a bite. Yum! She got a cappuccino as well that looked delicious. I got a latte and an apple strudel kind of thing out of the display case (so sorry. I don’t remember the name of it!). They warmed it, and it was absolutely delicious! They had several pasta dishes and coffees from which to choose, and many more items in the display case, but like I said, I had been skeptical to start; so, I didn’t take in all the choices. The menu is also in Ukrainian; so, I couldn’t read it. The connected store has a nice selection of drinks and snack items as well; so, if you’re not in the mood for pasta, they’ve got you covered. 😉

It was a nice little break on our 3 hour drive in the snow from Lviv to Rivne that day, and I will cherish the memories made with sweet friends. Here is the TripAdvisor site for you to find a little more info, as they don’t have a website that I could find.

*UPDATE 1/2020: the cafe is still there, and I had the original location posted incorrectly. It is between Rivne and Kyiv. However, note this address given above may be wrong, or the restaurant has 2 locations. When above address entered, the location shows inside Lviv city. When only placed restaurant name into gps, location showed outside Lviv toward Ivano-Frakivsk; so, I’m sorry I am unable to give exact location. However, leaving Rivne toward Kyiv, cafe/gas station is on the left, and gas station is a “green one.” (Often these on the highway are either green, blue or yellow.😉) Hope this helps, if you are traveling and searching for it!

Tuesday’s Treats #116

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D’Armoyed

Location: Kiev, Ukraine

This place was really cool in atmosphere. It seems to be pretty new, and I couldn’t find a lot of info on line, but it’s well worth the visit.

The waiter knew just a bit of English, but they did have an English menu, and we were eating with Ukrainians; so, ordering was not a problem. The food was delicious, and the presentation was exquisite.

The Borsch, grilled chicken, potatoes with fried mushrooms and the Greek salad were all delicious. Our party also ordered other salads, dumplings, and some type of potato fritters (See pic), and everything was absolutely scrumptious! My favorite was probably the Borsch and the potatoes, but I think I kind of made those items my “food staples of choice” while in Ukraine! Lol. Hat chicken was amazing also, tasted like it came right out of the smoker!

Next time, we visit Kiev, this will be on the places to eat! They don’t have a website, but there is a Facebook page.

Tuesday’s Treats #115

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The Blonde Giraffe Key Lime Pie Factory

Location: Tavenier Key, Fl

THIS PLACE HAS THE MOST AMAZING KEY LIME PIE!!!!

They have great coffee, limeades and other drinks as well, but the key lime pie is my absolute favorite in all the Keys! You can choose from meringue key lime or non-meringue, chocolate drizzled and frozen. You can buy it by the slice or a whole pie. They have a variety of gift items and candies from which to choose as well. On their website, they sell most items; unfortunately, due to meringue issues, they no longer ship the key lime pie. 😩 That makes me so sad, as I crave this pie now!!

They always include a yummy little key lime cookie with your coffee or warm beverage choice. It is scrumptious!. Oops! I took a bite before I remembered to take the pic. 😂

Oh, and they have their own key lime trees right out the side door where you can also walk to a little outdoor sitting area under the palm trees. It was a little too hot in mid June for us to enjoy the sanctuary, but maybe next time.

Tuesday’s Treats #114

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Lazy Days

Location: Islamorada Key, Fl

The atmosphere here is definitely worth taking the time to sit back and enjoy, even if the staff seems a little put out when you come in with your party of eight on a Saturday lunch. We weren’t real sure what that was all about, but we just chose to ignore it and enjoy our lunch.

The bread basket that is brought before the meal is scrumptious. The pic I’ve included has a few biscuits missing, as our party was a bit like scavengers that day. Lol. The sweet loaf bread was divine!

Several in our party tried the coconut fried batter on our grouper and mahi, and although it was tasty, I do believe I’ll opt for the regular fried or blackened grouper next time. My husband’s blackened red fish was delicious, and our son’s steak was yummy; although, the fries could have been just a bit more plentiful.

The desserts were amazing; however, I’m partial to the key lime pie at another location. All in all, this place was good, and we’ll probably revisit when we’re back in the Keys.

Tuesday’s Treats #113

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Subzero Nitrogen Ice Cream

Location: Key Largo, Fl

This place is crazy cool! The staff are friendly and fun to talk to, and the process of making this ice cream with nitrogen is fascinating. They prepare it right there in front of you and add in whatever toppings you’d prefer. The ice cream is very tasty and delicious, too. Oh, if you don’t eat ice cream, they have frozen yogurt as well they prepare the same way. What a fun treat!

Check out the website for various locations across the nation.

Tuesday’s Treats #112

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The Fish House

Location: Key Largo, Fl

The atmosphere here is really cool. You feel like you’ve just entered a dockside restaurant; even thought, you’re right in the middle of Key Largo. The menu is pretty extensive on fish items, and everything we had was delicious.

Our party ordered red fish, hog fish, blackened Mahi, chicken fingers and fries. The tea isn’t sweetened, as is usual in the Keys; so, just go ahead and order water with lemon or a coke. All the fish tastes fresh, and the wait staff are pretty friendly. We encountered one who was not so much, but she only seated us; so, we got beyond it pretty quick. We dis have their key lime pie for dessert, but I’ve had better elsewhere.

If we’re ever back in the Keys, this will probably be in our top 10 restaurants from which to choose. Here’s the website.