Restored "Shchekavitsa"

Marina Kommersant-Gladkaya visited

The Shchekavitsa restaurant took two and a half years to reconstruct after the fire, and last week it finally opened. Of course, a lot has changed, such as the design, but the cuisine has remained the same - homemade, Ukrainian.

"Shchekavitsa" is named after the Podolsk Shchekavitsa hills. According to legend, the founders of Kyiv settled on them - Kiy, Khoriv, Lybid, as well as Shchek, thanks to whom the hills received their name. Somewhere on them stood the grave of Prince Oleg, but, alas, neither it, nor the church, nor the bell tower, which were built on the Shchekavitsky hills at different periods, nor the legendary cemetery have survived. The restaurant also experienced a kind of “Shchekavitsa syndrome”, but is now welcoming guests again.

The establishment features life-size weeping willows, birches, and cherry trees—with real trunks, branches, flowers, catkins, and leaves. You can’t tell right away how many halls there are here. My head is spinning from “Kamor”, “Koshar”, “Medoven”, “Gorisch”, “Svitlyts”, “Pid with Verbami” and other colorful rooms, offices, booths and halls. There is somewhere to hide, and in general, making your way through the bushes, you can go unnoticed.

In "Shchekavitsa" everything is according to Stanislavsky - truthfully, authentically, with theatrical love for details. If this is the "Fisherman's Hut" hall, then with real dried fish, fringed hanging from wall to wall: you can cut it and eat it. In "Kurnik" chickens lay eggs, in "Medoven" there are jars of honey in industrial quantities, and in "Kamora" you understand where the granaries of the homeland actually are. This is a real warehouse of consumer goods in all its splendor and diversity. In the hall itself, on every centimeter of the wall there is something, some kind of jar with something necessary and useful, and in order for all the charm of everyday life to become even more obvious and impressive, the wooden floor was replaced with glass. Under the glass is an immense storage facility for seven years of supplies with all the accompanying surroundings, mice, cats and other rural happiness.

“Shchekavitsa” is not even a village, but a whole Olympic village. We found the most comfortable the bright hall "Divocha" with a collection of cups and teapots, the miniature "Koshara", where the benches are covered with fluffy sheep skins, the room "On Pillows", as well as a place on the balcony overlooking the swamp, with a real bridge, herons, ducks and toads.

The surprise in this interior were the chairs from the Rococo era and armchairs with upholstery typical of the Victorian era. The powder room is another dimension altogether, with the clean geometric lines of a modern design and a floor-length crystal chandelier. In the men's room, a life-size horse emerges from the mirror. In a word, everything in “Shchekavitsa” is unexpected, magnificent and dashing like a hussar.

It’s not a fact that when you go to explore a restaurant, you’ll easily find your seat. So it’s better to remember the name of the hall or at least the floor. If you find yourself on the second floor somewhere between the Dovecote and Gorishche, go to the banquet hall. Its walls were painted by Petrykivka masters, and it’s really worth looking at. They drew without a pre-planned outline, without rulers or compasses. Flowers of incredible complexity were produced with a thin brush made of cat hair or plant stems.

The Ukrainian menu of Shchekavitsy demonstrates a clear Mediterranean bias. Here are cuttlefish stuffed with shrimp mousse on asparagus with Napolitain sauce (127 UAH), Greek moussaka with Bechamel sauce (95 UAH), veal carpaccio with tomatoes, tuna, anchovies and olives with Parmesan (91 UAH), cheese soup with quenelles, pike perch and shrimp (185 UAH) and warm gazpacho with crab meat, mango and fennel (135 UAH). For dessert, depending on your mood, you can order either tiramisu (75 UAH) or a light parfait with cocktail cherries and white chocolate (82 UAH).

The transitional link from one kitchen to another is “Banush” (46 UAH). It is equally loved in Italy under the name “polenta” and here in Western Ukraine. It is served our way - with cracklings and feta cheese.

But you still need to go to “Shchekavitsa” for colorful folk dishes. At least once, it’s worth ordering homemade blood on a sizzling patelna (76 UAH), Cossack-style pork leg stewed in beer with garlic (100 g/35 UAH) and Cossack soup with porcini mushrooms and donuts (68 UAH). Beans are also added here, some of which are ground, making the soup thick, and taken out in a cauldron over a fire, which especially amuses visiting men and children. Borscht is prepared “on the edge” and eaten with pampushki sprinkled with garlic (49 UAH). Pancakes serve the role of dessert perfectly (from 42 UAH to 122 UAH).

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