Vegan in Ukraine

Today I’m sharing a post on how it is to travel as a vegan in Ukraine. The answer is that is not difficult if you are in big cities such as Lviv and Kyiv. We mostly had our meals in restaurants, but we did go to a vegan shop and cooked ourselves when we stayed in a place with cooking facilities, both in Kyiv and Lviv.

Breakfast at the aparthotel we were staying in central Lviv. In Lviv we stayed in the same place, but our first room had no cooking facilities, while the second time we had. This was the only vegan option, a vegetarian dish without eggs. The quinoa was cooked nicely and the salad was fresh every day. We could pick the food and enjoy it in our room if we decided to do that.
For vegetarians they have a couple of options.

Kitsune is how this place is known on Happycow, but its name is different. The address is correct on Happycow though and this place is a must to go to. They have limited savoury options and lots and lots of cakes. We’ve been there 3 times. The savoury pies, pictured above, were very good. I liked the pastry, the filling. One was with broccoli and the other one with mushrooms.

Cakes! All the cakes! We haven’t tried the frozen desserts just because there were too many in the chilled section. The macarons were amazing, with beautiful filling and a core of jelly. These were great. I also liked the cakes, the Ukrainian honey cake and Napoleon were lovely. They also have biscuits, including nuts (pictured near the macaron in top right) which are a traditional biscuit filled with cream. It’s traditional in Romania as well, so we were very happy to find them there.

OM NOM NOM has a lovely name and delicious food. This is another place we went to twice. The houmous was smooth and delicious and the sandwich very yummy.

Cheesecake at OM NOM NOM is different. On a bed of fruit sauce (not sweet), these three cheesecakes were fried. It was unusual and lovely. I would happily have that again.

Traven is close to the previous restaurant and, as with the other one, we’ve been there twice. The staff here is so funny and cheeky, I love it. They offered us drinks to taste before ordering, as they make their own traditional Ukrainian drinks. After choosing our drinks, we were asked what mugs we want, from an array of funny mugs. We had a wrap with seitan, which had an unusual thin wrap, nothing like I had before. It was so good. We also tried one of their desserts, which was not too sweet.

Nebos is one of two places we’ve been to in Kyiv. It’s on the expensive side for Ukraine, all vegan, all raw, all healthy. We had a three course meal and it was amazing. Firstly we had borscht with sour cream and bread. I had a wrap and my husband had pasta, both really good.

Date seed coffee, something I never heard of, but it was worth trying. It’s a bit like coffee, but it’s made out of date seeds, as the name suggests. I’m afraid I can’t describe it too clearly, it’s one of those things one needs to try to see how it is. I liked it and I would have it again, given the opportunity.

For dessert we had a selection of 5 cakes. It was more than a slice each, but it so worth having. I think it’s incredible that all these are raw and so well made. It was fantastic.

Green Chef have a small place in Kyiv and they also sell in supermarkets. We had a sushi sandwich with drinks, before sharing a cake, pictured below. The restaurant they have is dog friendly, which is lovely.

Vegetus is a chain of vegan shops, with shops in Kyiv and Lviv. I’ve been to both, this one is from Lviv. They have all kinds of sausages, sour cream, cheese, chocolate, beans, and many more things. In regular supermarkets there are very few vegan options, but there are a lot of fresh veggies on offer, so it’s not too bad if you want to cook.