Dinner 'At The Sisters'

It's about 500 kilometers from Kiev to Kharkiv. But it's worth the drive, Aleksey said, because at the midpoint is a restaurant famous for its thoroughly Ukrainian food and atmosphere: "Y Cectep," or "At the Sisters."

So that's where we stopped for dinner. And I can see why it's as mandatory as stopping at, say, Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que in Williamsburg if you're driving from Norfolk to Richmond. We had a variety of Ukrainian dishes, and they were great. I had a cold horse-radish soup (called kholodnyk), which I know doesn't sound particularly good or appropriate on such a cold day, but it was what Aleksey recommended, and for good reason. We also had salted vegetables (cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers); a cabbage salad; and I had a pork roll with a side of smashed potatoes and onions.

No alcohol for dinner (though I noticed the vodka was flowing pretty well on the plane). But we had an unusual drink called kvas, made of fermented bread.

It isn't just the food that makes Y Cectep such a treat. The restaurant is a kitchy history and art museum, with memorabilia from Soviet times, such as this telephone (which the KGB may still have bugged!) ...



... and hilarious drawings on the wall like:



I have a lot more pictures in a Web album.