After a morning of sight seeing in the Castle and the museum in Chyhyryn, we were quite hungry and decided to stop for some lunch. Chyhyryn is the ancient capital of the Cossack Hetmanate, about 60 km south of Cherkasy. Mrs Olya restaurant was recommended to us. It was a traditional Ukrainian style restaurant. It was only a short drive from Chyhyryn.
As we walked through the garden gate ,there was a beautifully decorated single story farm house with thatch roof and brightly coloured flower patterns on the wall. To complete the picture, Mrs Olya was sitting by the door preparing the porcini mushrooms for her restaurant. The garden was well maintained and beautifully decorated with flowers, windmill and lots clay pots on an old tree stump. I can imagined myself entered into the Disneyland.
As we stepped into the house, there was a small dinning area with tables and chair all laid out. The walls were decorated in traditional Ukrainian colour, ornaments and pictures. the albes were covered with embroidered table clothed. What I found most interesting was the floor was cover with straws. My guess is this must be Mrs Olya’s resident before she decided to convert it into a restaurant for local and foreign tourists.
After a few snap shots inside the house, we decide to choose a table to dine outside in the garden. We were so please that the menu was in both Ukrainian and English language. We ordered some borsch (Ukrainian beetroot soup), bread, salad and a selection of cold meat to share between us. The soup was creamy and tasty. The bread and salad was very fresh. The cold meat was delicious too.
We have enjoyed the whole dining experience. The weather was good. The setting was delightful. The lunch was good value for money.
