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Published: October 30th 2011
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The Jewish restaurant wasn’t far at all but it was hidden in the maze of small streets around Stary Rynok. It is located very close to the Arsenal building however you cannot reach it from there. We saw people passing by and taking photos of it but we were not sure if they had known about this place from somewhere and came to see it or just happened to pass by. We have not found information about this place in any of the guides we read, nor we have heard about it from the Polish guys we met (they had an advantage when it comes to sights and local places as their friend has been living in Lviv for 6 years now). Maybe just local people know about it??
Never the less, the exterior of the place is already striking and interesting. You cannot simply pass by without looking. It is also very uniquely decorated inside – Jewish candle holders, pictures, news papers, pots and pans, painting on the wall and furniture. All screams ' DIFFERENT' to you.
We love new and different so we took our place with excitement at the table. We even received menu in Polish
– so there are some tourists coming there?? First thing that hit us was – no price tags next to the dish. We asked the waitress about it.
'This is a place where we bargain' – she said. We looked at each other and we both thought that it must be pricey then haha We could not afford to spend to much on food but on the other hand we did not want to leave as this was looking really interesting. We looked around and there was a lot of young Russian people so we thought it cannot be that expensive. We keep forgetting that this nation has a lot of money hahha
We ordered starter each: Jewish platter and chicken pie and mains: beef hot pot and chicken breast with cranberry sauce and dumplings. We also ordered shot of vodka, bear and red wine – all Ukrainian produce to check their alcohol tastes. Suddenly the waitress appeared with a jar of water and small wash basin and we were asked to wash our hands as per Jewish Tradition. The wine was amazing and Tomek said that vodka was great too ;-)
The food was just melting in
our mouths. Every bite was like a new experience because of mixture of spices and different tastes in it. Jewish platter made of different kinds of spreads, all home made was just divine (houmous, liver pate with gherkings, red hearing with apple, white radish with orange and some nutty tasting spread). Every bit of of the food was freshly made inhouse. It was like a poetry to us but of course food taste is something very individual.
After dinner we asked to settle the bill. The waitress asked us something that sounded like
' Do you have a loyalty card' -so we said no. Then she appeared with a tiny wooden chest in which the bill was hidden. It was not shockingly high but more then twice higher that spent on dinner in Lviv so far (230UAH - 18£) .... we thought ok, then we would bargain ;-) She came around and asked what was wrong. We said that nothing but we wanted to pay less and then she went
' You cannot as you said no to the bargain part and this is an official bill from the till' .... hmmm you can imagine our faces. We
started to explain that we could not understand properly what she was saying and we didn't remember her asking if we want to bargain.
In the end she asked her supervisor around and we got free shots of honey vodka – yummy!! The bill was really irreversible but at least we go the value of 20UAH in drinks;-) It did not really matter to us as the whole experience of this place was totally worth it ;-)
Perhaps there are better restaurants in Lviv but their prices are not for budget travelers. To us this place was a fine dining for not so fine price ;-) We truly think it was a hidden gem of Lviv that we managed to discover for ourselves.
Details of the Restaurant:
At the Golden Rose Restaurant Steroyevreyska Street, Stary Rynok, Lviv
ask locals for exact directions
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