You can change lives, just by eating at this Ukrainian restaurant

“By eating here, you're helping to make a real change in the lives of Ukrainian refugees. The best thing that is you get to see and meet the people whose lives you're changing.”

Dinner is served: cabbage rolls, 'pampushka' pull-apart buns with garlic butter and green borscht.

Rarely does a dining experience ever radically change someone’s life.

Yet, there’s a destination opposite Broadway Shopping Centre in Sydney where you may feel inspired to be a better human, just by ordering a plate of traditional Ukrainian cabbage rolls (holubutsi).

Although that’s a big call, Kyïv Social is more than just a restaurant that’ll cook you dinner and then send you on your way. The restaurant promises diners innate rewards, and then some.

CEO of Plate It Forward, Shaun Christie-David and Iryna Humenna welcome diners to Kyïv Social.

The latest Plate It Forward venue is an elegant restaurant located in a former bank building that’s powered by the tenacity its employees: resettled Ukrainian refugees.

“Our mantra is up on the wall here in the restaurant,” says CEO of Plate It Forward, Shaun Christie-David, as he paraphrases the messages decorating the restaurant’s high walls. “For the love of food, humanity and the people who have overcome – they are our staff.”

For the love of food, humanity and the people who have overcome – they are our staff.

Shaun Christie-David

Humanity on a plate

The social movement-cum-dining establishment has given 15 Ukrainian refugees – a former doctor, private chef, chief banking economist and pilot – a hospitality job. Secure employment has provided the refugees with a way to gain English skills, a head start in Australia and a new family of trusted co-workers.

Green borscht with sorrel, dill and creme fraiche at Kyïv Social.

“This venue is not about highlighting war, it’s about highlighting the Ukrainian people," says Christie-David. "It’s about humanising refugees. I want the restaurant to create an understanding of what people are going through in the Ukraine so diners can gain the level of empathy and respect for refugees. They are just so brave and courageous.”

Take the 27-year-old Iryna Humenna, for example. Diners can recognise the Ukrainian GP, now a restaurant hostess, as she welcomes you to the venue upon arrival.

“This restaurant has changed my life,” says Humenna, who came to Australia in 2023 with limited English skills (although she could speak Ukrainian, German and understand a whole lot of medical terms).

"When I am home, every minute I worry about my family in Ukraine and my country. When I am here, I focus on work and it gives me a chance to stop worrying. For a little while, I can forget about the war. Through my job, I also get to meet different, very positive and friendly people. It makes me very happy.”

Meet three of the resettled Ukrainian refugees behind the food served at Kyïv Social: (L to R) executive chef, Borys Cherniak and sous chefs Martina Tkachenko and Viktoriia Bodnaruk.

Life-changing food

Beyond the employment opportunities available, Kyïv Social enables diners to participate in a wave of social change. Every time a customer orders a ‘set menu’, Kyïv Social (via Plate It Forward) donates a meal to someone in need living in Sydney.

“We also fund fresh, healthy and nutritious meals every day to an orphanage in Ukraine for children whose parents have been affected by the war,” says Christie-David. “We have donated thousands of meals since we started Kyïv Social – roughly 75 a day – and we send funds to Ukraine to purchase these meals.”

This restaurant has changed my life.

Iryna Humenna

So if you want to donate to people doing it tough in Sydney or Ukrainian war orphans, just sample the fare on offer. Try a bowl of soothing, sorrel-based green borsht for entrée. Then, share a pair of vegetarian cabbage rolls filled with porcini mushrooms and rice, topped with a roast tomato sauce.

If room permits, enjoy a delicious serve of cherry dumplings (served with sweet cultured cream) handmade by two sisters – Humenna’s mum and aunty – who also fled the war.

“I grew up with these cherry dumplings,” recalls Humenna. “When I eat them, they remind me of the Ukraine. They make me feel both happy and sad in the one moment.”

Executive chef, Borys Chernyk says he intentionally included dishes, like cherry dumplings, on the menu to promote sentimental generational recipes and a sense of Ukrainian pride.

“The food we used to eat in the Ukraine was the food our grandmothers used to cook for us,” says Chernyk. “It’s all about tradition. We are a small country but we are rich in culture.”The menu also features a few modern takes on familiar dishes to delight the Australian palate. Sous chef, Viktoriia Bodnaruk, tells SBS she’s a huge fan of the restaurant’s bangers and mash – creamy mashed potato served with a Ukrainian sausage, developed by the venue with LP Quality Meats. The sausage is dressed with Dijon mustard and salsa verde.

The food we used to eat in the Ukraine was the food our grandmothers used to cook for us.

Borys Chernyk

Martina Tkachenko, another sous chef, says her favourite dish is the 'Kyïv' chicken Kyiv. “How we make it here is different to how we have it at home in the Ukraine but the recipe is very similar," explains Tkachenko. :At home, there’s butter and garlic inside the chicken while we serve it at Kyïv Social with butter and garlic on top. It’s delicious.”

No matter what you choose from the menu, Christie-David recommends that you share the paltes in order to fully experience the vibe of a traditional Ukrainian family home.

“We want Kyïv Social to highlight the vibrancy of Ukrainian culture, food and its people,” says Christie-David. “We also want our diners to walk out happy, feeling that they’ve contributed to employment and society.

“By eating here, you're helping to make a real change in the lives of Ukrainian refugees. The best thing that is you get to see and meet the people whose lives you're changing.”