We have some interesting politicians in the UK. It’s just been reported in the papers that a Labour MP, who earns more than $130,000 per year claimed expenses of $20 for attending services commemorating the war dead. $3 of that was for tea and cake. Meanwhile, fellow Labour MP Eric Joyce, who just last week went crazy in the House of Commons, head-butting and punching fellow MPs, has admitted an affair with a schoolgirl.
In recent years though, you have to go a long way to be more interesting, as a subject for study, than David Blunkett. He rose from poverty in the city of Sheffield to become the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom. He had an affair with an attractive brunette and had free membership to a London strip club. So far, so standard. He also, according to many accounts, made an absolute mess of every position of office he ever held. And he was blind since birth. Some say this spurred him on to achieve what he achieved. Others suggest that, as unfortunate as his being blind was, it undoubtedly compromised his effectiveness in many key areas, leaving him, as it were, unable to see things as they really were.
Can you imagine living in a world of darkness? Have you ever even briefly had that experience? Not like when you turn the switch at night, there’s always a shard of light somewhere. Real darkness, utter blackness?

Going Dark
Welcome to the Dark Side restaurant, a restaurant where all you can see, from the start of your meal to the end, is the occasional tiny green light of your waiter’s night vision goggles. Accompanying me to this gig was the long-suffering Ira. We sit in a standard bar-type room for a few minutes, preparing ourselves for the coming experience. Then, the harbinger of darkness, our waiter, arrives. We follow him through, Ira’s hand is on his shoulder, my hand on hers, and we enter, through the curtains, into absolute blackness.
We are led to our seats in a room, of which I have no idea the size, or how many fellow diners there are. We are sat on wooden chairs and our waiter departs, leaving Ira and myself to comprehend our new environment.

It’s more than an environment, it’s a total experience. You can’t really imagine how you’ll feel in this kind of situation, until you’re right in the thickness of the darkness. It’s a little scary. Anything could come at you from anywhere. It’s a feeling of vulnerability, of powerlessness. Of intensity.
I can hear diners around me, various noises emanating from different places, in a much more extreme way than usual. I can hear Ira, she’s breathing heavily, she’s panicking. This isn’t a good start, we’re only a couple of minutes in. She starts telling me she’s scared, she reaches out for me and I feel her hands across the table, stretching, fumbling, feeling. Something that’s so natural now almost knocks over a wine glass. In a flash, our waiter is back with our first courses.

The way it works is you order a menu in advance, it’s ready for you upon arrival – our first course has arrived in just a few minutes. There’d been no browsing through the menu, pondering options, contemplating choices. I’d ordered the vegetarian menu for myself and the fish menu for Ira. Ira immediately tells me she doesn’t like fish. I can tell, it’s going to be a long evening.

Scowl of the Night Owl
We’d never had the ‘fish’ discussion before. I’d always just assumed that everyone likes fish. I would never really eat meat, but occasionally a bit of fish passes my lips. Apparently though, someone has a real aversion to it. It’s the young lady sitting just across from me, whom I can’t see, but who is making things a bit difficult at the moment. As I’m here in a reviewing capacity, there’s no way we can leave, even though Ira is becoming a little hysterical, telling me she’s really frightened and that she wants to go. I scowl at her through the darkness, but she doesn’t see. She knew what the score was, she knew it was a dark restaurant.

Thinking about it for a moment, I stop scowling at her, and give a few comforting words. These have some success, so I decide to capitalise on that momentum by ordering up some wine. How do you do that when there’s no wine list? I ask for a decent bottle of white wine, the waiter suggests something Italian, gives me a price, and we go for it. He returns with it swiftly, holding our hands to show us where the glasses are and pouring it. Ira has a sip, it calms her a little, she starts to eat.

I must admit, I’d been starving and unable to wait so, even in the brief time it had taken for the wine, I’ve already devoured my first course. One thing they do ask you to do in the ‘lit room’, which already seems a distant memory, is wash your hands. You do these in toilets with no mirrors. I’m unsure whether this is part of the theme or just because it’s a new restaurant.

You do have cutlery set out for you, it’s true, but the matter of using these in the pitch black is something else. Without being able to see what you’re eating, your cutlery is more effective in just pushing food around and off your plate. I’d discarded my utensils after a short experiment with this and gone right to nicely-washed hands. You can’t really imagine that, can you, walking into a restaurant and seeing people hunched over plates, stuffing their faces from their fingers.

But, it’s the dark, everything’s different in the dark. Ira is battling on with her fish and, in fairness to her, controlling her emotions. As nice as our wine is, she is still whining a little. A huge advantage of darkness, is that while she is doing this, I’m leaning back on my chair looking up at a roof I can’t see. I don’t have my eyes closed, I don’t need to. I listen to a little more of her moaning, while yawning (which I could never do were she to be able to see me) before deciding that we need to step things up. I’m still hungry, our waiter has, at least I think, passed by our table and not collected the plates due to the amount still left on Ira’s. I decide to help her and, reaching across, grab a piece of her fish.

By the way, my first course had been tasty, but slight. Ira’s fish is, I must say, pretty good. She doesn’t realise I’ve stolen it, but she realises her plate is empty.

Heart of Darkness
Our waiter magically reappears, the plates disappear and, within moments, our next courses are in front of us. I know the last part through the sound and touch. I’m already getting used to being in the darkness and, I must say, finding it rather thrilling. It’s, from this experience, true what they say about sensory deprivation heightening the others. I feel everything more acutely, including, it must be said, irritation with Ira for what I (perhaps harshly) view as slightly childish behaviour. But then, being in the dark really isn’t for everyone, it’s the kind of experience most will never have.

The kind that makes you appreciate light like you never have.
Ira has taken to asking the waiter if he can open the curtains a little to let in at least a ray. He declines her appeals and I give him a thumbs up, which he may have seen but Ira certainly didn’t. I consume my main course quickly, it’s certainly tasty. I’m not exactly sure what it is. But I can say it’s not exactly the largest portion and I revert to my habit from the first course of stealing food from Ira’s plate.

Even in the short time here, I can see behavioural patterns emerging. And not patterns that can be characterised as those more refined qualities in humans. I’m eating with my hands, not even giving cutlery a second thought, stealing food from my girlfriend’s plate and belching quite loudly when I need to. The latter doesn’t matter, who can see me? Ira did comment on a particularly loud one, but I blamed it on another diner (sorry, shadowy gent, who I will never know the identity of). I drink more wine and loll in my chair, finally full after having foraged more from Ira’s dish.

Ira’s starting to lighten up a little, so to speak (anything that can actually produce light must be surrendered at the door). She’s not enjoying it, but she’s at least getting into it. We joke that this morning she’d forgotten her make-up and how little that mattered now. That kind of thing is only for the outside world, everything is different here. This world, it’s not for everyone, for some total darkness turns them into incompetent Home Secretaries, for others they find their dark side, their inner Morlock. For both, it’s something you need to experience to see which you are.

Edible Inventory
Fish Menu – 240hrv
Vegetarian Menu – 240hrv
Wine (something Italian) – 300hrv

Grand Total – 780hrv

The Dark Side (Ihorivska 14a), 428-8838
Hours: 12.00 – 23:00

Graham Phillips at http://www.whatson-kiev.com

Deck the halls, Device the Café, it’s Christmas time in the city. This season is one of the biggest and brightest for many, not just for Frosty, Rudolph and the illustrious Snegurochka, but for the people you celebrate it with. This past 8 December was a great example of just how Holly Jolly Christmas truly is as friends new and old gathered to roast a few chestnuts at the last TUCC event for 2011.

The snow has yet to fall. But that hasn’t put a damper on the fine mood we find ourselves in as we make our way out into the boonies of Kyiv this evening. What are the boonies, you ask? The sticks, the middle of nowhere – a “place” Saskatchewan has lots of. It takes a while tonight as the traffic is heavy, and we’re getting antsy. No matter, it simply escalates the anticipation of what I’ve been told is going to be an incredible evening.

A Round of Christmas
When we do finally arrive, the place is already buzzing. It seems we weren’t the only ones to have trouble with transport this evening – everyone else has also only just showed up. We are, however, the last and so after a round of kisses and hugs and “have you met”, we toast to a wonderful evening with a glass of Pinot Grigio.
Talking about this and that, it isn’t long before the ever-present TUCC bell brings us to attention and sends us to our seats. There, we find Christmas crackers filled with all sorts of goodies. Made especially for the evening by the lovely Sveta and Natasha, these are an integral part of the holiday for those in the UK and many Commonwealth countries. Pulling back the paper, I pull out a fortune for luck (I can’t tell you what it says lest I have 100 bad hair days – you know, ‘bad’ luck), holiday noise-makers, a little plastic gem and a stuffed penguin, which soon finds itself hugging my wine glass for dear life. It is all we could have wanted and more – this evening is already off to a five-star start.
With the paper cleared and the toys off to the side, we are introduced to two girls dressed in vinky and vyshyvanky (wreaths and embroidered Ukrainian blouses), who have been brought to entertain the 30 strong we are this evening. They start off with a rendition of We Wish You A Merry Christmas and move on to Jingle Bells. There are a couple of people at our table eager to join in, and the evening begins to take shape. What that shape is just yet I can’t tell. All I know is that the muscles that pull my lips into that thing called a smile are already sore.

A Song and a Shell
With the girls gone, out comes the food. First up there is gently seared tuna that has been marinated in the chef’s own special sauce. Florets of broccoli and cauliflower accompany, as does a little bouquet of bean sprouts, and “oh by gosh by golly” it’s good. It’s so good I clean the plate, forgetting completely there are four more courses to go.
Ironically enough, with the plates gone, the girls come back. It’s a funny little performance that reminds me a little of vaudeville. Working without the giant canes to pull the different acts on and off stage tonight, Ukrainian Christmas carols (kolyadky) are up next.
Treated to a beautiful albeit not long enough Shchedryk (Carol of the Bells), the second course arrives. Sat in a shell which then sits atop a rather interesting sandstone sort of structure, its name is very simple and very plain: scallops in mini ratatouille. Delicately taking my fork to the small structure, I lift a scallop to my mouth. Soft and tender, juicy and delicious, the white sauce that bathes the miniature seafood ragout is heavenly, and I can’t find anything simple or plain about this dish at all.
Having cleared my dish once again, I look to my right where there sits another, as of yet untouched. Smoking is not allowed in the dining area and we have a couple of smokers here tonight. They return just in time to find the shell and its contents in tact. I return my attention to the chatter going on at the helm.

Tradition Turned Tasty
In addition to the incredible Christmas crackers, TUCC, along with Device Café, have put together a few presents for those, well, present. The men get something I know my darling will be able to use – an agreeable bottle of red wine! While the ladies are treated to homemade chocolates by the restaurant! They are our first gifts this year, and neither of them will last very long.
My nose alerts my brain the third course is on its way, but it’s too late – my salivary glands are already hard at work. Every year TUCC has been in operation, they have returned to a restaurant they enjoyed at some point during the year to hand over the turkey-dinner-reigns to the chef. Given a list of the traditional elements, he or she is then given carte blanche to go ahead and create. This year, chef Viktor Tymchyshyn has outdone himself.
Upon a rectangular plate with the Device Café insignia etched at the top, there lays a tender piece of white turkey breast (with the skin attached – very tasty), crème brulee with just the right amount of torch and a baked chestnut. Peppered with a drizzle of cranberry sauce, it is quite possibly one of the most elaborate turkey dinners I have ever had. I tuck in, and do the best I can. In the end, however, the bird defeats me, and not unlike the real thing, there is just too much.

Surprises of all Sorts
There is more visiting and talking about holiday plans. There are even a few season-ed jokes from the chairman, which are duly interrupted by a madman on the piano. Just as that feeling of ‘full’ begins to subside, the roast beef appears. The girl to my left turns and says, “But we’ve already had dessert!” Meant to cleanse the palate, the berry sorbet was a sweet affirmation that delicious food is not found just in the city centre. If you’re willing to take the trip out to the, say it with me now, boonies (well done), you’ll have just as unforgettable an experience.
Cut and placed on plates right in front of us, is a massive piece of roast beef done to pink perfection. Escorting the main event are potatoes au gratin and deep-fried – yes, that’s right – deep-fried Brussels sprouts (now there’s a method many-a-mom has never tried). My fork and I have been more than forth-coming up to this point and so rather than dig in, I nibble. The beef, seasoned on the outside and succulent on the inside, could not have been better, and I think it a shame to leave as much as I do. The potatoes are just as creamy and delicious as, maybe even better than, those of my Aunt Bertha. And the sprouts, well, two out of three. They’re just too deep-fried for me. I will give snaps, however, for the effort. They certainly are different.

Bathing in Brandy
Trying to survive until we get to the fifth and final course, my table has had enough liquid courage (helped along by those earlier Christmas gifts) to overcome their initial shyness and break out into a proper round of My Way. It’ not bad, but as I listen I bite my lip and wonder if the girls from earlier in the night have well and truly gone home.
Left to wonder no longer, dessert arrives. It is a variation on a theme, Christmas pudding, with all the fancy accoutrements: brandy, fire, and brandy butter. Full of dried fruit with a rich aroma, I can’t help but have a few spoonfuls; there is no one where we are going this holiday season to make this old favourite, and I need a fix.
With just a few last thank yous to pass around, including a bouquet of flowers to Natasha – the TUCC administrator, Chef Tymchyshyn receives an award for TUCC Best Chef of the Year. It is a title he will have to share, however, as the Hyatt outdid themselves when TUCC came to call this autumn, and Sebastian Kellerhoff, who also happens to be in attendance, is given the same fine accolade.
It has been an incredible evening sprinkled with Christmas cheer and seasoned with a good and lively crowd. There are many more to look forward to come the next year. Will you be a part of the magic? 

Edible Inventory:
Tuna in Marinade
***
Scallops in Mini Ratatouille
***
Special Recipe Christmas Turkey
***
Roast Beef baked in Phyllo Pastry
***
Christmas Pudding
***
Pinot Grigio (France)
Siglo Grianza (Spain)
Armagnac Saint-Vivant

Device Café (Peremohy 136)
tel: 277-1555, 12.00 until the last guest

Lana Nicole by Whats on Kiev

Concord is located on the last floor of Kiev-Donbass building right at Tolstoho square

KyivPost’s Best of Kyiv: Concord

One of the oldest upper-class restaurants in Kyiv, Concord received Best of Kyiv nods three times before – as Best Overall Restaurant in 2003, Best European Restaurant in 2004 and Best High-End Restaurant in 2008. This year, however, its victory is even more remarkable since Best of Kyiv 2009 Awards had only a single restaurant category, and Concord still won, beating nine other worthy contenders.

Concord is located in the penthouse of the Kiev-Donbass business center, right in the heart of downtown Kyiv. It belongs to the Carte Blanche chain, which also includes Marokana, Decadence House, Kureni, Lale and La Casa Del Habano.

Catering to Kyiv restaurant patrons for eight years now, it has gained a steady reputation for its pleasant service, relaxing atmosphere spiced up with quality lounge music and, of course, food. Concord defines itself as “a restaurant of creative cuisine” blending French haute cuisine with oriental elements and latest culinary techniques. The restaurant’s chef keeps inventing new dishes and coming up with surprising new combinations, which helps to preserve Concord’s reputation as the fusion cuisine trendsetter of the capital.

Overall the menu is really vast, featuring a selection of sushi, a separate carpaccio section, caviar and seafood, four top popular kinds of steaks and pastas as well as various salads, appetizers, meat and fish dishes. And of course, a professional sommelier is always at hand, ready to pick a perfect wine from the restaurant’s extensive wine chart to match your chosen dish.

But the creative side of Concord is obvious not only on the menu. Its design is also remarkable. The classical sofas, easy chairs and table covered in immaculate white cloth, contrast with eclectic ethnic-themed decor elements – photographs of Indians, tribal masks and Persian rugs. Plenty of green plants further liven up the spacious airy restaurant. Finally, the special attraction of Concord is the magnificent view of central Kyiv opening from its terrace. You can hardly think of a better option for a romantic candle-lit dinner, a business meeting or family celebration.

Concord

Kiev-Donbass Business Center, 8th floor

42/4 Pushkinska Street

Kyiv, 01004, Ukraine

+38 (044) 234-7788

Staying in Kiev hotels

Kiev hotels fluctuate in top quality and prices. Everyday rates for some of them start from about USD50 for each night, but usually hotels within this price group are positioned outside the house Kiev downtown and have pretty Soviet-like design. The typical resort rooms price about USD100 for each night and give key facilities that you might need to have even though in Kiev – place with a rest room and hot water, telephone line, satellite or cable Television. More costly accommodations can provide higher velocity Net and other nice facilities like resort gym or wonderful swimming pool. Cost for some Kiev motels includes breakfasts that may possibly be pretty convenient way to start off your day. The day-to-day rates for some of the most pricey Kiev hotels are about USD500 for each evening.

Gain of remaining in a Kiev hotel is the capability to examine-out any day you wish or extend your keep for as lengthy as you want. Also, every single-day cleaning, room provider, some in-home dining establishments, caf&eacutes, gyms, swimming pools can be a nice issue to have about. Down sides consist of relatively substantial price tag for a modest room you are finding, and lower privacy.

Booking Kiev apartments

Renting an apartment in Kiev is turning out to be ever more well-known amid international company to Kiev. Kiev flats provide a lot of area one-bedroom, two-bedroom or even a few-bedroom apartments, outstanding western-normal renovation, selection of amenities. All of Kiev apartments have phone lines, cable Tv, fridge, oven, kitchen area with anything you may require to steer clear of expensive Kiev dining establishments. Numerous flats have satellite Tv with quite a few worldwide channels, air-conditioning, CD-gamers, DVD-people. Some apartments have higher-pace Web or Jacuzzi.

Prices for Kiev flats vary based on the amenities and the actual area of any particular apartment. In particular, flats in the quite center of Kiev in the vicinity of Khreshatik St. and Independence Sq. are much a lot more pricey than people further from Khreshatik or in other locations of Kiev. Accordingly, premiums for the flats differ significantly dependent on these elements. The least expensive a single-space flats outside the house Kiev center can be offered at the premiums beginning around USD30 for each night time, the most high-priced luxurious flats can value up to USD300 per evening. The regular charges are all around USD60 for a studio, USD80-100 for a one particular-bed room apartment, USD120-130 for a two-bedroom apartment. The higher than charges have a tendency to modify and might be different at the time you are reading through this article.

There are no two Kiev apartments alike. It is not a hotel in which you book one of the rooms which are all virtually the same. All of Kiev apartments are unique. Although, it is certainly an asset of flats, it has also some downsides. In certain, it may be challenging if not impossible at all to adjust the dates of your stay. For example, if you want to lengthen your keep in the apartment for a handful of days far more, the apartment might currently be booked by a person else. On the other hand, if you want to leave the apartment before, you will be required to cover for the whole period of your booking anyway, since the apartment was kept for you, and all other customers interested in the same dates were refused. The over negatives can be effortlessly eliminated by much more careful and thorough organizing of the specific dates of stay.

The same uniqueness of the flats triggers an additional inconvenience. Landlords of good flats are reluctant to commit to bookings shorter than five nights. If a person agrees to e-book an apartment for a shorter period, it usually signifies that they will accommodate you in any apartment obtainable at the date of your arrival. A single-3 evening stays are not beautiful for apartment landlords and organizations at all, so they will hardly be capable to e-book anything certain. Exception is the predicament when there is a handful of day opening between other bookings that suits the dates you are interested in. Four-night time stays are someplace on the edge. The agencies may possibly e-book a certain apartment, but there is constantly a chance that its landlord will permit the company down and do not preserve the apartment for this sort of a short time period.

In purchase to e-book a Kiev apartment, you will be necessary to give a booking deposit in the quantity equal to a one-night time stay or a larger volume based on each and every certain apartment and the duration of your stay.

Availability of distinct apartments is changing extremely rapidly, and some companies have availability calendar with bookings a handful of months in advance. So, it is constantly great notion to e-book an apartment effectively in advance, at least 3 or four weeks just before your trip.

These are basically the significant points to keep in brain when selecting among a keep in Kiev apartments or Kiev motels. No matter of what sort of accommodation you decide on, you will appreciate your remain in this stunning European metropolis with so a lot of points to supply to its website visitors.

Article source: http://jia-ting.com

Ukraine has lots of natural attractions as well.  Having two seas: Black and Azov, Carpathian and Crimea mountains, diverse climate zones, and lots of forests Ukraine definitely brings a lot for a green tourism.

View Instytutska 24 Kiev Apartment in a larger map

View Volodymyrska 51 Kiev Apartment in a larger map