Gunker, the food was actually very good. I went mostly to places around Maydan Nezalejnost where I had kyshka (blood sausage).

One cool joint is Fellini which was highly recommended and Le Cosmopolite. The hotel I stayed at had really bland food and also way too much Italian food on the menu; not that I don't like Italian cuisine but whats the point of going to Ukraine to eat pizza?

The positive side however was that it was located in the historic part of the city (Shevchenka Blvd: named after some poet) and the concierge was unbelievably hot. Come to think of it, 90% of the women in this city were unbelievably hot. I might have to take a trip without the gf next time

It's really hard to find a decent place to eat in the winter, especially the more popular spots like Vechirniy Kyiv which has the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted. Another really popular spot is Domashnya kuhnya smack down in the middle of B' Khmelnitskogo Street where we had something called Kutya: a Christmas food which was the chef's special the day we were there. Oddest meal I ever ate but pretty good. By the way, Ukraine doesn't celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. They follow the Orthodox calender which means Christmas is in January, so on the 25th it's a regular workday.

I'm not sure whether you go there (or have plans of going) but one place I'd recommend is Rodina Mat (unreal), Independence Square (Archangel Michael monument), Tarasa Shevchenka lane (at night), Baron Munchausen for the excellent selection of liquor, Andriivsky Uzviz Street and hitting up Odessa for the night life; hegre-art must get their models from here. The downside about Odessa is the lack of a metro system, but the city is littered with young hunnies here.

Also- there was this really cool place which was an underground bunker (I think peeps hid here during World War 2). I don't know the name of the place, but it was like a gulag and located in Kirovohrad (south of Kiev on the way to Odessa). Anyhoo- the place was full of Soviet memorabilia, World War 2 memorials and lots of chicks called Olga.

Btw: Baba Yar isn't exactly a tourist spot (actually very rarely mentioned). There is a big monument there (very similar to the one in Sobibor, Poland).