New restaurant in Dubai gives Ukrainian expats a taste of home : NPR

(Left) A Ukrainian chef prepares mashed potatoes in the kitchen of the Yoy restaurant. (Right) A traditional Ukrainian beet stew known as borscht is being prepared. It is the restaurant’s most popular dish.

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(Left) A Ukrainian chef prepares mashed potatoes in the kitchen of the Yoy restaurant. (Right) A traditional Ukrainian beet stew known as borscht is being prepared. It is the restaurant’s most popular dish.

Aya Batrawy/NPR

DUBAI — Off the coast of Dubai, on an upmarket man-made island shaped like a palm tree, Ukrainian visitors and expats have found a taste of home.

The smell of freshly baked bread and the crackle of the wood fire permeate Yoy, a new Ukrainian restaurant, the first of its kind in the United Arab Emirates. The vibe feels comfortable, aided by a neutral color design aesthetic. Ukrainian music, sometimes live, plays. Waiters greet guests at the door in Ukrainian. Its popular beet stew, borscht, is prepared by Ukrainian chefs and served to tables in a heavy black pot supported by a long stick.

In accordance with Muslim dietary guidelines in the United Arab Emirates, the menu does not include pork. Sliced ​​coconut serves as a substitute in a dish. The restaurant does serve alcohol, though, with drinks like “Kiev Nights” blending the warm flavors of bourbon, spiced rum, apricot whiskey, and roasted chestnut.

Yoy opened a few months ago, but some diners say they’ve been three or four times already because there’s no place like it in Dubai.

“It reminds me how much I love Ukraine…it’s a piece of home in my heart,” says Maria Sokolova, who fled years ago when fighting broke out in her hometown of Donetsk, in the Ukrainian region of Donbass.

Sokolova says the only way to visit her mother and sister now is to travel through Russia. It’s not something she’s ready to do. His trip last year to visit other relatives in the Ukrainian capital, kyiv, was interrupted by the war.

She dines at Yoy with Iryna Klevetenko, from kyiv. Both women have lived in the United Arab Emirates for several years. They enjoy borscht on Yoy’s outdoor terrace overlooking a dancing fountain and the iconic Atlantis resort hotel.

Klevetenko says Dubai’s bling and luxury seem surreal as she grapples with the horrors of war news in her country. The war changed his priorities.

“Before, you were like, I want a Dolce and Gabbana bag,” she said. “Now it’s like, who cares about the Dolce and Gabbana bag. We just want the war to end, that’s all.”

The United Arab Emirates has refused to choose sides in the conflict

Yoy, which means “Wow” in Ukrainian, is a few doors down from a popular Russian restaurant, Chalet Berezka, which is packed for an evening of games promising free drinks for the winning table. There are several Russian restaurants on Palm Island, catering to the many Russians who have moved to the UAE and set up businesses since the war began nearly a year ago. Some came to escape conscription and others to escape the web of Western sanctions targeting Russia.

The United Arab Emirates does not release detailed population figures, so the public is unsure how many Russians have moved to Dubai and other emirates in the past year. But last year, Russians were the main international buyers of property in Dubai, according to property company Better Homes. In schools, non-English speaking Russian children flood the classrooms.

Traditional Kosiv ceramics were imported from Ukraine for the restaurant.

Aya Batrawy/NPR

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Traditional Kosiv ceramics were imported from Ukraine for the restaurant.

Aya Batrawy/NPR

The UAE does not welcome refugees or asylum seekers, but is open to skilled workers whose local employers sponsor their visas. New visa programs allow international investors to set up businesses or buy multimillion-dollar properties to secure long-term residency.

Like other Gulf countries, the UAE has refused to choose sides in the conflict. He has maintained close ties with Russia and is in talks for a free trade deal with Ukraine. The openness of the United Arab Emirates to Russian investment and to those who escape the impact of sanctions has become a source of concern for the United States.

The Ukrainian restaurant also attracts Russian diners

Max, a Russian IT entrepreneur, chose to dine at Yoy on a recent party. He only gives his first name, worried about the potential repercussions for his business of speaking freely about the war.

His painting offers a snapshot of the complexities of war and the people caught up in it. He is having dinner with his Ukrainian girlfriend and a couple from Crimea, a territory annexed by Russia. They once held Ukrainian passports, but identified to NPR as Russian.

Max says he came to a Ukrainian restaurant “because this cuisine and this culture are very close to us”.

“I feel like brothers and sisters to them,” he says, describing the war as “a big mess and a big mistake.”

Yoy’s operations manager, Natalia Skripnik, says the restaurant welcomes everyone, regardless of nationality.

“Our doors are open to everyone,” she says, while acknowledging that “Ukrainians hold grudges.”

“It’s a dark time for our country,” she added.

Yoy provides home connection

For Ukrainians living in the UAE, Yoy offers more than familiar dishes. It offers a connection to Ukraine, also serving as a cultural space for Ukrainian events, says Skripnik.

Artem Kulaga dines at Yoy’s long wooden table with mismatched seats meant to resemble the kind of dinner in the Ukrainian countryside where neighbors gather and break bread together. The table is adorned with golden wheat centerpieces, representing Ukraine’s main export to the world.

Kulaga has lived most of his life in Europe, and he fears visiting Ukraine now could lead to being drafted into battle.

He is on a stopover in the United Arab Emirates and is struck by the many Russian speakers in Dubai. He wondered where he could hear spoken Ukrainian. A quick search online led him to Yoy. Kulaga says the menu reminds her of her childhood in Ukraine.

(Left) Yoy’s 42-foot-long wooden table is meant to mimic dinner parties in rural Ukraine, where neighbors gather to break bread and share meals. (Right) The chandelier is meant to replicate the look of a stork’s nest. The bird represents new life and spring in Ukraine.

Aya Batrawy/NPR

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(Left) Yoy’s 42-foot-long wooden table is meant to mimic dinner parties in rural Ukraine, where neighbors gather to break bread and share meals. (Right) The chandelier is meant to replicate the look of a stork’s nest. The bird represents new life and spring in Ukraine.

Aya Batrawy/NPR

“I felt like I was coming home. All the people around, just smelling the tongue,” he says.

A deep disconnect between the old and the new lives

The color palette inside the restaurant is muted — beige, soft whites, earthy tones of green, brown, and yellow reflect the colors of the Ukrainian landscape. This gives the place a distinctly different feel to the neon-lit restaurant serving other international dishes next door.

Some 4,000 tiles, exported from the western city of Lviv, adorn the walls of the restaurant. The tableware is traditional Kosiv ceramics, pottery that dates back to the 18th century and is distinguished by its green and yellow colors.

A large hanging chandelier has been designed to mimic a stork’s nest. The bird symbolizes spring and new life in Ukraine, says Skripnik. The waiters’ outfits, with touches of traditional stitching and patterns, were made by a Ukrainian designer.

Elena Volkovtska says the vibe at Yoy makes her feel “a bit closer to home.”

Volkovtska lives in Dubai, but is originally from Mariupol. For weeks she had no contact with her family as Russia bombed and captured the town. Thousands of people would have died. His parents eventually fled, but their house was destroyed.

As she prepares to dig into a bowl of borscht, she recognizes how far removed the war in Ukraine is from her life here. The serenity of the moment is complicated. War always weighs heavily.

“When you’re sitting here and everything’s nice and quiet,” she says, “and you know what’s going on in your country, you just don’t know how to behave.”