Sveta: A Modern European Dining Delight 

 At the start of 2022, with the prospect of international travel still hazy, my friend and I found a new way to ‘travel.’ We made a plan to visit a different restaurant based on culture each month. We put a bunch of different cuisine types on a spinning wheel, spun 12 times and that set our order for the year.  January - Mexican at AnejoFebruary - French at Cafe Un Deux TroisMarch - Russian at SvetaApril - Italian at Barolo EastAnd so on… When I saw Russian for March my ears perked up and immediately knew we had to go to Sveta in the West Village. I came across Sveta on Instagram a couple of months ago, and knew I needed to go. Between the decadent drinks and mouth watering food options, Sveta was a place I knew I’d love. This was the perfect opportunity. I quickly made us reservations and secured our spot.   Our reservations were approaching and the news broke that Putin invaded Ukraine. Articles everywhere read that people were protesting Russia by not going to Russian restaurants in the city and elsewhere. It felt beyond ridiculous in my opinion, the invasion was NOT the restaurant owners’ fault, after all.  About a week before our reservation, I saw an article about Sveta. I clicked it open and read how the restaurant is not actually Russian but rather Ukrainian! The owners of Sveta, Svetlana Savchitz and her son, Alan Aguichev, advertised the restaurant as Russian, Eastern European cuisine since people might understand what type of food it was better than if they advertised themselves as Ukrainian. In her mind, the foods were similar enough, so it made sense. That also sums up how it landed in the Russian month for our around the world cuisine plan. Learning that Sveta was actually a Ukrainian run business made me excited to visit. nothing like supporting a Ukrainian family during this crucial time. The owners still have family back in the Ukraine, so it is important to support them in any way possible. The day arrived and I couldn’t wait to get there. Sveta was known for their instagrammable drinks, delicious food, and picture perfect decor. I made my way to the West Village hair curled, phone charged up, stomach empty.  From the moment I arrived, I knew we made the right decision. Sveta was adorbs! The first thing I saw was the outdoor seating area  that was decorated with colorful hearts, fairy lights, teal curtains – very unique..  Walking into the restaurant, the teal color scheme continued. All of the decor, in fact, was colorful, cozy and fun. (It really is an instagrammer’s dream restaurant.) Some of the tables had these giant candelabras on them, which made it seem a touch royal as well.   We were seated at a table right near the front entrance. Our reservations were for 6:00 PM, which is apparently early for the patrons of Sveta, because the restaurant was relatively empty when we arrived. As our night went on, the tables all filled up and the place packed out exactly how I expected it from all of the online hype.  Then it was time for drinks… YAY! The first drink I ever saw on the Sveta IG was their White Russian. I really wanted it, but that is just not a dinner drink. I figured I would save it for dessert. I ordered myself a Beet Moscow Mule, my friend ordered a Pink Champagne Margarita, and our other friend who joined us for our March outing, ordered a strawberry ice tea (or lemonade, I can’t remember).  The drinks came out as aesthetically pleasing as I’d hoped. BONUS: they’re also delicious.   My mule was bright red, topped with ginger and berries. The margarita was glittery and topped with a crystal rock candy. The strawberry ice tea had a fun bendy straw to give it a little something extra too!  Next were apps. We ordered the house fries and the vereniki, which are potato dumplings. Fries are a standard op order for us because who doesn’t love fries! They were crispy, full of truffle flavor, and topped with LOTS of parmesan cheese.. On the more traditional Ukrainian side, the vereniki were delicious! You get a nice sized bowl of mini dumplings and each one is cooked perfectly. They’re soft but not mushy.   Then…dinner time! For dinner two of us ordered the chicken tabaka and my other friend ordered the beef stroganoff. The chicken came with potato and pumpkin gnocchi in a butter lemon sauce.   Normally, I am a chicken skeptic. I am not a vegetarian, but me and meat aren’t always friends. Chicken in particular is always a roll of the dice when you go out. This piece of chicken was not your standard, dry chicken breast with a possible tubal artery running through it. It was a dark meat cut on the bone, which you don’t get often at restaurants. The dark meat gave the dish so much flavor and after one bite I knew I made a good choice ordering the chicken.   My friend had nothing but praise for the beef stroganoff as well. It came in a tiny crock covered in a flaky crust. It was a decent size portion and full of flavor, as is the theme of our dinner at Sveta: flavorful. I took a piece of the flaky crust off of the side of the crock and it was light, airy, and savory all at the same time. After we finished eating, one of the owners came over to our table to check in on us. He asked what we thought about dessert and we shared our excitement for the next course. He gave us a laugh and thanked us for coming in. Truly so nice.  So, dessert rolled around – my favorite part of every meal! Even though we were all pretty filled from our dinners, we could not decide on one dessert to split, so we ordered three. Russian raspberry cheesecake, the chocolate lava cake, and the sugar donuts were our choices. It was finally time for me to order my White Russian. I was HYPED.  At this point, the restaurant was packed. We were sitting there diving into our desserts when I thought about my White Russian and how it would have paired perfectly with my cheesecake. I figured maybe the bar was just behind since they got pretty busy, so I didn’t say anything.   This wasn’t your typical cheesecake. This cake was very thin layers of what I assume was the raspberry filling and cheesecake type filling. It was so light and unique in that it wasn’t so heavy and decadent. It was smothered in raspberry sauce which amplified the flavor. I took a bite of the chocolate lava cake and had a sugar donut dipped in chocolate sauce to get the full experience and I was not disappointed with a single bite. The chocolate cake was rich and the donuts were light and fluffy. Everything was phenomenal. I was stuffed.  Our waiter came over and handed us the check. I then realized, he never put in the order for my White Russian. *sigh* WELP, it happens... just gives me more of a reason to go back to Sveta very soon!