Some cuisines lend themselves more to being veganized than others. Ukrainian food (at least the North American version) has its bones in plants and it is easy enough to use all plants to get the complete authentic experience. Kozak has been on my list to try since long before I went plant-based and I'm wondering what took us so long to finally get here!
Located on 6th Street near 5th Avenue in New West, this is one of 3 Kozak restaurants in Metro Vancouver. Sorry for the fuzzy picture! I usually take like 400 photos so that I have at least one that is good but this? We arrived at 1ish and were able to find a place to sit. This is more of a deli / take-out place but there are a few window seats and a table along one wall ( seating for 7 or 8 altogether?).
How can you not start a Ukrainian meal without borscht? And a wonderful fairly dense piece of rye bread? You can't. A little side dish had a couple of slices of raw garlic in salt. We did our best to rub the garlic on the bread and enjoyed it with the rich and chunky soup. Very good!
Next up were the Latkes (potato pancakes) with mushrooms. These arrived hot and crispy, They were a little bit on the greasy side but I would be disappointed if they weren't. Served with a horseradish sauce which I assume contained beet in some form. This was also delicious!
We ordered 3 Holobsti (cabbage rolls) and 2 Varyneki (pierogi). The cabbage rolls were excellent and came with a mushroom filling, with rice, cabbage, onions and carrots. The tomato sauce was also very good and rich. We ordered the pierogi fried and filled with potato and dill. My late brother-in-law used to make the best pierogi in the world so it is hard for me to compare but these were quite good.
Lastly, we tried 3 Sour Cherry Filled Pierogi and called it dessert! I love cherries so this was a light and tasty finish to our meal. The dough was excellent which is always the clincher with pierogi!
I think that we worked most of our way through the vegan options on their menu. There are still many bakery items to explore! We were well looked after even though this is not really a full-service restaurant and the staff were helpful on the vegan details. I feel like a lot of their customers are regulars that have found their place!
Food 4 out of 5
Vegan options 4 out of 5
Comfort 4 out of 5
Service 4 out of 5
Value 4 out of 5
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