You have a free night in Kiev, you say? No dinner plans, you say? Would you be up for an unauthorized Rolling Stones themed restaurant? How can anyone say no to that! The restaurant is called Shalena Mama and offers a wide variety of dishes with the main focus being Asian food.
And here was our menu. It was clear that absolutely none of this was authorized by the band but as I doubt they or their representation make it to Kiev that often I can see how it has slipped through the cracks.
Each dish had a corresponding song title...unfortunately it didn't look there was too much original thought in assigning songs with dishes. I would think "Sympathy For The Devil" might be a super spicy Asian dish but instead it's a shrimp soup. Here are some song and dish combinations:
"Sympathy For The Devil"
A light spicy soup with shrimp, mushrooms, lemon, juice and Thai fresh herbs.
"Stupid Girl"
Thai noodle soup with soy bean sprouts your choice of chicken, veal, or shrimp.
"Ruby Tuesday"
Stir-fried selection of market vegetables with oyster sauce and rice.
"Tumbling Dice"
Sauteed chicken with cashew nuts, onions, and mushrooms in a light soy sauce and rice.
"Under My Thumb"
Cheese Fries
"Wild Horses"
Wok fried chicken, veal, or pork with white mushrooms in oyster sauce.
"Jumpin' Jack Flash"
Traditional Caesar salad with shrimp and our special salad sauce.
There were a ton of Rolling Stones paintings and prints around but the lighting was such that most of them turned out too dark. Here's a poster celebrating the Stones 1975 North and South American tours.
I ordered a chicken sandwich with coleslaw and what arrived was closer to a BLT with chicken substituted for the bacon. It was still good though and the coleslaw was nice a creamy...just how I like it.
Laura went with chicken fried rice...one of her favorite dishes although I don't believe she has ever had it served with a fried egg on top in this style. She reported that it was excellent.
Our friend Vanessa got a Thai dish...the name of it escapes me but it also received good marks.
I think I've ordered cheese fries once or twice in America but the mystery of what Ukrainian cheese fries...or the "Under My Thumb" as it was named in the menu...would be was too much to pass up. Would it be traditional American french fries with cheese dipping sauce. Would it be heavily salted baked potato wedges and some slices of cheese? But wouldn't you know it! Cheese fries that were exactly what I expected.
And more ketchup than I could have dreamed would appear.
And when the bill came we got a little more Rolling Stone copyright infringement.
And outside we have the tongue logo in neon.
