In Belarus: A boom in national cuisine restaurants and its new interpretation

Large draniki with mortadella and pistachios — 32 rubles. Photo: Instagram @verasikolas

For a long time, those looking for simpler Belarusian dishes were sent to "Vasilki". Connoisseurs, however, went to the good old "Kamyanitsa", which has been cooking according to recipes from the Vilnius book "Lithuanian Cook" since 2003. There you can find Radziwill-style meat and Turov-style blood sausage.

If a more luxurious level was required, "Litviny" or "Kukhmistr" were recommended — such places would certainly have been frequented by Belarusian nobility in their time.

Over the past couple of years, many new cafes with Belarusian cuisine have appeared.

For example, in 2024, the second **"Bulbashi"** restaurant opened in Minsk, this time in a brewery format. It bets on various regional products and highlights them in the menu: "with Turov cheese", "with bryndza from Hlybokaye", "with Braslav fish", "with Palesse mushrooms", "with Rahachow condensed milk", "rack of Slutsk deer" and so on.

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Slutsk deer fillet with marinated, baked pumpkin and Brest gorgonzola sauce — 48 rubles. Photo: Instagram @bulbashy.minsk

Recently, "Bulbashi" made it into the top 10 restaurants in the country (by the way, the opening of their third location on Nezavisimosti Avenue, 87, is not far off).

A year ago, the restaurant Veras | Kolas appeared in Minsk, surprisingly mixing Italian and Belarusian food on its menu. This is successfully managed by three chefs – for Belarusian, Slavic, and Italian cuisines. Here you can try, for example, draniki with mortadella and pistachios.

But since a Slavic chef also works here, "Moscow" cake and "Leningradsky Rassolnik" (pickle soup) were also included.

In the same 2025, the restaurant "Mary" appeared on the capital's map, positioning itself as a place with "neo-traditional high Belarusian cuisine". Here you can truly delight your taste buds with unusual combinations – for example, cepelinai with pike, draniki with deer tartare, kalduny with sage and roe deer, or rye bread fondant with porcini mushroom ice cream, washing it all down with onion kvass.

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Pictured: cream soup with carrots and sweet potatoes (22 rubles), salad with pickled plum and feta cheese (19 rubles), kalduny with meat (27 rubles), strudel with caramelized pumpkin (19 rubles), pear kvass with almonds (6 rubles), cranberry and rosemary mors (fruit drink) (6 rubles). Photo: Instagram @maryminsk.rest

The establishment's menu uses the Belarusian language. And the interior itself has many references to its own, dear to the heart – wildflowers, vytynanki (cut-outs), linen.

A year ago, the Belarusian cuisine restaurant "Bely Gus" ("White Goose") launched on Partizansky Avenue, attracting attention primarily due to an error in its name (in Belarusian, the noun "gus" (goose) is always feminine). In principle, all Belarusian-language elements of the place ended with its name.

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Photo: Instagram @bely__gus

In contrast to establishments in the city center, this place offers more democratic prices — for example, half a kilo of machanka (with draniki or pancakes) costs 25 rubles.

During the same period, "Dranichnaya №1" (Draniki Place №1) appeared on Komsomolskaya, 7, in place of the bar "Vino Ritmy Gorozhane" (Wine Rhythms Citizens), which is more like a bar for Russians (and with a Soviet flavor). Five draniki there are priced at almost 20 rubles.

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Draniki-burger for 25 rubles. Photo: Instagram @dranichnaya_1

Quite recently, a new Belarusian cuisine restobar Mova began its work. It is located in the "Minsk World" area and mainly offers classics – various types of draniki and signature tinctures.

The average bill at the establishment is in the range of 40-60 rubles.

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Interior of Mova restobar. Photo: Instagram: @mova.minsk

Just a few days ago, another restaurant focusing on local cuisine called "Dzyakuy" (Thank You) opened at Surhanava, 43. The menu includes various draniki, verashchaka, kryvyanka (blood sausage), kishka bulbyanaya (potato sausage), and more. A Belarusian-language menu is available.

Mentioning the regions, we note that a year ago, a brand new Belarusian cuisine restaurant "Spadchyna" (Heritage) opened in Homel. The owners sometimes maintain their Instagram in Belarusian, but the menu is in Russian.

Draniki here cost from 14 to 28 rubles (depending on the filling). And a pan of kryvyanka will cost 24 rubles.

Meanwhile, in Vitsebsk, they are boasting about the opening of a new restaurant with Russian cuisine. The interior features Russian folk tales and matryoshka dolls.

It is worth noting that waiters in Belarusian cuisine restaurants do not always speak Belarusian; sometimes it is limited to just a few greeting words.

"The trend towards Belarusian cuisine seems completely logical to me; it will only get stronger," comments a chef who asked to remain anonymous.

"This is, of course, also a bet on tourists – on those same Russians who are rediscovering Belarus amidst sanctions and difficulties with accessing other travel destinations. But Belarusians themselves are also more 'internally conserved' within the country now; some are in internal emigration, and in such a situation, a return to what is native, to one's roots, is a psychological salvation. And it's simply not easy to travel 'around Europe' often to look for new trends, so why not re-interpret old recipes, especially when we truly have delicious cuisine?"

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