The background  

Three years ago, chef Eugene Korolev wasn’t in the kitchen. He was fighting on the front line as part of the Ukrainian special forces, interrupting his culinary career, including the running of his first restaurant and his position as president of Bocuse d’Or Ukraine. However, he was still daydreaming about the dishes he’d one day create, and those imaginings have resulted in Sino – a chic Ukrainian restaurant on a peaceful, pastel stretch of All Saints Road.  

Sino was created by founder Polina Sychova, who teamed up with Eugene when she realised that they shared the same dream of a modern, fine-dining-style Ukrainian restaurant. Eugene had already travelled to every corner of the country – from chartreuse forests to filo-coloured fields – collecting ingredients and ideas like culinary Infinity Stones. He has, finally, brought them together at Sino. 

The space 

There are a few new Ukrainian restaurants appearing in London right now, but none with an approach as refined as Sino. It exudes fine dining from every Ukrainian clay-carved corner: the walls are soft and sloping, as though hewn by hand; a spiral of dried hay hangs from the ceiling (a nod to the decorations used in Ukrainian festivals); and handmade earthenwares are arranged above a small, striped bar. The overall effect is of being in a very fancy taverna – as though a babusya with impeccable taste has just slipped into the back.  

The food  

If you’re expecting a crash-course in simple Ukrainian dishes, don’t come to Sino. Eugene is creating Ukrainian food through a fine-dining lens; it is a poetic place where even the bread can transport you to a faraway seaside morning, a hint of honey in the butter mingling with salt like a cornflower-kissed sea breeze.  

You could order potato waffles topped with sour cream and caviar to start, but I go for a pile of smoked aubergine smothered in a tangy marinade, piled onto rounds of flattened cheese and smeared with red pepper dip. It must be a take on Ikra, or “Ukrainian eggplant caviar” – and it tastes every bit as luxurious.    

This is followed by a crayfish-stuffed cabbage roll doused in tomato velouté and sea fennel, then four flower-topped, cabbage-packed dumplings with cabbage sauce. My lasting impression was that cabbage needs better PR, because those dumplings could have even the fussiest child clamouring for seconds. Things end with chicken kiev, which arrives, not as a great nugget, but as two delicate spheres set on bison-grass mash and petals of truffle. My only complaint? Double the portion size – I could eat at least three of these.   

The drinks    

A word on wine: if you’ve not tried Ukrainian wine, start at Sino. Alongside an interesting selection of European producers, there are bottles sourced from a family-run winery on the Black Sea shore – try the versatile, oak-aged riesling, if you’re unsure where to begin.  

The cocktail list, meanwhile, is pure joy. Created by Ukrainian mixologist Ana Reznik, the seven serves are described like memories rather than mixes: compote jars cooling on windowsills, hands stained purple from harvest season with Grandpa, morning porridge with sugar crystals crunching between your teeth… I order a “pear garden”, which promises to feel like ‘running home through the orchard in late summer’. And on a thick summer’s evening in Notting Hill, it certainly did.   

The verdict 

It’d be easy for a restaurant like Sino to be a story of conflict. But these are dishes and drinks that sing a story of provenance and produce and landscapes. It is a love letter to Ukraine in a quiet Notting Hill lane. Go. You won’t regret it.  

Sino, 7 All Saints Road, London W11 1HA; sinorestaurant.co.uk