Ukrainian Village brings comfort home

It’s small and unassuming but serving up homestyle Ukrainian dishes

February 09, 2023

In continuing Ukrainian February appreciation month, today we look at a small spot with a comforting soul. I’ve been going here for over a decade and love it just a little more each time I stop by. Definitely a more casual affair, you’ll not regret the simplicity of good home cooking.

What they are: Homestyle Ukrainian cooking served amid folk art in a cute small space.

Raised in Saskatchewan in the 1940’s and married by 1956, my Baba’s Ukrainian heritage has stayed with her to this day. Still alive and well, her legacy to my family has endured.

“Once we mastered perohi, you will notice that I am not using the term perogie, as that was also considered sacreligious, we were taught how to make cabbage rolls, never with meat, only Germans did that. Mom would get really excited about finding the perfect size cabbage with the right size leaves. Dad really like sour cabbage so we would add vinegar to the boiling water to make it sour and then carefully take apart the cabbage bit by bit as it boiled.”

Having been away for as long as I have (14 years), my ties to her and the rest of my family are not what they once were. Out of sight, out of mind resonates. But even for all the lack of familial connection, her Ukrainian food still haunts me. Its deliciousness had me at age seven.

There’s a place I go to here in Vancouver to remind me of this time, a Ukrainian spot in the West End of Vancouver. It’s small and unassuming. Its name emblazoned in bright blue above the door: Ukrainian Village. 

Simple and to the point.

They have no more than 20 seats, no seat is better than the other. There’s no hostess or maître’d, just one or two waitresses who greet you as if you’d walked into their home half unexpectedly. With broken English, they motion you to sit, and pictures reminding you of where you are, adorn the walls.

I always order the Ukrainian dinner. For $25.95, you get two cabbage rolls, one large Ukrainian sausage, several perogies (with sour cream) and a dollop of sauerkraut. The plate is massive, an undertaking unto itself.

I miss my family from time to time; my Baba’s cooking even more. I can endure being away from them. I can’t, however, endure life without Ukrainian Food. Its richness stays with you long after you’ve eaten your last bite.

Think of what perogies are — they’re dough-filled pockets filled with cheese and potato, then dunked in sour cream. Right there you have the entire concept of delicious food all wrapped into a nice-looking dumpling. Fat and flavor, that’s a perogie. It typifies what I crave and love most about Ukrainian Food.

Borscht, another staple, is the hot soup you hover over so its dill aromas warm up your cold nose from an afternoon shoveling snow. I could eat borscht everyday, every single damn day! I love it that much. Beets, dill, carrots, onions, sour cream, what’s not to love? It’ll stain your fingers and clothes but not your appetite.

Ukrainian food isn’t meant to elicit a Michelin star. Its history and spirit for me lie in how it fits with where I came from. Hard cold nights spent with rich satisfying fare. That’s the Saskatchewan way.

If Saskatoon taught me to be strong, then eating Ukrainian Food at Ukrainian Village is what helps me to remember who I am and where I came from. I’m grateful for that.

  • Pro tip: The meatloaf at Ukrainian Village is supremely underrated. Don’t miss this when you go.