Business

Odesa restaurateur opens a new restaurant in London. What will be served there

A restaurant of Bessarabian cuisine, Tatar Bunar, by Ukrainian businessman Alex Cooper, has opened in London. This was announced on Instagram by the restaurateur himself, according to [Kommersant].

Alex Cooper named his new London restaurant after his hometown in southern Bessarabia and intends to “cook modern food there, full of childhood memories, traditions and maternal tastes.”

“To reject Ukrainian minority and sharovarism, but to preserve the essence of our tastes! Do not open a neo-bistro and do not make dumplings like ravioli and noodles like pasta. To live in Ukraine, to support the Armed Forces, to develop business here, to plan the future here,” Ukrainian restaurateur Alex Cooper outlined his plans, and not just business plans, in this post.

The restaurant has been operating in test mode since March 29, and the grand opening is scheduled for April 9. Until then, the restaurant will serve only a part of the menu: onion bread, dumplings with cabbage, minced meat, banosh with mushrooms, etc. The bar offers wines from Ukrainian producers, including Kolonist, Beykush, Stakhovsky, and Villa Tinta.

What we know about Alex Cooper’s business and volunteering

According to the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers, the chain of establishments of the Odesa-based restaurateur Alex Cooper includes more than 20 restaurants in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa. Among them are such well-known restaurants as Kyiv Food Market, Odesa Food Market, Avi Kiosk, Molodist, Shalom, and Seliam.

After the full-scale invasion, a Humanitarian Volunteer Center was organized at the Odesa Food Market on 9a Rishelievska Street to collect humanitarian aid for the territorial defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Odesa and the region. This put the business on hold. It was only in March 2024 that the restaurateur announced the reopening of the Odesa Food Market space at 9a Rishelievska Street, which was closed after the outbreak of war.

On social media, you can find a mention of one of the restaurateur’s humanitarian actions. On the evening of February 26, 2024, Cooper opened a collection for 50 FPV drones for soldiers in the Avdiivka sector. The scheme was as follows: 1 hryvnia donation = 1 hryvnia deposit at his establishments in Odesa, Kyiv, and Lviv. The goal was to raise one million hryvnias. By the morning of February 27, Ukrainians had donated more than half of the required amount.

The first Tatar Bunar restaurant started operating in Odesa on June 1, 2024.

As reported by [Kommersant], in February of this year, the first Lviv Croissants restaurant opened in Cannes, in the heart of the stylish and bustling Rue d’Antibes. Now you can taste croissants with goat cheese and honey, mortadella and pear, and other author’s combinations on the French Riviera. Outside of Ukraine, Lviv Croissants is also represented in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the United States.