Borsch, Vodka and Tears

You've got to love a work day that is interrupted with an invite to dinner somewhere you've been meaning to go for years and years. Tash smsed me an invite to dinner at Borsch Vodka & Tears last week and I spent the entire week excited by the prospect of pierogi and borsch.



Tash was particularly impressed with the care and attention that had be put into the sign reserving her table; so much so that she demanded photographic evidence of the colouring in. A+ colouring there - gold star!



Tash, Anton, Esther and I all went for various vodka based drinks - I had the best Moscow Mule of my life - and John decided on an OK Beer and a shot of one of the many, many, many, many types of vodka. I love the label on this beer - it would be wrong to get it as a tattoo, yes?

When it came to ordering, Esther and I decided to share a couple of things and then get our own mains (so to speak) and leave the rest of the table to their business.
We ended up sharing the blintzes and cheese & potato pierogi to start and we did sample some of the saganaki which was super delicious.



The blintzes were amazing - very simple, obviously, but exactly what a potato blintz should be. One of my favourite things of the evening.



Delicious saganaki and some sort of fritter in the background which I didn't sample. I did steal the pickled veg off the plate later though as they were just going to leave it! NO NO NO - pickles veg is an always food!



The pierogi were, again, simple hearty deliciousness. Tash, Anton and John raved about the meaty ones they shared for a main and, whilst these were delicious, I think that pierogi are really best at their meatiest. There are other vego pierogi that I didn't sample so I know what I'm ordering next time I go back for cocktails.



For my main, I went with the vegetarian borsch as it seemed fitting. From my understanding (and very quick wikipedia-ing), this borsch was a clear broth as it is a Polish borsch and if I had been in a Russian or Ukrainian restaurant the borscht would have been a bit chunkier - please correct me if I'm wrong. The broth was delicious and surprisingly light and very beetrooty. The highlight for me was the mushroom uszka. Wow - I could probably have eaten a hundred of these little dumplings of tastiness. Yum.



Even though we were stuffed to the gills, we decided to do dessert. We did have to have a fairly significant break in proceedings so that we weren't all automatically ill so we used that to have more cocktails. It was a this point that Esther had the best cocktail of her entire life - the Honey On Toast. Honey vodka, creme de cacao, cream and cinnamon in a honey drizzled glass. Wow. I went with a Starry Starry Night which was champagne and quince and whilst it was good, I should not have strayed from the vodka drinks as they were all outstanding.

Anyway, dessert. Esther and I had apple strudel and it was strudelicious. Probably not the best strudel I've ever eaten but an excellent end to a hearty meal.

I really enjoyed Borsch, Vodka & Tears and will probably go back with the view to sample more of the drinks list than for a meal. If I get to eat some excellent blintzes and pierogi on the way . . . well, that's just a positive.


Borsch Vodka & Tears
173 Chapel Street, Windsor
03 9530 2694