Inside Dumplings.RU is Singapore’s Only Russian-Ukrainian restaurant

Singapore is one Food capitalsIt is the most visited place in the world. There are numerous Michelin-starred restaurants in the area, as well as renowned hawker centers. However, one cuisine was missing from the vibrant food scene for years: Russian-Ukrainian cuisine.

One shipping operations manager wanted to change that.

Vadim Zubovskyy and his two-year-old son, Alena, were brought to Singapore by a job posting in 2004. They continued to make their family’s recipes even after they moved to the city-state. They shared their homemade dumplings eventually with friends.

Sixteen year later, Zubovksyy was joined by Alena to open Singapore’s first Russian-Ukrainian restaurant. Named “The Restaurant”, Dumplings.RUThe online domain is used by. “ang moh dumplings,”Singaporean slang refers to a foreigner or white person.

Two more outlets have been opened by the couple in Singapore. On Friday, their flagship restaurant featured Soviet memorabilia, including Ukrainian, Russian, and Ukrainian memorabilia. A lot of Europop songs were blasting from the speakers, mostly in Russian.

The restaurant contained approximately two dozen tables. Each one was occupied by diners.

Zubovskyy met me as the dishes began to make their way onto my table.

“Are you sure you can finish that?”He said this as he viewed my order of 12 dumplings and Ukrainian borscht, Kotlety, Herring Salad, and Medovik.

Zubovskyy is married to Zubovskyy, a Russian national. Mothership.sg reported.

He was the son of a Ukrainian father who was Russian and a Ukrainian mother. His mother is mixed Ukrainian-Russian heritage and he lives in Kyiv together with his brothers. He now runs the only Russian-Ukrainian restaurant Singapore has to offer, but his experience isn’t in the kitchen. Zubovskyy also works full-time in shipping.

“I’m not an expert or a professional cook. It’s all my and my wife’s family recipes,”He said it to me.

Zubovskyy was raised in Singapore where he taught in the local schools. His daughter was BornThe city-state. During my lunchtime visit, his son, Mark — who ServeIn the Singapore army to complete nation’s Mandatory military service — was in the restaurant helping serve diners.

Zubovskyy claimed that his restaurant was targeted online because of its Russian heritage, despite his multi-national family background. An InterviewA local newspaper asked him to name one social media user “asked [him] to get Putin to stop the war.”

Zubovksyy stated that he and his colleagues were happy with the results. RespondedYou can donate 10% of your restaurant’s sales for humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Since then, the restaurant has been a recipient of 10% of its delivery sales to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. Donated$500 to the Ukrainian Red Cross Society.

The restaurant also PartnerA local organization will help the stranded Russian/Ukrainian students in Singapore. They will also provide food for them.

Zubovskyy steered our conversation away form politics, despite all these details. He said that politics had already affected his restaurant and that he must think about his family back at home.

“We have a lot of family [living] in Kyiv as well,”He said. “We’re praying for this to be over. It should be over,”He concluded.

According to local media, there are approximately 4,000 Russians in Singapore. Reports. Ukrainians are estimated to number around 450. reportedThe Straits Times. There is only one other than Dumplings.RU OtherRussian restaurant in Singapore. It is strongly influenced by Hainanese food, which is not Zubovkyy’s restaurant.

Kimberley, a waitress at a restaurant, excitedly showed me the Russian vanilla soda bottles she had bought from the restaurant. She was taking them home with her.

“I got curious what Russian and Ukrainian food was like when I saw news of the war,”She spoke. “When I read [Zubovskyy] was born in Ukraine, I wanted to support,”She added.

Zubovskyy answered my question about the differences in Ukrainian and Russian cuisines. He said that both countries share some common dishes but that others, such as dumplings or other foods, can differ.

The restaurant’s most famous item is the platter of 12 dumplings, each with a different filling (19.90 Singapore dollars or $15), that includes lamb, beef and chicken. It featured a mixture of Ukrainian-style vareniki, halushki and Russian-style pierogi. It was my first time trying Russian-Ukrainian food and I devoured it all.

The next day, I went back for lunch. My favourites were the Russian pork stew zharkoe as well as the beef and lamb dumplings.

KF Seetoh (Singapore food critic, writer) told me that the local population is interested in his writings “culinary cultures,”Dumplings.RU’s success was due to this. He stated that although Slavic cuisines will not get the same recognition in Singapore as popular national dishes like Japanese or Italian, they will be a success. “survive.”

“People are curious. There are very few competitors, and by a magical stroke of luck they are doing very well,”Seetoh. “There may be an uptick because people feel for them, people feel like they’re eating and helping at the same time,”He added that he was referring to the wave support for Ukrainians from near-global sources.

Zubovskyy stated that he continues to work.

“We’re trying our best,”He said. “We’re also affected by the politics, by this crisis as well,”He concluded.