Dinosaurs of Belarusian public catering have survived in Vitebsk.
There are six outlets operating here: four pavilions one can enter, and two kiosks. Their ratings on online maps range from 3.8 to 4.3. They are united by one thing: the same principle of 24/7 operation, writes Onliner.by.
By the way, at night, the entrance to the pavilions is closed, and orders are issued through a special window. The kiosks are no longer white; they have lost their signs and familiar ornaments. The "Orange — Hit of the Season" phase is also in the past. Now they are dark grey with a burgundy-gold inscription.
First, the kiosk near Smolensky Market. On a weekday morning, it's very quiet here. A couple of students pop in for instant coffee. But no one else is claiming a "zlatka" with a hot dog.
On the display, there is the menu for this specific day. Everything is available: over 25 positions of ready-made dishes — from pizza and hamburgers to blini and belyashi. The most expensive is "Fried Chicken Kyiv" — 5.50 rubles, the cheapest are pirozhki with jam, cabbage, or rice and egg for one ruble, while those with ham and cheese are already 3 rubles. However, the weight of the latter is almost twice as much.
The signature hot dog with hunting sausage is sold ready-made for 3 rubles. But the "Village" (Vyaskovy) hot dog with sausage needs to be assembled like a constructor: 0.45 rubles for the bun and 3 for the sausage.
Ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard are also paid for separately — each item costs 30 kopecks.
We decide to splurge and take the same zlatka, a hot dog, and potato pancakes with meat for 3.5 rubles. According to the rules that have survived since the nineties, there are no utensils here. Not even disposable ones, not even if you ask very nicely, not even for an extra charge.
Zlatkas are kept on the display in sealed packaging. They are opened in front of customers. A small one costs 3.3 rubles, a large one — 5.8. The sausage itself is listed among the ingredients as "Viennese-Frankfurter", of the highest grade. There are quite a few calories in a product with such a cute and light name: 430 in a small portion alone.
After the first bite, it immediately becomes clear what the person who described the zlatka as "the taste of the nineties" meant. It seems you couldn't say it better. The sweetish ketchup and yeast dough are clearly felt. It's quite greasy and very filling.
By the way, it's not at all necessary to travel to Vitebsk specifically for this dish: frozen zlatka reaches some Minsk supermarkets too.
Finally, those who complained that it was scalding hot at the edges and still frozen in the middle now have the opportunity to use their own unique cooking methods.
Next up is the hot dog. Probably, even a hot dog sommelier wouldn't be able to find unique notes in it. Perhaps the name influenced the taste, and it used to be different. But now it's just a bun-sausage base. One would want to add a pickled gherkin to the hot dog, but there's no such option.
Next — a "kaldun," or more precisely, a potato pancake with meat. We won't even look at the calorie count, so as not to traumatize ourselves a second time this morning. But we'll say for sure: this dish has an extremely close relationship with oil.
Next location. This pavilion is located in the very center of the city — literally: from the window, there's a view of the Vitebsk Amphitheater. Here we taste "smazhanka" and pizza, and at the same time imagine we're watching a concert that was completely sold out in five minutes.
— What do people buy most often here?
— Oh, everyone loves everything we have. Smazhankas sell well, zlatkas, hot dogs always.
— And who comes in most often?
— Anyone! Better ask who *doesn't* come in.
A few minutes later, a friendly local resident approaches the window (and it all looks like a carefully planned theatrical scene).
— And give me that hot dog with the hand-stuffed sausage.
— "Village" (Vyaskovy)?
— Yes, that one!
We return to our dishes. The person who prepared the pizza is clearly a true fan of onions: its taste is maximally concentrated. It's unlikely that Italians would recognize one of their main national dishes in this square of dough. But for anyone who has ever tried to make pizza at home with whatever they found in the fridge, this taste is very familiar.
Unexpectedly, the "smazhanka" becomes the main favorite. The dough is well baked, there's a lot of filling — we give it a fat like in every sense. And years later, "Khutka-Smachna" continues to gather crowds.
On a frosty weekday — hardly, but on a warm summer evening... If you're going on an excursion into the past, definitely choose the summer season. Without inadvertently overhearing conversations in the queue, the immersion into the atmosphere will be incomplete.
In Minsk, "Khutka-Smachna" kiosks were actively closing down since 2010, and the last two disappeared in 2021.
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