Svitiltsya head Christian Mathis tells about his life in Kyiv

Leading up to the Post’s 10th birthday this September, each week we’ll be highlighting members of the local business community who have played leading roles over the years. This week, we talk to Christian Mathis, a French chef and co-owner of the restaurant Svitlitsya.

“I don’t do anything now,” says Christian Mathis over a glass of champagne, sitting on the summer terrace of Gorchitsa, a French restaurant in the Lipky district.

He, like many other French Kyiv residents, enjoy this venue, which was opened by fellow Frenchman Joel Frantz. Mathis appreciates the place even more than the rest, since Frantz is his friend and also hails from Lorraine. Adding to the commonalities, Mathis too is a third-generation chef and restaurant owner.

A fresh city

His personal story in Ukraine started in December of 1992.

After having spent around 12 years working for some of the best restaurants in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Mathis was invited by some Ukrainian businessmen to come to Kyiv. They had invested in a luxury restaurant called Eldorado, and was all set – except the restaurant didn’t have a chef. Mathis was the one.

“I came to Ukraine and saw that nothing was here yet. It was such a thrill!” he remembers. It was even more fun, he says, after he invited several of his friends, including Frantz, who were all great professional chefs, to work with him in Ukraine.

Unfortunately, Eldorado shut down in less than a year, mainly because the owner, as Mathis explains, was “a big bandit who stole money, two million dollars from the National Bank, and escaped.” After the Eldorado fiasco, Mathis was “jobless.”

“Joel and I were already used to Ukraine and thought it was gorgeous. We didn’t want to leave, as we had our lives and our girlfriends here.”

Each member of the Eldorado crew found something else to do in the meantime. Then, in September 1994, a Swiss businessmen named Marco Ecqinauer invited Mathis to head Zaporozhye, a new luxury restaurant in Podil. The establishment is still remembered by many Kyivans and ex-pats for its elegant interior and good food.

“For me those were the best times,” Mathis says.

After four years of working for Zaporozhye, Mathis’s adventurous nature pushed him to take his next step. On New Year’s Eve in 1998, he quit his job, and he and a partner opened Le Gavroche, a place that served Alsatian cuisine. That, too, was doomed to a short life: after four years, he lost ownership in typical post-Soviet fashion.

“I was naive and kind,” is all he says. “I didn’t have any papers [proving ownership].”

But that didn’t change his attitude toward Ukraine.

“I love Ukraine very much. It’s an amazing country. France has become impossible now. Taxes are high, and the personnel are hard to deal with. Here people are interested in learning. They have motivation and energy,” he says.

On the beloved Uzviz

Soon after, in 2000, he opened the restaurant Svitlitsya in a 19th-century building on the Andriyivsky Uzviz.

“I lived on Andriyivsky Uzviz and always walked that street. There was a simple cafe, Svitlitsya; very simple inside. I just talked to the owner, saying that something interesting could be done there.”

The redesigned restaurant specializes in French crepes, and foreigners account for about 80 percent of the clientele.

He wanted Svitlitsya to be “a little place I wouldn’t have to look over every day. And a pancake is simply a pancake. Everyone likes them.”

That simplicity gives him lots of free time.

“Right now I am very lazy,” he smiles. “Every one who knows me from Zaporozhye can tell you that I love cooking. But right now, if you want to make [the restaurant] interesting, you need a lot of money to invest. Instead I bought a house in Podil in 1998, and now I live on rent from it.”

Hedonistic approach

Mathis, naturally, likes to eat in good restaurants and drink good wine with friends. Gorchitsa, he says, is the best restaurant in town.

However, since he’s in Kyiv and there are not many good places to eat, he finds other things to enjoy. Motorcycles and antique cars are his other passion.

“I sold [my bike] here, because they’re all idiots here driving their cars so fast!” he complains.

“Though, in a week, I’m bringing my old Citroen DS 21 Fantomas here from France. It’s 33 years old, but it’s been completely renovated. It’s gonna be a bomb in Ukraine!” he exclaims.

Wind is another thing he’s fond of. Here in Ukraine Mathis goes windsurfing on the Kyiv Sea, a reservoir north of the city, and in France he prefers paragliding.

“When I go to France I love paragliding,” he continues, “but here I don’t try it. I have one problem: In the case of an accident I am afraid to find myself in one of your hospitals.”

Looking forward

Mathis plans to stick around Ukraine for at least a little while longer.

“Right now I have two new ideas, either for this year or for next,” he says.

After that, he hopes to start enjoying family life.

“I am alone here. I’m an old guy. I’m already forty,” Mathis continues. “I want to be here in Ukraine for another four or five years, and then I want to have a family.” Though unmarried so far, he claims he’s recently found his Ukrainian soul mate.

After Ukraine, he might move to Spain or Corsica, “but everything will depend upon my wife,” he says earnestly.

“I don’t want to go back to France,” he adds. “It’s not interesting.”