🎄 A Christmas Charity Dinner with Olia Hercules 🎄

Join us for a magical evening with best-selling author and chef Olia Hercules, as she brings the spirit of Ukrainian Christmas to life — with a twist. Featuring a specially curated menu and a presentation of Olia’s new book “Strong Roots”, the dinner will be accompanied by beautiful carols sung by Endangered Songs, a Ukrainian musical ensemble.

20% of proceeds go to Children of Heroes, supporting Ukrainian children who’ve lost parents to the war.

🍽️ Menu

🥣 Starter:

Beef rib (or vegan) borsch with smoked Poltava pears, served with sourdough garlic pampushky

🍛 Mains:

Whole baked local fish

Millet, wild mushroom & chestnut salad

Charred leek & beetroot salad

Holubtsi (meat or vegan)

Pelustka (fermented cabbage & beetroots)

🍰 Dessert:

A fluffy pumpkin kolach served with bay-infused custard

👩🏼‍🍳 About Olia Hercules:

Kakhovka-native Olia Hercules is a London-based Ukrainian chef, food writer, and food stylist. Trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine and having worked at Ottolenghi, Olia has authored four cookbooks: Mamushka: Recipes from Ukraine & Beyond, Kaukasis – The Cookbook: A Journey through the Wild East, Summer Kitchens Inside Ukraine's Hidden Places of Cooking and Sanctuary, and Home Food. Olia’s latest book, Strong Roots, tells the story of a century in Ukraine told through four generations of her own family: from years of Russification, to Olia's grandmother's deportation to snowy wastelands under Stalin, to her Aunt Zhenia's school protest, to her own parents' flight from Ukraine when their town was occupied in 2022.

In 2022, Olia established the #CookForUkraine initiative which raised £2 million in support of UNICEF, Choose Love, and Legacy of War Foundation in aid of Ukraine.

🎶 About Endangered Songs

Hailing from different corners of Ukraine, the ensemble Endangered Songs brings to life ancient carols and traditional songs from regions that have endured occupation and resistance — Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Chernihiv, Kyiv, and Dniprо, as well as Lviv and Western Ukraine where Ukrainian Christmas heritage was preserved during the times of Soviet persecutions. The ensemble includes singers and activists Kateryna Smirnova, Yana Kurlyak, Melania Oleshchuk, Marta Habalevych, and Darka Symchych, who together breathe new life into Ukraine’s endangered musical heritage.

❤️‍🩹 About the charity

Charitable contributions from the evening will go towards Children of Heroes, a Ukrainian charity founded to help the countless number of Ukrainian children who have suffered the ultimate tragedy: the loss of a parent, or parents, during the ongoing war. The Fund provides the children and their families with comprehensive assistance through various programmes, including: humanitarian and emergency aid, psychological care and therapy, crisis management, legal aid, educational support, as well as the provision of food, warm clothing and assistance securing shelter for children, when needed.

Come for the food, stay for the spirit — a celebration of Ukrainian hospitality, generosity, and joy. ✨