Tired of the same old, same old restaurants? Have I got a place for you: Korchma Taras Bulba, a Ukrainian restaurant on West Broadway in SoHo.

When is the last time you ate at a Ukrainian restaurant? No, I hadn’t either. Korchma (“tavern”) Taras Bulba (a mythical Cossack warrior) is more than just another ethnic restaurant; it’s a Ukrainian/Russian Festival. It’s a bright, cheery, upscale spot with smiling, obliging waiters in native costumes of billowing knickers and high boots and waitresses wearing crowns of flowers, all of whom are eager to describe every dish.

This colorful place is delightfully cluttered with hanging baskets and strings of garlic, farm utensils, lanterns, murals, a spinning wheel, a sewing machine and flickering strands of lights. Upbeat Ukrainian folk music also generates admirable authenticity.  Guests who want to get into the spirit of things can wear peasant vests, straw hats, and those flowering head wreaths.

Meals begin with a basket of black bread and a gutsy dip of pork belly, garlic, and paprika. Pickles wrapped in pork belly appear alongside shots of Vodka. These hearty opening salvos accurately set the stage for the hefty, no-nonsense Eastern European dishes to follow. And drink that vodka, even if, like me, you’re not a fan. It’s flavored with cherry, cranberry, orange, raspberry, strawberry, and even the more traditional horseradish versions.

The food and drink are exactly the same as the dishes found on the menus of the 16 Korchma Taras Bulbas in Moscow and the one in Kiev. They are assertive and interesting, with big, bold flavors. Go for the dumplings, tongue dishes, blinis, all potato-based dishes, veal stew, pork chop, holodets, sour cream cake, and honey cake.

The thinly sliced, mildly spiced calf’s tongue appetizer can be garnished with either Russian mustard or the more traditional Ukrainian horseradish. Housemade holodets are an aspic slab topped with a beef/chicken mix and meat broth in a tasty jellied consommé with a horseradish sauce or that tangy Russian mustard. Potato dranikis are the more familiar potato latkes offered with sour cream and red caviar. Recommended blinis arrive with the same accompaniments—and don’t be lulled into thinking the Ukrainian Caesar salad is the standard version.  It’s flecked with chicken breast and Gouda cheese squares all in a distinctive white sauce.  

The Russians and Ukrainians love their dumplings (vareniki), and with good reason.  These delicate Eastern European versions of ravioli are special, as is the lollapalooza: on-the-bone pork chop blanketed by a creamy mustard-mushroom sauce alive with mushrooms. Speaking of mushrooms, don’t neglect the soothing veal stew in a clay pot, with cubes of potatoes, garlic, onion, sour cream, and sweet peppers.

357 West Broadway (Broome-Grand Sts.), 212-510-7510; tarasbulba.us