The Best Of team recognizes the need for a fast-food alternative to the mayonnaise-doused salads of the stolovaya, the mystery kovbasa at the local shop and even the Big Mac menu at McDonald’s.

When we want something quick, portable and delicious, we head to Kartoplyu Pechena (Baked Potato).

Of course, we’ve tried Potato House – that pseudo-Mexican eatery on Chervonoarmiyska – but we soon discovered that there is more to a baked potato than, well, a potato.

Potatoes are indeed a staple at Potato House, but they are just that: basic, boring, uninspiring. Of course there is a choice of toppings: fresh tomatoes, chives or cheese. But when the Best Of team tried to order butter or sour cream, we were charged separately. We’re sorry, but those toppings should be part of the package. After all, a potato without butter and sour cream is like vodka without the chaser.

Potato House potatoes consist of two small spuds in a ceramic bowl. That makes it difficult for even the most graceful team members to slice up a tough skin. As a result we’re left with nothing but mush and a stomach rumbling for something more substantial.

So when the Best Of team craves a carbo-rush, we scurry over to one of the baked potato kiosks, known affectionately as Baked Potato. They’re open round the clock and, since first appearing at the end of the summer, have been popping up at all sorts of convenient locations. The green-and-yellow kiosks are currently parked by the Passazh on Khreshchatyk, on Maidan Niezalezhnosti, on Lva Tolstoho and outside Olympic Stadium. Even better, they serve up spuds and nothing but spuds: massive, piping hot potatoes on the spot.

They go for Hr 3.50 a pop, and Baked Potato offers 10 toppings, priced at Hr 1.50 each. They range from the obvious sour cream and butter (at no extra charge) – to the unusual beans and mushrooms in tomato sauce, carrot salad, sausage and marinated eggplant. And since the potatoes are served up day and night, the toppings go fast – and are always fresh. So there’s no yellowing sour cream with a layer of dead flies. The Best Of team appreciates that.

We place our order, and the friendly staff goes to it. They open up the foil and mash away at the potato – working in the butter or sour cream and preparing it for the toppings. All we have to do is eat the delicious result.

And since nothing washes down a good spud like a good beer, Baked Potato serves that, too. Half-liter bottles of Obolon and Slavutych go for Hr 2.50.