Since the invasion of Ukraine in February last year, more than 5,000 Ukrainians have sought refuge in Australia. As they adjust to life down under, 15 recent arrivals have landed a job at new Sydney eatery 'Kyiv social'.
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00:00 In this kitchen, delicious things are happening.
00:05 Potato and pepper berry dumplings, pampushka buns, roasted cauliflower with crispy onions.
00:12 We have Ukrainian food, but it's fusion Ukrainian food.
00:16 It's a little bit with Australian movements.
00:19 I had Negroni, Ukrainian Negroni, and David had a beetroot cocktail.
00:25 It's really nice.
00:27 Just as special as the food being plated up at this new Sydney establishment, are the people preparing and serving it.
00:35 15 of the staff at Kyiv Social are Ukrainian refugees, recent arrivals displaced by war.
00:42 It's a little bit hard because we don't use a lot of English in our country,
00:47 but I learned English in school, at university, and it's like, it's taken me two, three months to start to talk.
00:55 The restaurant operates as a social enterprise, providing employment and hospitality training and a sense of community.
01:04 The trauma is real, but what we're seeing when you're busy, you're engaged, you're active, you're here, you're doing something,
01:10 you can take your mind off things that are going back on at home.
01:13 For every set menu sold here, a meal is donated to a Ukrainian refugee in Australia and someone in need in Ukraine.
01:21 We're actually supporting an orphanage and young people who are going through some food insecurity and providing them nutritious meals every day.
01:29 Before they started here at Kyiv Social, most of these staff hadn't worked in hospitality before, not for a long time anyway.
01:36 But they are qualified in other areas.
01:39 Among them is a doctor, an economist, an engineer, so as you can imagine, it's been a bit of an adjustment.
01:48 Bartender Daniel Abadian is trained as a pilot.
01:52 He says he was lucky to be able to leave his home.
01:55 Most men were forced to stay.
01:58 I'm half Iranian, half Ukrainian.
02:00 For this reason I have another Iranian passport and with the Iranian passport I come out from Ukraine.
02:09 Before he left, Daniel had been working with an organisation that helped settle refugees.
02:15 He never imagined he'd become one himself.
02:18 We're trying to work with the Ukrainian community to bring them here, to be more friendly with them,
02:24 because everybody that's a refugee coming here is a little bit scared.
02:28 Kyiv Social is the fourth eatery of its kind operated by not-for-profit hospitality group Plate It Forward.
02:35 Just come in and eat really good food, drink a really good cocktail and know that you're doing something bigger
02:40 and you're making a positive impact and it gives you a small way to contribute to something massive,
02:45 especially in these times more than ever.
02:47 The business model is clearly resonating.
02:50 Our experience tonight has been the food's amazing and the money goes to me,
02:55 so it's a no-brainer for me really in that sense.
02:59 Kyiv Social is open from Wednesday to Sunday.
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