Eating out in Moscow and St Petersburg by Graeme Harwood

Growth, lucrative to the point of hand rubbing, in the numbers of overseas visitors, expats on assignment, ‘New Russians’ – and with increasing frequency these days middle-class Russians too – has gifted the restaurateurs of both cities with a rapidly expanding clientele. Not ‘expanding’, however, in the sense that all you’re going to get is cabbage, potatoes & stew salted & creamed into a ‘hearty’ meal, in the sense of cardiac arrest. Perish the thought. Despite whatever might still be going on in the provinces, today’s Moscow & St.Petersburg in surprising depth of choice can offer you, well, the lot really. Mediterranean, Scandinavian, Far Eastern (‘sushi’ is the fad of ‘New Russians’, probably prompted by their model girlfriends), Latin American, Northern European, Jewish, Muslim, Russian Classical and Russian Regional restaurants all compete very publicly with one another as well as with a gaudy new high-street glut of burger, pizza and kebab outlets, never to be mentioned again. There are, in fact, too many estimable restaurants in Moscow & St.Petersburg for me to say that I’ve eaten at them all and produced the definitive listing. What I have been able to do is, with a Russian bias, to sample some of the best and will now report back.

A few observations on Russians, food and drink before we start naming names. They love soups, cakes and ice-cream; they often shun wine in favour of a ½ litre of brandy on the table; they always linger long in restaurants turning their visit into a social event which is why opening times are very specific whilst closing time is only ever written down as “when the last guest leaves”; they may have the odd Mafiosi-looking group dressed in tell-tale monochrome black but even if Uncle Boris has, unbeknown to any of his guests, planned that this will be their last supper such reversals of fortune are outside and later – their public behaviour is impeccable. I found Ukrainian Nemiroff, a pepper honey vodka, to be a good aperitif against the cold and Armenian Ararat cognac its cousin on the way out. Most other Russian cognacs seem to taste like electric soap. At breakfast, Kefir - a type of sour milk - is effective against hangovers, because let’s face it you’re unlikely to get out of Russia without at least one. Kvass, a sort of fermented rye bread, could stimulate non-drinkers.

Anyway, off we go first of all to a place I can’t recommend highly enough and is probably Moscow’s best value-for money ethnic restaurant, the Armenian cuisine of Noah’s Ark (M.”Kitay-gorod”, 9Malyi Ivanovskij lane;Tel:9170717). Ever tried ‘An Assortment of Forest Mushrooms (5 types)’,’ Cheese from the Open Fire’,’ Armenian Sour Milk Soup with Wheat, Onions & Greens’, ‘Kufta Meat’ or ‘Fried Ice-Cream’? Well neither had I, so why not give them a go? The menu is large and the wine is sensibly priced – something depressingly rare in Russia – with Bordeaux, for example, at £16/29$ a bottle (a better choice than the mild, one-dimensional fruit of their Armenian red, Areni, on offer at £22/40$ a bottle) and a range of wines available inexpensively by the glass. The restaurant is intimately lit and very strongly themed – a look, incidentally, which many Moscow restaurants go for and ensure that they do so extremely well that you never forget them; unlike the surfeit of minimalist dining rooms in Western Europe where you’d be hard pushed to tell one from the other, let alone what country you were in. The theme here is of course Armenian Folk. But the music here is actually a plus, being unmixed with Armenian Pop, intriguingly played on ancient instruments & light on the ‘Christ- my- cow’s- keeled –over’ type of grief. Staff, naturally, are in full kit & prices are all in roubles - again a rarity - with Starters£5/9$; Mains£10/18$; Dessert£4/7$ with 10% Service, standard in Russia, either added on automatically by the restaurant or optionally by you. Noah’s Ark is just east of The Kremlin & don’t forget to bring your passport along to qualify for their unique special offer of 10% discount & a free cognac.

Godunov(5, Teatralnaya Pl.;Tel:2980473) being a short stroll from all the expensive, centrally - located hotels undoubtedly attracts many of their clients, but mercifully doesn’t set out to take advantage of them. You start off with the Garderobe ritual – common to every Russian restaurant as customers are usually blown in by the weather – which leads onto a tunnel of C16th Gothic vaults, festively coloured and starred in cobalts, burgundies & gold, complete with low ceilings, maid- servants & minstrels. The latter actually perform in the evenings with all the attendant tourist-like consequences, but not during the day. It’s another welcome feature of Russian restaurants that once they open at, say, midday they go straight through with no closures “till the last guest leaves”. The food is Classic Russian e.g.’Semolina with Raisins, Honey, Nuts & Cream’; ‘Duck baked in a Raspberry Sauce & served with grilled Duck Liver’; ‘Cold Pickled Mushrooms’ etc. from a long menu of standards, although reading my notebook the mushrooms apparently got boring after the third one! Not so their home-made almond vodka, their house wines & their delicious low-alcohol spin on mead, ‘medovukha’, all sympathetically priced at £3/5$ a glass. The whole effect is more authentic than kitsch. Starters £7/12$; Mains£12/21$; Desserts £4/8$.

We go next to Moscow west central for a Ukrainian peasant farm re-created indoors at Shinok (ul 1905 goda 2;Tel:2550204). Here, theme dining has really taken off .You actually look down on a farmyard with live animals, being tended by an elderly babushka woman in apron, cardigan & wellington boots as they, in turn, watch you eating their relatives. This is all tastefully done by staff suitably beribboned, besmocked & embroidered for the occasion. ‘Piglet Leg in Caramel’, ‘Pig’s Rib Baked with Cabbage’, ‘Vareniky’(big format Ravioli, sweet or savoury) & ‘Okroshka’(cold soup of Kvass,Meat,Vegetables & Baked Potatoes) are just some of the things to try from an extensive menu of Ukrainian specialities served in a candle-lit atmosphere of agricultural conspiracy. The one thing that spoils this restaurant, as it does the other two brilliantly designed venues under the same ownership,Café Pushkin & Club Restaurant, is greed. Prices at all three places are in Euros, financially very up-to-the moment but equally aware that many people, Russians included, used to seeing prices in $’s, might think they’re +/- the same thing, whereas in fact there’s an increased difference of +/- 25% . There’s the lingering suspicion that they’re probably trying to profiteer from the introduction of the Euro just as many Western European companies did. Still, sophisticats will see through this. Wine drinkers however will find themselves, in all three restaurants, between a rock and a hard place. Either get stuffed at £35/62$ for the cheapest bottle of wine; or elect to go for house wine by the glass and get even more stuffed at £9/16$ a throw. Maybe they’re playing on the Russian notion that wine is a luxury item and as long as they can get way with these rip-off prices they will continue to do so. The excuse I was given of tax impositions being the cause of all this is nonsense. Other places, subject to the same laws, charge far less for imported wines. It is, I repeat, just greed on the part of the ownership and I bet my pointing it out to them won’t make a blind bit of difference either. I’m still going to recommend you eat there and they know it. Aaagh!

Café Pushkin (26A Tverskoy Bulver; Tel:2295590), alas, I fell in love with on sight. It’s Moscow’s most famous restaurant and went straight into my World TopTen. Not so much for the food, French and Russian, cooked capably, served in reasonable portions with Starters£9/16$; Mains£15/27$; Desserts£9/16$ - but for the memorable chemistry of its ambience. This is a bustling, confident, happy place whose clients are clearly thrilled to be there, positively radiating endorphins. Café Pushkin is, in fact, three restaurants in one – something I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before. The ground floor, eccentrically dominated by a pharmacy with a bar, is a sophisticated, stuccoed & tiled Grand European Café of the C19th. On the roof, and only in summer, you can look out over Moscow from a classic Mediterranean Terrazza. The middle floors, though, are where you should book. Here is one of the great dining- rooms, or rather a Tsarist aristocrat’s private library of leather bound books in ornamentally carved floor-to-ceiling bookcases, into which someone has put tables, chairs, a huge globe & a live classical quartet. All book lovers will find the experience of eating there stays with them all their lives. Café Pushkin is central & the staff speak English – none more so than the busy, young general manager, Denis Kalyapin, who’s worked London restuarants in his time & is thoroughly helpful.

Club Restaurant (50 Povarskikaia; Tel:291515), a little further away from the centre, is Café Pushkin’s posh sister.Dishes may be both French & Russian but the tone of the place is High Church French.’New Russians’ like this - as for them, basically, cars are German & food is French.But silver lids being whipped off in front of you by white-gloved waiters descending en masse a la francais doesn’t really compensate for rather stingy portions at mildly hefty prices with Starters£11/20$; Mains£21/38$; & Desserts£7/13$. Once again, as you’ve probably guessed, it’s another case of amazing décor. This time we’re in a candle-lit forest of wood carvings which turns out to be a Grand Gothic Minstrel’s Gallery hung with tapestries & rambling over several levels where lovers can hide away in balconied alcoves. Club Restaurant may be costly but it is lovely. Take your camera.

St Petersburg has two ethnic restaurants you should put on your list, Kavkaz & Café Ket. Both are Georgian, commendably cheap & better known to Russians & local expats than to tourists. For ‘Georgian’, think spicy meat dishes & red wines – if only because any fish is bound to be frozen & their white wine, Mtsvane, is pretty much undrinkable being odourless, flavourless & eerily reminiscent of home-made stuff. Superavi & Mukuzani are two good reds with all the tarry fruit & soft tannins typical of Georgia – the first place to produce wine, hence the earthenware amphorae & plastic vines which invariably decorate every Georgian restaurant. Kindsmarauli is an unusual semi-sweet red which may appeal to some. It certainly did to Georgia’s most notorious son, Stalin, being his all-time favourite wine. Music to your ears will be of the cloying ballad variety but bearable in that it’s either infrequent or in the background.

Of the two, Kavkaz (18 Karavannaya St;Tel:3121665) has the better food & service but the interior is more that of a cosy café than a full-blown restaurant. The floor is plainly tiled; the tables & chairs are bare wood, simple, square & design-free; rustic touches like the occasional cart-wheel or plastic vine rescue the otherwise anonymous walls. Kick off with Kharcho Soup which can be made with your meat of choice but will come heavily laden with garlic & spices in a clay bowl topped off with fresh coriander. Meats are the standard animals, stewed or skewered ( Kvinkali,Satsivi,Basturma,Shashlyk) with some curve balls thrown in like Beef Tongue or Pork Heart. They also have a wonderfully pungent smoked cheese. House wine is an unnecessary £5/9$ a glass but otherwise Kavkaz is a bargain with Starters£5/9; Mains£7/12$; Desserts£4/8$. This place, a block away from Nevsky Prospekt, is very popular so make sure to book ahead, rather than just rolling up on the off-chance.

Ket Café (Stremyannaya ul.22;Tel:1173377) is also one block away from Nevsky Prospekt, just behind The Nevskij Palace Hotel, and in even more urgent need of prior reservation: there are only 12 tables! Consequently, the evening atmosphere is terrific: a small, split-level room, all in black & darkest green, lit by candles & peopled with theatrical-looking guests sitting almost on top of each other, creates an intimacy as palpable as a landlord’s lock-in for his friends. Oddly enough, the service is awful: two dour males you always have first of all to find & then, secondly, seduce into taking a more or less contemporary interest in your wishes. Strangely enough, it doesn’t matter. Ket wins anyway. One look at the spelling on the menu should dispel any disapproval of the waiters e.g. try a Soterne Premier Kru or Bojolee with your Cabbage Flower! Two dishes I particularly enjoyed were the starter,Suluguny, cheese boiled with mint, and the honey & walnut dessert, Kozinacki. Even cheaper than Kavkaz with house wine at £3/5$ a glass & Starters£3/5$; Mains£5/9$; & Desserts£2/4$, Ket Café has the most romantic & satisfying ambience of all St.Petersburg’s restaurants

This is a title Demidoff (14 Fontanka emb.;Tel:2729181) would dearly love to claim for itself. Admittedly it lurks on a quiet embankment only a touch away from the city centre and it does have a vaulted mid-section of 18 seats, done out like Peter The Great’s private den(insist on this room & only this room when, once again, you’ll need to book ahead).But Demidoff rather demeans itself by taking the whiff of a Russian theme park targeted at tourists way beyond the obligatory samovar-in-the-corner level. Here the dishes are pan-Russian rather than regional & given catchy tourist hooks like “Morning After Soup: Cabbage & Beef Tongue, Catherine The Great’s favourite pick-me-up”, so to speak. The live music is provided by a quartet of all-purpose tourist gypsies – three ageing, fiery-eyed, black-haired temptresses fronted by a balding guy with pony-tail & paunch – who can be relied upon to do the rounds of the tables with plenty of foot-stomping, hand-clapping’ Kalinkas’. When they took a break, in walked a Lenin-lookalike, eager to pose with you for cash. Typically, they promote themselves through a glossy web-site. The service is spot-on although the cooking from a long menu is no more than adequate and somewhat over-priced. House wine is £5/9$ a glass with Starters£8/14$; Mains£25/49$; & Desserts£7/13$. Demidoff’s is a sort of first night place to baptise yourself in Russian clichés.

If, however, the urge for ‘haute cuisine’ comes upon you in St.Petersburg there are two places guaranteed to provide it: The Old Customs House & The Landskrona Restaurant. The Old Customs House (1Tamozhenny Per;Tel:3278980) is already a St.Petersburg institution, venue de rigueur for al Royals & Heads of State, and these days more or less runs itself – although the credit for that should more correctly go to Tony Gear, its genial, rotund, astute, spectacles-on-a-string general manager, so English he could have wandered off the pages of a Dickens novel. The food is French, competent but not Michelin-star French, at prices which mercifully aren’t Michelin either. House wine is £4/7$ a Glass with Starters£11/20$; Mains£21/38$; & Desserts£7/13$. Regardant le restaurant, you step down into a cavernous C18th warehouse which, despite its size, manages to achieve intimacy through the warm reds & browns of its bare plankwood floor & low-vaulted brick ceilings; and through the use of quirky gimmicks like the Madame Tussaud’s tableau of two Russian customs officials at the entrance, whose glass door has a tongue-in-cheek logos of a crossed-out gun on it – presumably a nudge-nudge joke for the ‘New Russians’.The wine list is excellent(Tony Gear runs a Wine Club from the restaurant) as is the live gastro-jazz, performed discreetly at both lunch & dinner. The Old Customs House, just over the river at one end of Nevsky Prospekt, is a pleasingly safe bet for a good, up-market night out.

The Landskrona Restaurant(57 Nevsky Prospekt; Tel:3802001) is an altogether quieter proposition, sitting sedately atop The Nevskij Palace Hotel, and serving dishes in all the hushed formality of thick carpets, cut glass & muted jazz classics. Although the view over St.Petersburg isn’t what it could be, in all other respects The Landskrona is proper foodie heaven.German meister, Dirk Heinen, is simply the best chef in town. Everything is so well thought-out & perfectly executed – amuse-bouche; wine in ¼ litres; good-sized portions; sambucca prepared via two glasses. Examples of things that could be yours: a starter of Lemon-grass skewered Sturgeon Liver with Buckwheat Lentils&Caviare or Pumpkin Soup topped with grilled Quail Breast, Ginger & Garlic Chips; a main of Rack of Lamb on Beetroot Polenta & Green Beans Bacon-Wrapped with Rosemary-Garlic jus or Grilled Walnut-Coated Rabbit Loin placed on a Vanilla Risotto with Brussel Sprouts & Cranberry Horseradish Sauce. You get the idea. House wine is only £6/11$ a ¼ litre with Starters£12/21$; Mains£21/38$; & Desserts£6/11$. The Landskrona served up the best meal I ate in Russia so – and I can’t type this hard enough – go there! On that ecstatic note I wish to end, save only to wish you for all your eating experiences in Russia: Prijatnogo Appetita!