Italians are crazy about their cuisine, the French often go to French restaurants, Americans cannot imagine a day without fries and a burger, Japan has its own cult of traditional dishes. But in Russia we love everything foreign (and, it should be noted, we cook very well) – both Italian and French, American and Japanese, but often forget about ourselves.
Anya Baturina, columnist for The Fashion Vibes, author of the Gastrology Telegram channel
The Fashion Vibes columnist Anya Baturina analyzed our heritage and brought together nine delicious and diverse restaurants with Russian cuisine.
boron
Modern Russian taste is comfort food, without excesses and unnecessary pity. This is a project from the creators of the restaurant Bjorn, in which they want to emphasize that Russian cuisine can be simple, straightforward, not homemade, but “everyday”. And the joke was a success, and a completely different audience sits here – from smart girls, awkward couples on a first date, to guys with laptops and big plans, and charming grandmothers by the fireplace.
The decoration and details of some dishes change according to the season. Now, for example, they planted raspberries on the veranda (see “Boron” more often in July-August, maybe you will get a few strawberries) – such an edge appeared in front of the forest.
Chef Andrey Fedoseev (currently head of the Michelin-starred Bjorn) shows Russian cuisine from an unexpected angle. There is no borscht or meatballs, but there is a delicious goose pie with dried cranberries (by the way, geese are not so common on the menu of other restaurants) and hit muffin pate with marinated butter and rye bread. Even the jelly at Fedoseev does not look scary, the jelly is slightly whipped and laid on top. And lots of mushrooms everywhere.
Address: st. Pyatnitskaya, September 28, building 1
“FOREST.”
It’s hard to name a “LES”. Restaurant of Russian cuisine, but this place has 100% Russian spirit of chef and gastrobotanist Andrey Kolodyazhny. Here he recreated his own forest thicket, which can be reached by literally a step from Tverskoy Boulevard. From the plants to the sounds of nature in the toilet, all the features of the forest are available.
The menu focuses on seasonality and local ingredients. Sometimes they are so local that they are grown directly in the restaurant – for example, microgreens in a vertical farm on the wall or tomatoes on the bar. Kolodyazhny pays special attention to wild herbs, berries and mushrooms, so on the menu you can easily find butter with volatile mushroom powder, root and liver paste, cabbage root risotto and a dozen types of mushrooms (you definitely did not know) in different dishes. about the existence of some).
Address: Tverskoy Boulevard, 9
“#SiberianSiberian”
A place from Denis Ivanov, the chief restaurateur of Siberia, is the pinnacle of the modern Russian spirit. There are real carved rustic blinds on the ceiling, collectible artel dolls, rubbed samovars, traditional Russian snacks and pickles, and taiga fruit tinctures. And above the bar, 10,000 spoons shine, like the northern lights (or chain mail of Ilya Muromets).
It’s a good idea to come to the Polar Spring set as soon as possible (you’ll start to lose weight before spring ends and eventually until summer). Chef Yevgeny Kuznetsov flirts with reindeer meat, tarting it with sliced meat and porcini mushrooms with mulberry mousse, and reindeer moss (which the deer actually eats) and the cooked heart of this northern animal. You can try everything separately, but not the fact that then you will feel the real harsh, late, cold spring of the Far North.
By the way, there are also great brunches here (until 2 pm on weekdays, and until 4 pm on weekends and holidays), so if venison is still not for you then you can start your morning with pine nut porridge, Yakut pancake and mimosa » (it is a cocktail) on cloudberries.
address: Smolensk Saint., eight
Perepel New Russian Bar
At the intersection of Sadovaya-Karetnaya and Karetny Ryad, a “new Russian” bar was opened by Eva Chernyshova (15 Kitchen + Bar) and the legendary (wait, wait) talent Dmitry Sokolov. It was he who had been drinking Moscow for 18 years in a row, and it all started with the first cocktail bar in Russia – Help. The concept of the new establishment is “elegant minimalism in the interior” (as this style is called in the version) with straightforward Russian cuisine, a local bar menu, and a rug and folklore-style graphics on the wall at the entrance.
The young and talented chef Yan Bychikhin, in charge of the bar menu, interpreted the hits of Russian and Soviet cuisine – quail eggs stuffed with pike caviar, beef jelly with pork hooves, grechetto with porcini mushrooms and “navy” shells, as well as a sandwich with anchovies and kiwi. The bar menu is even more interesting here, because it includes purely local products – Russian gin, whiskey, homemade kiwi fruit tinctures from the Moscow Region and even linden ratafia.
Address: Sadovaya-Karetnaya, 18
Big Cafe Dr. Zhivago
A restaurant on the ground floor of the legendary National Hotel, where tradition and modernity meet in a single menu. After the loudest night parties, people come here for breakfast and drink tea with vodka from the cup holders, their parents and distant relatives bring cabbage rolls and dumplings to foreigners to get acquainted with the stylized Soviet Russian cuisine.
By the way, a new chief has recently appeared here – Anton Kochura moved from Onegin Dacha in Rostov-on-Don to Zhivago. What to expect from him is still a mystery, but this is another reason to come and order the entire menu, lovingly compiled by previous chef Alena Solodovichenko, if he will not be there later. Millet porridge with crayfish tails is always a win-win option; both on the main menu and on the breakfast menu. And yes, the veranda overlooking Manezhnaya Square has already opened!
Address: st. Mokhovaya, 15, p. one
“Matriushka”
A guide to the world of Russian cuisine – the restaurant’s brand chef Vlad Piskunov – takes inspiration from the old days, calling the end of the 19th century the “Belle Epoque of Russian gastronomy” and always hides an interesting story about some dishes. Therefore, if he suddenly appears next to your table, take a break from your Smartphone and prepare to listen (or better, book a table for the famous “Moscow Lunch” with a historical menu and stories). Here, according to the classics, crayfish and quail, pies, tea from the samovar of Olivier, 1883 from childhood.
By the way, you do not need to stay in Moscow in May to “try” “Matryoshka” – Piskunov has already carefully marinated a picnic barbecue for you: classic pork, delicate chicken or royal sturgeon. In addition to the barbecue, you can take soup to nature – it is packed for a whole company or a large family. Valaam cabbage soup, also called mushroom soup, borscht with veal duck, Moscow fish soup with sterlet and salmon broth, just warm up.
Address: Kutuzovsky hope, 2/1, p. 6
“Cafe Pushkin”
Cafe Pushkin will turn 23 in 2022 (June 4, come celebration), Andrey Dellos opened it in 1999 with the idea to show Russian noble cuisine. And until now, the place remains a cult not only among foreigners, but also among tourists from Russia and Muscovites.
Permanent chef Andrey Makhov periodically organizes various unusual festivals – from soup day to fire cutlet week. By the way, despite such an impressive history, Pushkin Cafe has something to surprise guests – not everyone knows, but there is a very beautiful summer veranda on the roof.
Address: Tverskoy Boulevard, 26A
“Beluga”
One place Muscovites strongly associate with black caviar is the Beluga restaurant in the same National Hotel. And although this delicacy is in many restaurants, first of all, this institution comes to mind. There are over two dozen varieties of caviar and one of the world’s largest vodka lists (you can create your own pairing).
Caviar and Russia is a stereotypical combination. Chef Evgeniy Vikentiev collected our other delicacies and farm products – Caspian beluga, Far Eastern scallops, local sea urchins, Murmansk octopus. Last year, the restaurant received a Michelin star. The excitement about the award has already subsided, so there shouldn’t be any issues in booking a table.
Address: st. Mokhovaya, 15/1, p. one
uhvat
This spring, the brand chef of the restaurant, Viktor Beley, went down in history and prepared a special menu of old Russian dishes – zvara, skoblyanka, kalya and others. Pavel Syutkin, a specialist in the history of Russian cuisine, helped Beley competently compose it (for a moment, a candidate of historical sciences). Be careful, a teleport on the table to the 16th century and from there immediately to the 19th century and the imperial feast is possible.
Here are a few excerpts from the menu: re-baked kolobok pie with mushroom honey cheese, beef liver, onion and egg, coalfish in cucumber brine and black caviar sandwich with kali and milk chocolate, ear with viburnum and raspberry sauce (sounds like dessert). And here they say it’s a miracle how good borscht is. The pride of the restaurant is an open workshop with three large Russian ovens, where dishes are cooked in the old way – they rot for 6-18 hours.
Address: Rochdelskaya street, 15–41
Source: People Talk
