No meat: what’s new in the Lenten menu of Moscow restaurants

20 March International Meat Free Day. Of course we found something to surprise us, we’ve been Fasting in Russia for a few weeks now and we’re not going to stop. There is still time until April 15, and dozens of interesting menus without shadows from meat and fish prepared by Moscow chefs.

By the way, research shows that giving up meat, even for one day a week, helps the nature seriously, sorting out the garbage and making life more conscious. Thus, you have the chance to try the best meatless dishes in restaurants and to be involved in flexibility. and understand that refusing animal food is not that scary after all.

The Fashion Vibes columnist Anya Baturina rounded up some interesting Lenten suggestions this spring (we don’t know how you can make something new out of potatoes and carrots, but chefs surprise everyone more every year). It doesn’t matter why you’re doing it or what you call it – fasting, austerity, mindfulness, or simply celebrating meat cessation day, but keep the list to yourself.

Anya Baturina, author of the Telegram channel “Gastrology”

Sartoria Lamberti

Sartoria Lamberti’s menu immediately includes 11 dishes that are free of fish and meat, but rich in healthy fats and fiber. The restaurant team promises that they are doing everything they can not only to keep the fast, but to accumulate absolutely until the summer. No doubt it turned out delicious and healthy, but we are not sure if it will be possible to build it (there is such a dessert!).

The menu is delightful, with soups to warm you up for the uncomfortable Moscow spring – minestrone and hearty red and green lentil soup, beware, served with warm country bread and garlic butter. Meanwhile, Sartoria gave a big nod to pasta lovers and even kept the “creamy” rigatoni with bolognese (with vegetables) and “creamy” romesco and almond and skim cheese mousse on the menu during Lent. Please do not try to leave without eating dessert. Absolutely brilliant pastry chef Naira Sosedova again created a masterpiece – a dessert in the form of cabbage (it consists of tofu cheese, jasmine tea, pear puree).

Address: Tverskaya str., 3

Touch Chef’s Place & Bar

Touch restaurant chef Nikita Kuzmenko again came up with something incredible. The Lenten menu is a pure experimentation with an incredible amount of ingredients. No one doubted that Nikita wouldn’t follow the standard scenario of adding green salads and a ton of kale to the menu, but these jelly-textured flirts from everything in the world are a real attraction.

Her salad has about a dozen green ingredients: asparagus, cucumber, kohlrabi, zucchini, peas, sorrel, green-infused avocado oil

shells, greens garnish. And these aren’t just vegetables cut into circles, each has their own approach to bring out the flavors. Tomato truffle pie has six tomato recipes at once: water, caviar, lemon oil salsa, jellied meat, marinated confit tomatoes, tomatoes, and truffle urbech. And no tests. You must come here before the post ends.

Address: Sadovnicheskaya emb., 7

GEM

Chef Andrey Valkov has made difficult (preparing) but easy (in use) fusion sets from the lentil menu. Maximum benefits, vitamins and balance – this is how you can detox and recharge for a hot spring during fasting. The rejection of animal products is balanced by a wide selection of menu items, from quinoa or tofu and tomato or beetroot carpaccio, seaweed mix salad to stuffed pumpkin and green buckwheat superfood with porcini mushrooms.

Andrei, be careful, during fasting you can pamper your guests so much that later you will have to go through the main menu.

Address: Khodynskaya st., 2

ZOO Beer and Grill

Novikov’s “male” restaurant with excellent meat and beer and a brutal interior (concrete, brick, metal beams) meets rubber drop fish at the entrance and an excellent lentil menu.

The restaurant team aimed not to bore the guests with the Lenten menu and to add maximum color and extraordinary combinations. Roasted cauliflower with walnut sauce and adjika oil, baby green pea soup with cream of mint, and carrot cake with coconut cream (if you really like coconut, not just grace desserts) – perfect for those who are fasting or not meat-eaters for other reasons.

By the way, if you come here in the summer, sit on the rooftop patio and you can look at the zoo from there. The animals are not visible but you can enjoy the view of the queue where you are not standing.

Address: Konyushkovskaya st., 34, building 1

Sage

Sage restaurant not only has a lentil menu, but also has a section on the breakfast menu with vegan dishes that can replace conventional meals. Of course we’re talking about cheesecakes! Its non-fat analogues are tofniki with blackcurrant jam, besides, the morning menu also includes granola with coconut yogurt and mango.

The main lentil menu is also well thought out. To avoid having to forego healthy hedonism, it has bright (literally) snacks like beets with cherry sauce and pumpkin with sea buckthorn curd. By the way, the famous Sage pie found its lean version – in it, instead of oxtail, eggplant was temporarily prescribed. For dessert, they offer a sugar-free, lactose-free, and gluten-free truffle (but still brings joy, as does the sugar and gluten one).

Address: 1. Tverskaya-Yamskaya str., 21

cultural code

The “Culture Code” is the place for every day we’re missing, here you’ll find excellent coffee, a good selection of wine and breakfast all day, and Moscow’s most photographed window! They draw graffiti with different inscriptions – either “love” or “spring” and inside (our favourite): “The ground is lava”.

The cafe team approached the lentil menu with the same love as they did to the showcases. A large green salad with an interesting date-based dressing, zucchini spaghetti with walnuts, baked sweet potato with rice (potatoes and rice are just a childhood dream and pasta with bread would be a delight).

Address: St. Chayanova, 12

Atlantica seafood

At the Atlantica seafood restaurant, the menu of lentils (which, by the way, is huge) is based on unusual combinations of cereals, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, spices and even algae (because without fish, at least with other inhabitants of the seas).

On the lentil menu, eggplant heh and pan-Asian baba ghanoush with baked tomatoes, zucchini with cashew and daikon sauce, creamy cauliflower soup with seaweed caviar, mushroom soup with buckwheat noodles and miso, risotto with green vegetables and tomato, panna cotta from lychee, strawberries, green apples and cherry for dessert.

Address: Kutuzovsky prospekt, 36A

Society

It is wrong to think that you are depriving yourself of something while fasting, on the contrary, you are discovering new flavors of familiar ingredients and unexpected combinations. For example, the bao bun is now filled with zucchini, tempura carrots and cucumber marinated in peppers. The gel and tomato soup is made with cooked yams, asparagus and almond leaves and oat milk. Chef Boris Jovanovich decided to combine Russian mail and the versatility of world cuisines to achieve the most boring combinations.

It’s not very close to the congregation, so don’t go without dessert, once the post is over you’ll be back and miss everything. Pastry chef Luiza Zemskova prepares unexpected desserts: baked beetroot biscuits marinated in blackberry raspberry puree and whole-grain flour biscuits with pears and walnuts.

Address: Kosmodamianskaya emb., 2

Lilac pastry

Approaching the lentil menu with spirit, LILA Pastry realized the collaboration of Tasty Pharmaceuticals signed by Vika Gazinskaya. LILA brand chef Regis Trigel made special healthy lentil toast with Gazinskaya.

The basis is dried hearth bread, almond ricotta, avocado, fat-free pesto (it turns out that this is also possible – this is a mixture of coriander, tarragon, basil, parsley, walnuts, sesame oil, garlic and a drop of lemon juice) . Considering that the toast was created in partnership with the designer, it’s also stylish.

Address: St. Sretenka, 22/1с1