All told, I’ve been in Moscow about 40 days now which I think is sufficient time to report on some of Moscow’s eateries. Of course food is expensive here (what isn’t?), so I haven’t been to a lot of restaurants; but I’ve managed to hit some of the more common ones.
First, as a point of clarification, the McDonalds at the Kremlin is not the first Soviet McDonalds. That one is located in Pushinskaya Square. Because I loathe Mickey D’s, I haven’t been to the first one, but I did go inside the Kremlin one and will say this. If you don’t mind queueing up for half of eternity for grossly substandard fast food, then go nuts. Or you can head next door to the quieter Sbarros. As I haven’t eaten at McDonalds here in Moscow, I can’t comment on prices, but I was told by a local that when the first one opened, it was prohibitively expensive. People went there to be seen there. Now, it’s affordable by Russian standards. So take that for what that’s worth.
And before I forget, and while I’m on the topic of fast food, there’s not a lot of American brands here beyond Pizza Hut and McDonalds, but there is also Rostick’s/Kentucky Fried Chicken. There is still some debate between colleagues of mine as to how the “Rostick’s” part of the name came about, but supposedly it’s still KFC. I have yet to try that as well, but they’re not hard to find if someone else wants to get there first.
The first restaurant I ate at in Moscow was the Pizza Express at Smolensky Passage – known famously by us expats as the former home of central Moscow’s Stockmann’s. Someone once told me that they had the best pizza ever at Pizza Express. It’s good, it’s nice, it’s a little pricey (though not too bad), but it’s not all that. I’ve been there twice and I thought it delicious, but not really much more.
Yolki Palki is a nice little chain that you see all over town. I went to the one on New Arbat which, oddly, you have to pass through a Japanese restaurant to get to. They have two salad bars (one hot, one cold), but neither appealed to me, so I ordered off the menu. And, like any good reviewer, I can’t remember what I ate. Something with chicken I expect. It was really good, though, whatever it was. I’d definitely go back. The prices were fine, too. The interior ambience is woodsy. Perhaps overdone, but like many other places, at least they have better artwork than Starbucks.
Shesh Besh is another Russian chain. There’s one near Smolenskaya Metro (the light blue/Old Arbat station) and another one along Noviy Arbat. I went to the latter and ordered something with chicken. This time I only don’t quite remember because the menu used a word I’d never seen before. The cuisine is Azerbaijani which doesn’t seem to be much different from Middle Eastern food (as all food should be, except Indian and Mexican which are good enough in their own rights). If shchi or borscht is your thing, go elsewhere as it wasn’t listed on the menu. As with Yolki Palki, the food was delicious and I would easily go back. The staff even dress up in the local costume. I’m half dying to ask them if they like that or if they feel it’s pandering to tourists or whatever. I have yet to do so. Maybe next time.
Sushi.ru is another chain, but obviously Japanese food this time. I’m still wondering if being a Japanese restaurant in Moscow means that you’re primarily focused on sushi, but this seems to be the case. Sushi.ru has non-sushi related items. I tried the plate full of prawns dipped in beer, not knowing fully what I picked. The menu has pictures (see what you started Dennys!), but it was so small, I couldn’t tell. I definitely wouldn’t have ordered that if I knew. I only forced down about six or seven. I love prawns but only when fried. They don’t have their eyeballs still on and are much less messy to eat then. I don’t want to fault the restaurant for that since I’ve seen that dish in other restaurants, but I was less than impressed. Some time before I leave, I’d like to give them another go but it won’t be any time soon. The ambience also, is rather bland. And with tained windows, it was hard to tell if they were open or not, despite a sign saying they should be.
I have a few other restaurants to add, but I’ll save that for a future post. Final verdict: fear not the chains. The two Russian ones I mentioned above were spoken highly of by students of mine.
It should also be noted that all of these restaurants mentioned above have staff with at least some knowledge of English, with the possible exception of Shesh Besh. I tend to speak Russian (inasmuch as I’m able) while I’m out and about, so I don’t know if it’s possible to get by without any Russian at all, but as long as a menu has pictures or is also in English, you needn’t worry if you’re not down with Russian or Cyrillic.
NB: This may not be the case the more you dine away from Arbat (old or new), so keep that in mind if need be. Also, the service in most (affordable) restaurants is such that you have to flag down the waitress for the check. If you can’t ask in Russian just mimic writing something down on a piece of paper. They’ll understand that.
Cheers!
