Popular Eating Trends in Moscow: Cosmopolitan Tastes from Sushi to Georgian Khachapuri
Traditional Russian food is hearty and filling but contemporary Muscovites prefer the exotic, and the city has cosmopolitan eating options to satisfy them, writes Tatyana Leonov.
Sushi
Muscovites love their sushi, and Moscow has a profusion of sushi bars and restaurants to choose from.
Some come with a hefty price tag, such as the sophisticated three-level Misato, where diners can select their cut of sashimi in person (misato.ru).
Others, like Yakitoriya, are more reasonably priced. Yakitoriya led Moscow’s sushi wave when it opened in 1999, and since then, sushi has stuck (yakitoriya.ru).
To cater to Muscovites’ discerningpalates, most Japanese restaurants have their fish flash-frozen before it’s flown in, to maintain taste and texture.
Caviar
A new caviar bar recently opened at the city’s Clumba Club where customers can order delicacies like caviar dumplings, caviar pasta and caviar sushi (clumba-club.ru/moscow_caviar_bar).
With 11 types of fish roe on offer, patrons are encouraged to learn about the different kinds of caviar which are flown in from various regions of Russia.
Prices vary quite a bit, depending on the type of caviar. For a 40-gram serve, prices can range from 150 roubles ($4.50) to 3300 rubles ($99) for black sturgeon roe.
Georgian food
Moscow has a lot of Georgian eateries and restaurants. The impeccably reviewed restaurant Sakhli has a country-home interior and summer terrace dining.
Its specialities include tarragon juice, delicious lobio kakhetinsky (kidney beans with onions), cheese khinkali (giant cheese-filled dumplings) and phakhli – a dip with crushed nuts, eggplant, spinach and capsicum (en.sakhli.ru/).
If you’re after khachapuri (Georgian woodfire oven-baked cheese bread), the res-taurant Dacha na Pokrovke is said to bake the city’s best (dacha-na-pokrovke.ru).
Mini cafes
Mini cafes, or tiny spaces that specialise in just one type of cuisine, are super popular in Moscow right now.
Doodles is one example. It serves tangy stir-fry noodles and it has a buzzing busy atmosphere (facebook.com/cafedoodles).
The Burger Brothers’ innovative gourmet hamburgers attract a hip corporate crowd (facebook.com/TheBurger- Brothers).
