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Eating Out in Moscow

EATING OUT IN MOSCOW. You can have a dinner in a bar, a restaurant, or a club. It's less expensive to order a "Business Lunch" - it usually consists of a salad, a soup, a main course and a drink. The normal price is from 80 to 140 R ($3-$5). Usually the 'business lunch' is served from 12:00 until 17:00 on weekdays. If you buy separate meals, it's going to be quite expensive. Another 'budget' option is to order salad bars, which cost about 100-200 R ($3.5-$7).

ONLINE ARTICLES:
"Business Lunch Picks," The Moscow Times: Business Review, Summer 2001

Please, choose the area in Moscow where you'd like to eat:
Tverskaya (center, north center) - Kuznetski Most (center) - Kitai Gorod (east center) - Zamoskvorechie (south center) - Arbat (south-west center) - Everywhere (quality fastfood)

moscow / tverskaya area

TESORO Restaurant . One of the best places to eat in Moscow. It's an Italian restaurant (which is quite expensive and posh), and a pizzeria (which is less fancy, and very nice). Pizzas start from 100R ($3.50) and finish at 200R ($7). The business lunch (salad, main course, drink for 260 r - $9 US) is served from 11.30 to 15.00.
The terrace outside is just great: a calm Moscow courtyard, you wouldn't even think that just in a two-minute walk there's busy Tverskaya street and the Kremlin.
The place is quite good for business as well as casual meetings.
Address: Romanov peeulok. #4 (business-center Romanov) tel.937-7730. Area: Tverskaya, Kremlin. metro Biblioteka imeni Lenina (red) or Arbatskaya (blue). Map #1: object #1. Open: 10-23

ELKI PALKI Restaurant. The place to go for traditional Russian meals. Moderately priced, this place is so popular among locals, that already more than six restaurants are opened in Moscow. A meal is around 100 R ($3.5), the thing to take is a salad bar, where you can try all kind of Russian specialities (exept meat) for 190R ($7).
Area: Tchekhovskaya metro (grey line), walk out, turn on the right and then behind Pushkinsky cinema hall on the right again, the restaurant is there (the beginning of Bolshaya Dmitrovka street). Map #1: objects #2,5 Open: 10-23

ULEI Restaurant. The restaurant is very good because of its exquisite cuisine - de fusion - mixing the european and asian cooking traditions (hence, the fusion) but trying to preserve the original taste of seemingly incompatible meals. Everything tastes very well, and the ambience is relaxing. A meal costs about $13-$15.
Address: Gasheka ulitsa, #7 tel. 797-4333. Area: Tverskaya, metro Mayakovskaya (green), Belorusskaya (green). Map #1: object #3. Open: mon-sun 12.00-2.00

MESTO VSTRECHI is a bar/restaurant/club with european cuisine. They are located in the basement of a house on Tverskaya street and the interior is made in the mid-ages style: a bit dimmed light, wooden tables and chairs, stone walls. In the afternoon they have nice music playing, in the evening sometimes they have DJs and Russian rock bands. Business lunch served from 12:00 until 17:00 for 135 R ($5$).
Address: Maly Gnesdikovskiy per. #9/8 crossing with Tverskaya street, tel.229-2373. Area: Tverskaya, metro Pushkinskaya (violet), Tverskaya (green). Map #1: object #4. Open: 10-1

BAMBUK Cafe. A nice 'local' cafe and a flowershop. Interesting on sunday evenings, when dj Studitski and his guests bring in dj turntables and start '100% Chill Out' party. Trip hop, electronic music, downtempo. You can meet WayToRussia.Net team every sunday there. Starts at 19.00.
Address: Novoslobodskaya ul., #35 Area: Tverskaya, metro: Mendeleevskaya (gray), just outside the exit on the opposite side of the road. Map #1: object #21. Open: 10-23

MOSKVA-ROMA Cafe.
A new cafe located on the fancy Moscow shopping street - Stoleshnikov pereulok. Very nice atmosphere, open-air terrace. In the evenings hosts lounge music DJs. Prices are moderate: a tea or a coffee for $3.5, dessert: $2 to $5, drinks: $3-$5, full dinner - about $25.
Address: Stoleshnikov pereulok, #12, Phone: 229-5702. Area: Tverskaya, metro Okhotny Ryad, Teatralnaya, Kuznetski Most, Pushkinskaya. Map #1: object #22.

COFFEE BEAN Cafe. A large cafe, quite busy and a bit hectic, but nice interior, soft sofas and the best toilet in the town. A good variety of coffees and snacks.
Address: Tverskaya street, next to Tsentralnaya hotel. Area: Tverskaya, metro: Pushkinskaya (violet), Tverskaya (green), walk down the street to the direction of Kremlin. Map #1: object #14.Open: 10-23

PIRAMIDA Cafe. A very hip and fancy place decorated in a futuristic style attracts rich Moscovitans with their model girls, bikers, mafiosi, and curious people. The interior is a mix of a Egyptioan pyramide and a space ship, with a DJ-Pharaon on top of all this. The waiters wear special space ship uniform with microphones and headphones on the head, the TVs show the latest movies and fashion tv channels.
Very decent and expensive Italian and Japanese food is served on strange plates. A cafe downstairs, a restaurant with large comfy sofas upstairs. Drinks $2, desserts $4-$5, meals $7 and more.
It's worth to come to this place to watch peope, really interesting, many faces, many different personages.
Area: Tverskaya, Pushkinskaya square. metro Tverskaya (green), Pushkinskaya (violet), just outside the exit. Map #1: object #5.Open: 24 hours

ZEN COFFEE Cafe. A nice cafe with a bit cold and fancy atmosphere if you look from the outside, but quite nice if you're inside. It's cozy, there's nice music (mostly triphop, soft hiphop, downtempo) and they serve hot milk with sirops (try the one with ginger sirop - $1). They have foreign magazines stand inside. The cheesecake for 100 roubles ($4) isn't good.
Address: Kamergerski Pereulok, 9, Area: Tverskaya, metro: Okhotny Riad (red), Teatralnaya (green). Map #1: object #15, #20 (metro Belorusskaya).Open: 10.00 - 24.00

SPETSBUFET ?7 Cafe. They made a 1920th soviet-style canteen with original menu. A hot meal is for $4.
Address: Serafimovicha ulitsa #2, tel.959-31-35, Area: Tverskaya (west), metro Borovickaya (grey), Open: 12.00-23.00

GORODSKOE CAFE #317 (City Cafe #317). After you saw the Russian White House - The House of Government you may visit this place which is nearby. People from White House and people who have loads of money visit the cafe quite often. It's a standard city cafe. I mean standard decoration and standard menu and this makes them nice.
Address: Glubokiy pereulok#1/2, tel.205-1997. Area: Tverskaya (north-west centrum), metro Barrikadnaya (circle). Map #1: object #17. Open: 10.00- till the last visitor

MOSCOW - BERLIN Cafe is one of the most popular cafes. Young and fashionable people like this place, but this cafe lacks cozy atmosphere - it's quite cold. Standard menu and strange decoration. If you come there, visit the WC - this is what I like the most in this place. Every evening there're DJs playing every kind of music: dance, triphop, jazzy etc.
Address: ploshchad' Tverskaya Zastava #52/2, tel.251-2282. Area: Tverskaya (north centrum), metro Belorusskaya - just on Belorusskaya square, next to Belorusskaya railway station. Map #1: object #18.

moscow / kuznetsky most area

JAGANNAT EXPRESS Restaurant is the first and the only vegetarian restaurant and cafe in Moscow. It's clean, nice and cozy place with oriental vibes. Every evening at 19:00 there're performances and live music by DJs: ambient, reggae, drum'n'bass, ethnic etc. There's also vegeterian food store and ready vegetarian take-aways. Because of its good location and low prices can be used as a fastfood. If you go to the restaurant, they serve healthy vegeterian Indian, Chinese, Japanese meals not expensive: for $8-10 you'll have a good dinner. For $4 you can have a plate of salad bar (as much as you want), it's enough. In a cafe you can have a dinner for only $2: for example, two soya hotdogs, a salad, a bread and a drink.
Address: Kuznetski Most ulitsa, #11, tel. 928-3580 (reservations). Area: Kuznetsky most, metro Kuznetski Most (violet). Open: the restaurant: from 11 till 23, a cafe and a shop 10 till 23.

PR OGI restaurant / literature cafe / bar. The fourth place opened by OGI - The United Humanitarian Publishers. The successful idea and format are being implemented over and over: by the end of next year there'll be 30 OGI cafes, it'll become a real chain. They even propose everyone to invest at 25% interest rate in their projects (you can do it also, by the way).
The success lies in a simple stylish interior, a bookshop with smart titles in every cafe, a relatively cheap and quite tasty menu, casual atmosphere, and orientation to intelligent, hip clientelle.
You can have a breakfast there for about 50 R ($1.7) and a dinner for about 150 R ($5).
Address: Bolshaya Dmitrovka st., #23, next to Raiffaisen Bank. Area: Tverskaya, metro: Okhotny Riad (red), Teatralnaya (green). Open: 24 hours

ELKI PALKI Restaurant. The place to go for traditional Russian meals. Moderately priced, this place is so popular among locals, that already more than six restaurants are opened in Moscow. A meal is around 100 R ($3.5), the thing to take is a salad bar, where you can try all kind of Russian specialities (exept meat) for 190R ($7).
Area: Kuznetski Most, the corner of Kuznetski Most and Neglinka streets. Open: 10-23

COFFEE IN Cafe. Popular cafe with cozy atmosphere. They serve many kinds of tea and coffee for 30-70 R ($1-$2) and tasty desserts for $2-$3. If you come there on tuesday, wednesday or thursday there will be a DJ playing nice downtempo and triphop music.
Besides, there's a message desk, where you can leave a message for your friends.
Address: Bolshaya Dmitrovka #16/1, tel: 229-4652, Area: Kuznetski Most, metro Teatralnaya (green) or Okhotny Ryad (red) Open: 9-23.

COFFEE BEAN Cafe. A tiny cafe where smoking is forbidden not to spoil the aroma of coffee. People who know about coffee work here.
Address: Pushechnaya #9, tel.923-0219, Area: Kuznetski Most, just outside the metro Kuznetski Most (violet) exit on the left in the arch. Open: 10-23

moscow / kitai gorod area

OGI Club / literature cafe / restaurant. The main Moscow intellectuals' hangout. OGI stands for 'United Humanitarian Publishing House'. Four years ago there was a small apartment - club in a calm area in Moscow cenrum, and only few people new about this place. Later, a new, bigger OGI was opened (this one), with a restaurant, an gallery, a bookshop, a cafe, and a stage for performances inside and since then it became a favourite with journalists, designers, artists, poets, and students.
The food is inexpensive, there are performances daily, it's opened 24 hours, the only problem is that it's smoky inside.
Area: Kitai Gorod, metro Chistye Prudy (red), Turgenevskaya (orange). Open: 24 hours

COFFEE BEAN Cafe. Too big and too bright - non-romantic atmosphere.. Very friendly staff and many students. Within a 5-minute walk in one direction there's Propaganda club, and in the other direction - 35mm cinema. A good area just to walk around.
Address: Pokrovka #17, tel.923-97-93. Area: Kitai Gorod, metro Chistie prudy (red) or Turgenevskaya (orange), Open: mon-fr 8.00-22.00, sat-sun 8.00-23.00.

moscow / zamoskvorechie area

PR OGI restaurant / cafe. A large, canteen-like restaurant with minimalistic interior downstairs and a cafe, 'warmer' restaurant, and a bookshop upstairs. The prices are inexpensive: a breakfast is around 50 R ($1.7), a dinner is about $5, the atmosphere is very casual, the public is mostly journalists, designers, artists, writers and students. A good place for an informal meeting.
Every weekend there are performances and readings.
Address: Novokuznetskaya st. Area: Zamoskvorechie, metro Novokuznetskaya (green), Tretyakovskaya (yellow), in the same building as Pizza Hut restaurant. Open: 24 hours

ELKI PALKI Restaurant. Traditional Russian food in a traditional Russian interior. Part of a chain spread throughout Moscow. A dinner is about $7, a salad bar with all Russian specialities is $7 also.
Address: Klimentyevski pereulok (the street leading from Tretyakovskaya metro to Pyatnitskaya street). Area: Zamoskvorechie, metro Tretyakovskaya (yellow), outside the exit on the right.

YAPONA MAMA Restaurant. Another traditional Russian food restaurant with traditional Russian interior. Just next to Elki Palki (see above). A little bit cheaper than Elki Palki.
Address: Klimentievski pereulok (leading to Pyatnitskaya from Tretyakovskaya metro).

SHTOLNYA Bar is a popular bar. The interior is like in the mines: rough walls and furniture, casks with lights, low ceiling. You feel here like a miner but your work is not to get the coal but to drink beer. The taps with counters are just on the tables - drink as much as you want. Average price of a liter - 180 roubles (6$). The food consists of snacks for beer only.
Address: Zacepskiy val #6/13. The second floor of restrant " El Gaucho".tel.953-4268. Area: Zamoskvorechie, metro Pavelatskaya (green or circle). Open: sun-wen 12.00-2.00, th-sut 12.00-5.00

moscow / arbat and kropotkinskaya area

GENATSVALI Restaurant is a Georgian place with Georgian cousine. Two country-style cozy halls: large and small. A hot meal is for 4-5$, dessert is for 2$, so you can dine there for around 6-8$.
Address: Ostogenka ulitsa #12/1, tel.202-0445. Area: Arbat, metro Park Kultury (red or circle) or Kropotkinskaya (red). Open: 11-23

?ISH-MISH is an Uzbek restaurant. It's decorated in traditional manner, looks like an Uzbek country house. Tasty national food. Dine for $5 is real, but impossible - when you start eating their meals you won't be able to stop.
Address: Noviy Arbat #28, tel.291-2010, Area: Arbat, metro Arbatskaya (dark blue). Open: 11.00-0.00

MU-MU. They cook nice homemade-like things in Russian style. It's not a posh place: you serve yourself. There are two halls: smoking and non-smoking, and a terrace outside. The dinner is for $3-$7, which makes it one of the cheapest places in Arbat area.
Area: Arbat, Old Arbat street, haldway between metro Arbatskaya (dark blue line) and metro Smolenskaya (dark blue). Open: 10.00-23.00. Another MU-MU: is in south central area, metro Frunzenskaya (red line) just in front of the metro entrance

moscow / everywhere: quality fastfood

Fastfood in Moscow is popular enough, though I guess the worldwide chains are not what you came for to Russia. Anyway, Sbarro (Italian fastfood: pizzas, pasta and stuff) - Manezhnaya square and Tverskaya street (100 meters down the street from Tverskaya metro); Pizza Hut - Pyatnitskaya street (metro Novokuznetskaya, then walk to the left on Pyatnitskaya street or walk out of Tretyakovskaya metro and walk in the direction of Pyatnitskaya street); KFC - Arbat street (between Arbatskaya and Smolenskaya metros); and McDonald$ - everywhere. The snacks are sold on the streets (hot-dogs, sandwiches), but I don't eat them cause I'm afraid and they aren't tasty and healthy and I don't eat meat anyway.
But what makes Moscow's fastfood significant are "Kroshka-Kartoshka" and "Russkie Bliny".
KROSHKA - KARTOSHKA Stalls (Baby Potatoes) is specialized in potatoes. They bake a potato, then lance it and stuff it with cheese, salads, fish - whatever you choose. This is very tasty and substantial. One such potatoe is enough for a hungry person. A potatoe with cheese is for 24 R ($0.8), and every stuff is additional 8 R ($0.25). They don't have restaurants (sometimes just small cafes outside of the stalls) and sell the potatoes in the green stalls. There are many of their cabins in the central part of the city so you will find it.
RUSSKIE BLINY Stalls (Russian Pancakes). There aren't so many of them like Kartoshkas but still enough. They prepare Russian pancakes. They do it in your presence and you can choose any stuff to put in the pancake. Average pancake cost 30 roubles (1$).