Moscow Rules, Part 3: Kazan Chay Bar
At first glance, Kazan Chay Bar looks like an inconspicuous Tatar restaurant in Moscow’s Zamoskvorechye District, an area that has seen a surge in office building construction over the past few years....
View ArticleMoscow Rules, Part 4: LavkaLavka
In the heart of Moscow, on Petrovka Street, LavkaLavka is both the leading champion of Russia’s locavore, farm-to-table movement, and a promoter of new Russian cuisine. It also glorifies a concept...
View ArticleMoscow Rules, Part 5: Voronezh
Located a few steps away from the massive Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Voronezh represents a relatively new kind of restaurant for Russia: the high-end steakhouse. Steakhouses had a surprisingly...
View ArticleMoscow Rules, Part 6: Wine & Crab
Located on Moscow’s Tretyakov Passage, a hyper-central, posh alleyway framed by medieval-looking archways, Wine & Crab is the brainchild of identical twins Sergey and Ivan Berezutskiy, two rising...
View ArticleMoscow Rules, Part 7: Omulyovaya Bochka
According to some sources, one of the food trends for 2018 was set to be Arctic cuisine. Scandinavian food has found its place at the center of the food stage for a number of years now, but some food...
View ArticleMoscow Rules, Part 8: Chemodan
After my post about Omulyovaya Bochka last week, let’s continue our exploration of Siberian cuisine through another Moscow restaurant. Located in the Arbat District, Chemodan (“suitcase” in Russian) is...
View ArticleMoscow Rules, Part 9: The New Danilovsky Market
Back in the USSR, markets offered a variety of fresh produce, meat, cured fish, and other foods, whether from the nearby countryside or the other end of the country, that you’d have been hard-pressed...
View ArticleMoscow Rules, Part 10: Eating at the Danilovsky Market
In my last post, we toured the food stalls of the Danilovksy Market, Moscow’s oldest marketplace, newly renovated. But looking for quality products to prepare for dinner isn’t the only reason to visit...
View ArticleMoscow Rules, Part 12: The Gastrocafé
In May 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev introduces the Law on Cooperatives, a new policy that allows for the creation of limited cooperative businesses within the Soviet Union. The term “cooperative” in this...
View ArticleThe Great Russian North, Part 1: Petrovsky Liquor Factory
My Moscow restaurant series is over for the time being, but before summer arrives and we switch to cuisines more evocative of warmer climates, I’d like to give you a glimpse of…
View ArticleThe Great Russian North, Part 2: How Vodka is Made
Aaaah, the pleasures of visiting a distillery! The idyllic setting in the rugged countryside, the yeasty aroma of fermenting grain, the majestic copper stills, the boozy smell in the warehouse,...
View ArticleThe Great North, Part 3: Karelian Balsam
Throughout Europe and perhaps even more so in Eastern Europe, various herbal liquors have long been invented and consumed for their medicinal properties. Chartreuse, whose recipe originates from a...
View ArticleThe Black Mountain, Part 1: The Hero, the Ham, and the Cheese
It’s hard to believe that summer is already coming to an end. Soon, for many of us, the leisurely days at the beach and the alfresco dinners will be replaced by rainy…
View ArticleThe Black Mountain, Part 2: Plantaže, the Old Cellar
If I asked you where Europe’s largest vineyard is located, what would you say? Champagne, where world-renowned houses produce astronomical amounts of bubbly to quench the thirst of an ever-growing...
View ArticleThe Black Mountain, Part 3: Plantaže, the New Cellar
In my last post, we toured the old cellar of Montenegro’s largest winery, 13. Jul Plantaže, aka simply Plantaže. That renovated facility focuses on the production of wines destined for the premium…
View ArticleThe Great North, Part 3: Karelian Balsam
Throughout Europe and perhaps even more so in Eastern Europe, various herbal liquors have long been invented and consumed for their medicinal properties. Chartreuse, whose recipe originates from a...
View ArticleThe Black Mountain, Part 1: The Hero, the Ham, and the Cheese
It’s hard to believe that summer is already coming to an end. Soon, for many of us, the leisurely days at the beach and the alfresco dinners will be replaced by rainy…
View ArticleThe Black Mountain, Part 4: Plantaže, the Secret Cellar
We’re continuing our visit of the Plantaže winery with a third cellar, and while I understand that you might start experiencing cellar fatigue, this one has a very special history. It’s called…
View ArticleThe Great Russian North, Part 4: Arkhangelsk, Pomor Cuisine, and Post Office
As I continue my series on the Great Russian North, it might be natural to wonder: in a country so vast and varied, how did people come to freeze their butts by…
View ArticleThe Great Russian North, Part 5: Lake Lacha
Limiting one’s trip to the Russian Far North to its major cities (Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Petrozavodsk) would be a little bit like going to a beach or ski resort and never leaving your…
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