Voronezh
Moscow
Stop by the Voronezh restaurant at the corner of Prechistenka and Gogolevsky Boulevard, celebrating the meat of the Voronezh region. Look for all kinds of cutlets, stuffed cabbage rolls, and everything that was popular in the second half of the 20th century — the local chef works wonderfully with this gastronomic heritage.
Ruski
Moscow
On the 85th floor of OKO Tower stands a Russian wood-fired oven. Eight meters of whitewashed clay — inside a skyscraper, above the city. The panoramic restaurant Ruski — Europe’s highest restaurant — builds its menu around it: venison dumplings, Volga fish pies, slow-cooked cabbage soup. The entire floor is floor-to-ceiling glass — the city below, the sky alongside. Next door: Ice Bar at −15°C, real fur coats, beluga caviar, a bar counter carved from ice blocks — the world’s highest ice bar. The cold is real. So is the caviar.
DR. Zhivago
Moscow
Dr. Zhivago is a grand café on the ground floor of the historic Hotel National, with views toward the Kremlin and Manege Square, and a recommendation from the Michelin Guide. The main hall displays reproductions of major Soviet-era paintings — Malevich, Petrov-Vodkin, Deineka, Samokhvalov — while an inner room takes its black-lacquer, gold-ceilinged look from Palekh lacquer boxes. The menu reworks Russian classics such as pozharsky cutlets, sturgeon aspic, and caviar service, backed by a vodka bar of polugar, samogon, and infused spirits.
Bar “The Legendary Bear”
Saint-Petersburg
This is where, in 1906, St. Petersburg locals first saw a bar counter, ice-cold cocktails, and decided: we need this. The historic interiors have been restored down to the smallest detail — antique clocks, vintage silverware, barmen in white jackets. Choose from cocktails made according to those very same recipes, and pair them with rastegai pies and crab-stuffed golubtsy. «My soul feels lighter» — a guest’s review from over a century ago that still holds true today.
