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FOOD AND DRINK |
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Moscow and St Petersburg now abound in cafés and restaurants ,
offering everything from pizza to Indian, French and Chinese food. Many
cater to the new rich or foreign businessmen, but cheap and middle-range
establishments are plentiful, serving food with a local flavour. Credit
cards are increasingly accepted, particularly in Moscow, but not in the
cheaper establishments.
Food
Despite the increasing popularity of fast food and foreign cuisine,
Russians remain loyal to their culinary heritage, above all to zakuski -
small dishes consumed before a meal with vodka, as a snack or as a light
meal in themselves. Herring is a firm favourite, as are gherkins,
assorted cold meats and salads. Pancakes ( bliny ), served with caviar (
ikra ) are to be recommended; red caviar is very cheap and a worthy
rival to the black.
Most Russians take breakfast ( zavtrak ) seriously, tucking into
calorific pancakes or porridge ( kasha ), with curd cheese ( tvorog )
and sour cream ( smetana ). Hotels usually serve a "Continental"
breakfast, probably just fried egg, bread, butter and jam; ritzier
hotels provide a buffet. The main meal of the day is lunch ( obed ),
eaten between 1 and 4pm, while supper ( uzhin ) traditionally consists
of just zakuski and tea. Restaurants , on the other hand, make much more
of the evening meal, often staying open as late as 1am. Menus are
usually written in Russian only, but an increasing number of places now
offer a version in English (not always regularly updated). You can
always ask what they recommend (" shto-by vy porekomendovali? ").
After the zakuski , the menu continues with soup . Cabbage soup ( shchi
), served with a generous dollop of sour cream, has been the principal
Russian dish for the last thousand years. Zelyonye shchi - green (or
sorrel) soup is a gourmet version of this. Beetroot soup, or borshch ,
originally from Ukraine, is equally ubiquitous, while ukha , fish soup,
has become synonymous with pressing Russian hospitality. Russians don't
regard even large meaty soups ( kharcho or solyanka ) as a main meal.
Main courses are overwhelmingly based on meat ( myaso ), usually beef,
mutton or pork, sometimes accompanied by a mushroom, sour cream or
cheese sauce. Meat also makes its way into pelmeny , a Russian version
of ravioli. Most cafes now offer some alternatives however, and Georgian
restaurants always have interesting vegetarian dishes, such as bean stew
or stuffed aubergines. Marinated fish is a popular starter (try selyodka
pod shuboy , herring "in a fur coat" of beetroot, carrot, egg and
mayonnaise), while fresh fish - usually salmon, sturgeon or pike-perch -
appears as a main course in all self-respecting eateries.
Pastries ( pirozhnoe ) are available from cake shops ( konditerskaya ).
Savoury pies ( pirozhki ) are often also on sale - the best are filled
with cabbage, curd cheese or rice; steer clear of the deep-fried ones at
all times and of meat pies if buying from street vendors.
Desserts ( sladkoe ) are not a strong feature of Russian cuisine. Ice
cream and jam pancakes ( blinchiki s varenyem ) are restaurant
perennials (Russian ice cream is outstanding and is eaten even on the
street when the temperature drops to -20°C). Caucasian restaurants may
offer the flaky pastry and honey dessert pakhlava . There are many
varieties of cake ( tort ), but all tend to have an excess of butter-cream.
Drink
Vodka ( vódka ) is still the national drink, normally served chilled and
drunk neat in one gulp, followed by a mouthful of zakuska . Highly
popular are flavoured vodkas such as Pertsovka (hot pepper vodka),
Limonaya (lemon vodka), Okhotnichaya (hunter's vodka, with juniper
berries, ginger and cloves) and Zubrovka (bison-grass vodka), although
the hard drinker sticks to the straight stuff.
Beer ( pívo ) is increasingly threatening vodka's domination of the
market. Russians drink beer in the morning to alleviate a hangover, or
merely as a thirst quencher, and in recent years the country has begun
to understand the term "lager lout". For specialists, the numerous local
brands (in bottles and on tap) have an excellent fresh taste, with fewer
preservatives than imports.
Wine ( vinó ) comes mostly from the vineyards of Moldavia, Georgia and
the Crimea. Georgian dry and semi-sweet (such as Stalin's favourite,
Khvanchkara) wines can be excellent, but Moldavian dry wine is more
consistently reliable. The Crimea produces mainly fortified wines (
kheres or sherry and Madeira) from Massandra.
Tea ( chay ) is traditionally brewed and stewed for hours, and topped up
with boiling water from a samovar (cafes have discovered the convenience
of teabags). Russians drink tea without milk; if you ask for milk it's
likely to be UHT. Coffee ( kófe ) is readily available and often of
excellent quality. Smaller cafes often offer Turkish coffee - served
strong and black. Tea and coffee often have sugar already added unless
you specifically ask for them without. Juices and soft drinks from the
usual market leaders - Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Schweppes - are available,
but Russians love the bitter kvas and carbonated Baikal . Local mineral
waters , with or without gas, can be recommended.
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