Cafe Pushkin, Moscow

Outside view of Cafe Pushkin

Cafe Pushkin is an institution in Moscow. When you come in, you feel like you are back in tsarist Russia. On the 1st floor there is a collection of books. You feel like you could spend a couple of hours reading there. When in Russia, many people ask where you can actually have Russian food. This is a difficult question. The answer is Cafe Pushkin amongst few other places. As Moscow is such a melting pot now, you will find few purely Russian restaurants. The day we went there, this was our choice because most other places were closed. In a city that never sleeps, on weekdays you can not always eat 24 hours in decent restaurants. When you arrive with a time difference and leave the hotel at 11 p.m., it is hard to find a restaurant that is open nowadays in Moscow. The city has become more European lately. Cafe Pushkin is open 24 hours a day.

Beef starter

We tried a couple of Russian starters with vodka.

Salted mushrooms and greens

The salted vegetables were very nice.

Salted pickles

The salted vegetables are a typical Russian thing. Whether you drink vodka or not, this is something you have to try. The vodka comes perfectly chilled, the way it should be. 

Mors and vodka

They have their own 'mors', which is a berry juice.

Russian Pelmeni

I had Russian Pelmeni. Pelmeni are meat dumplings. 

Pelmeni with sour cream

You can put some sour cream on the pelmeni. We came to this restaurant late at night, had a little bit of Russian food with drinks at a late hour. Quality was very good. I must note however that this restaurant is ridiculously expensive. It is also known as a meeting place of Russian oligarchs (in special private rooms of course). The quality is very good and you feel somewhat like an aristocrat sitting there but you have to be prepared to pay for that and not be shocked by the bill at the end of the day. Value for money is definitely on the edge at this place but it was worth it.