Restaurants

We have used the following symbols to give an idea of the price of a three-course meal for two. The prices are a US dollar average, with drinks.

$$$$ over US$80

$$$ US$50–80

$$ US$30–50

$ under US$30

Near the Admiralty

1913 $$ Ulitsa Dekabristov 2, tel: 812-315 5148. This restaurant has the clean and simple interior of a neighbourhood bistro and offers good classic Russian cuisine from the year 1913; the last ‘good’ year in Russian history (before the start of World War I and the revolution). This is a great place to try Russian classics like ‘herring under a fur coat’, solyanka soup and handmade pelmeni. Good prices, large portions and friendly service.

Botanika $$ Ulitsa Pestelya 7, tel: 812- 272 7091, http://botanika.spb.ru. One of St Petersburg’s top vegetarian hangouts, this friendly place serves meat-free Russian, Italian, Indian and Japanese dishes, all made using fresh ingredients. Culinary delights you thought you’d left behind when you boarded the plane to Russia, such as chutney, curry, muffins and Caesar salad, populate an imaginative and flavoursome menu.

Chaynaya Lozhka $ Nevsky prospekt 44, tel: 812-571 4657. The Teaspoon is a chain of Russian fast-food restaurants found across St Petersburg (and other Russian cities), serving up budget bliny, borsht, salads, lunch menus and sugary desserts. Great stop-off for lunch and it provides an interesting insight into what ordinary Russians really eat.

Kavkaz $$ Karavannaya ulitsa 18, tel: 812-312 1665, http://en.kavkaz-bar.ru. This no-nonsense restaurant serving quality Georgian food has been a favourite among locals for over a decade and a half.

Kilikia $$ Nab. kanal Griboyedova 40, tel: 812-327 2208. This unpretentious Armenian café has a simple exposed brick interior and is usually filled with members of the local Armenian community. The menu includes European dishes as well as excellent Armenian specialities, such as meat-filled dumplings and richly spiced stews.

La Russ $$$ Nab. reki Moiki 37, tel: 812-571 7591, www.laruss-spb.ru. La Russ recreates the atmosphere of the elegant Orient Express. Excellent traditional and modern Russian cuisine and six fun cabaret shows starting at 8.30pm.

Russian Empire $$$$ Nevsky prospekt 17, tel: 812-571 2409 http://russianampir.ru. Is this the most elegant and expensive restaurant in Russia? In a restored section of the Stroganov Palace, sumptuous and rare French-influenced Russian cuisine is served on fine porcelain, with real silverware and Bohemian crystal.

Russian Vodka Room No 1 $$ Konnogvardeysky bulvar 4, tel: 812-570 6420, www.vodkaroom.ru. Attached to the Russian Vodka Museum, this restaurant serves dozens of traditional dishes from different historical periods. There’s also 200 plus kinds of Russian vodka to choose from.

Troitsky Most $ Nab. reki Moiki 30, tel: 812-925 5978. There are several outlets of this vegetarian café around the city, all with the same cafeteria-style service as this one on the Petrograd Side. They offer about 10 salads (Russian and international), soups, mains and desserts. The portions are generous and the food is satisfying. A good place for vegetarians craving some tofu, or those wanting a break from Russian cuisine.

Tryufelny Dom Bruno $$$$ Admiralteysky prospekt 10, tel: 812-940 1881, http://dombruno.ru/en. Tryufelny Dom Bruno was established by acclaimed French chef Clement Bruno, ‘the king of truffles’. Overlooking the Admiralty, it’s one of the city’s finest eating establishments (and the most expensive) – and the only one where truffles are added to each dish. Excellent service and atmosphere.

Vodograi $$ Karavannaya ulitsa 2, tel: 812-570 5737, http://vodograi.info. This Russian-themed restaurant, complete with costumed musicians and rural knick-knacks, plates up wholesome Russian specialities including borscht, vareniki, pelmeni, homemade sausages and rabbit in sour cream.

Mid-Nevsky prospekt

Abrikosov Café $$ Nevsky prospekt 40, tel: 812-312 2457, www.abrikosov-spb.com. This exquisite café from 1906 still has the original Chinese silk wall panels and old signs asking the patrons not to smoke. It looks like a tourist trap, but it actually has good café food (like double-decker smoked salmon sandwiches) and sumptuous cakes and pastries, at prices that are surprisingly affordable.

Aragvi $$$ Nab. reki Fontanki 9, tel: 812-570 5643. The Aragvi provides a more elegant environment than other Georgian eateries normally do. The minimalist whitewashed walls, fireplace and simple wooden furniture are pleasantly clean and warm, and the food, from the garlic-laden salads to the succulent shashlyk, is very good.

Baku $$$ Ulitsa Sadovaya 12/23, tel: 812-941 3756. If you’d like to step into a sultan’s palace, call in at this Azeri restaurant, with bright tiles, stained-glass windows and the warm colours of the south. The food is excellent, from rich salads to plov (pilaf) to shashlyk, especially the lamb.

Caviar Bar and Restaurant $$$$ Mikhailovskaya ulitsa 1/7 (in the Grand Hotel Europe), tel: 812-329 6637, www.belmond.com/grand-hotel-europe-st-petersburg. For a decadent splurge, spend an evening in the Caviar Bar of the Grand Hotel Europe, trying one – or more – of 35 kinds of vodka and one – or more – of 15 varieties of caviar. The restaurant also offers a business lunch and dinner menu featuring Russian and European classics.

Demidoff $$$$ Nab. reki Fontanki 14, tel: 812-425 0147. This upmarket restaurant with aristocratic 19th-century decor – including a working porcelain fireplace – is worth the expense. Demidoff serves traditional Russian haute cuisine with unusual twists, like salmon-stuffed pelmeni or duck roasted with honey, pine nuts, apples and fruit. Live music in the evenings.

Georgians $$ Kolokolnaya ulitsa 8, tel: 812-315 9915. A nice, small establishment in a quiet street close to the city centre. This value-for-money restaurant serves traditional Georgian dishes and Eastern European fare. The friendly staff help select the best Georgian wine to pair with the food.

Marius Pub $$ Ulitsa Marata 11, tel: 812-315 4880, http://mariuspub.ru. This pub attached to the Helvetia Hotel has a cosy bar and eating area and a pleasant terrace. Both are open 24 hours a day, providing an expat- and tourist-friendly assortment of higher-class pub grub and Russian fare.

Brasserie de Metropole $$ Ulitsa Sadovaya 22, tel: 812-571 8888. For generations, families have celebrated birthdays, graduations and other special occasions at this delightful cafe. The Metropole’s cakes, pastries and confectionery are a delicious hybrid of French and Viennese sweets and St Petersburg creativity. A pleasant place to stop for a midday pick-me-up.

Palkin $$$$ Nevsky prospekt 47, tel: 812-703 5371, www.palkin.ru. The first Palkin tavern appeared in St Petersburg in 1785, and by the end of the 19th century there were several Palkin restaurants that were considered the finest eateries in the city. The last and best branch was closed in 1925, but in 2002, using photographs, archive material and advice from the Hermitage, Palkin opened once again at its former address. Despite the hype and prices, the decor is divine and the food is quite good, being a well-selected blend of pre-revolutionary aristocratic cuisine and French-influenced contemporary dishes.

Podval Brodyachey Sobaki (The Stray Dog Cellar) $$$ Ploshchad Iskusstv 5/4, tel: 812-312 8047. This basement café is a mecca for lovers of the Russian Silver Age. It was here that such luminaries as Osip Mandelstam and Anna Akhmatova read their poetry and sipped wine all through the night. Abandoned for decades, the site was slowly wheedled back from the city and opened once again as a café, art and performance centre. The walls are covered with exhibited art and there are performances (music, literary readings, jazz and folk music) every evening in one of the halls. The food is simple, ample and good Russian pub fare, some based on the original 1912 recipes.

Tolsty Fraer (Fat Friar) $$ Dumskaya ulitsa 3, tel: 812-570 0102. This chain of pubs has outlets all over the city, and although the decor is definitely student bar, the food is cheap and surprisingly good. They have their own brews, which should be enjoyed traditionally with either boiled crayfish or сухарики (sukhariki), decadent garlicky fried bread. But their mains, like the handmade cutlets, are also satisfying.

Near Ploshchad Vostaniya

Chez Jules Café $$ Ulitsa Gangutskaya 16, tel: 812-275 4953. This tiny café near the Stieglitz Museum is French in ambience and multicultural in cuisine. It is a cosy and pleasant place with a fixed menu that blends European and Russian traditions in a simple fashion.

Bistrot Garçon $$$$ Nevsky prospekt 95, tel: 812-717 2467. The Bistrot Garçon is a cosy Parisian bistro dating from about 1945, with an antique ambience and chansons playing quietly in the background. The French chef prepares traditional and updated bistro fare, including terrines, fresh pastas and risottos, fanciful salads and such luxurious treats as warm foie gras with peaches and grilled veal.

Molokhovets’ Dream $$$$ Ulitsa Radishcheva 10, tel: 812-929 2247, www.molokhovets.com. At the turn of the 20th century, Elena Molokhovets wrote her Gift for Young Homemakers, an enormous volume filled with recipes and advice for young wives. Now most of these recipes are outdated, but a fine Russian chef has transformed the best of them into one of St Petersburg’s finest dining experiences. The small restaurant has understated decor, excellent service and very good, subtly updated aristocratic Russian cuisine accompanied by quiet live music.

Ukrop $$ Ulitsa Marata 23, tel: 812-946 3036, www.cafe-ukrop.ru. Pastas, salads and meat-free versions of Russian classics populate the refreshingly cheap menu of this vegetarian café-bistro. Portions are miserly.

Teatralnaya Ploshchad and Kolomna

Idiot $$ Nab. reki Moiki 82, tel: 812-946 5173, http://idiot-spb.com. The ‘Idiot’ is something of an expat legend: a warren of antique-filled and book-lined rooms serving vegetarian cuisine and lots of drinks (including a half-shot on the house just to get you going when you sit down).

Le’Chaim $$$ Lermontovsky prospekt 2, tel: 812-572 5616, https://spb-lehaim.ru. This kosher restaurant has elegant decor and delicious food that ranges from traditional (latkes and chicken schnitzel with mashed potatoes) to more adventurous (lightly pickled salmon with arugula and fried trout with roast potatoes, caraway seeds and rosemary).

Mansarda $$$$ Pochtamskaya 3–5, tel: 812-640 1616. This high-end Ginza Project restaurant at the Quattro Conti Business Center boasts breathtaking views of St Isaac’s Cathedral. The delicious European and Russian food is equally stunning, although all this doesn’t come cheap.

Mindal Cafe $$$ Lermontovsky prospekt 30, tel: 812-714 6088, http://mindalcafe.ru. This restaurant, opened in 2015, serves authentic Georgian and Russian fare, including excellent traditional game. Very convenient for post-performance dining near the Mariinsky Theatre. There are two further Mindal Cafe outlets in St Petersburg.

Teplo $$ Bolshaya Morskaya ulitsa 45, tel: 812-570 1974, www.v-teple.ru. One of St Petersburg’s top dining spots, this cosy city-centre restaurant just off St Isaac’s Square is a place most visitors find themselves returning to night after night. The experience is designed to give diners the feel they are eating in someone’s house, creating a homely atmosphere in which you can slip off your shoes and relax after a hard day’s sightseeing. The surprisingly affordable international menu features everything from Italian pastas to rack of lamb; the Napoleon cake comes highly recommended by the sweet-toothed groups and celebrities alike.

Outside the city centre

Chekhov $$$ Petropavlovskaya 4, tel: 812-234 4511, http://en.restaurant-chekhov.ru. Delicious Russian food is beautifully presented in a cosy atmosphere and stylish, old-fashioned surroundings. Beef Stroganov, chicken Kiev and home-made cordials are really worth a try here.

Pelmeni on Kronkverksky $$ Kronverksky prospekt 55, tel: 812-415 4184. This no-fuss restaurant offers a very wide selection of pelmeni and other traditional Russian fare. A convenient place for dining after visiting the zoo with children.

Russkaya Rybalka $$$ Yuzhnaya doroga 11, tel: 812-416 0291, http://russian-fishing-spb.ru. Located on an island where Prince Menshikov, Peter the Great’s best friend, had his favourite fishing hole, you can fish in the pond and have the chef prepare your dish to order. As well as fun for kids, the food is quite good and elegant.