3. April 2015: Restaurant Russian Vodkaroom No. 1

My first real Russian food experience was a very pleasant one. After some online research I had stumbled upon the “Russian Vodkaroom No. 1” which sounded great. But given I had no clue about Russian cuisine beforehand I was a bit sceptical. And I was so wrong! The selection of small and not so small tasty dishes is large. I went for a “Chicken Liver Pâté” (260 RUB) which was generous, smooth in taste, and flavourful. The only thing to improve was the amount of bread to be served with quite a portion of pâté. However, upon request more bread was brought pretty much immediately.

Next I went for the “Pelmeni Moskovskie (Russian Beef and Pork Dumplings), half a dozen” (290 RUB) which were really quite boring. It somehow tasted like Tortellini – different but somehow. However, with the cream and the black salt which was served it became quite tasty.

Given it was St. Petersburg there had to be at least one dish which had caviar so I tried the “baked potato with pike caviar” (690 RUB) which was superrich. This was the first time I had a dish with caviar which I considered really tasty. The combination with cream made it an absolutely lovely dish.

One of the most important “dishes” of this evening were the “salted and slightly salted cucumbers” (380 RUB). The salted cucumbers were super super salty. However, there is one solution to vodka shots in Russia, and I have tried like 10 different vodkas this evening, just eat a salted cucumber right after you’ve jugged the vodka. Works miracles! Despite the amount I had absolutely no hang-over the next morning! If you eat the cucumbers by themselves, they might turn out to be a bit too salty!

Another – apparently – typical Russian dish is “Gruzdi (white salted milk mushrooms)” (510 RUB). The first one tasted very odd because it is a very distinct taste. The next ones tasted quite interesting and good and then you reach a point where you start not liking them again. It is definitely a very interesting taste but not something you can eat tons of. The onions and cream balance off the intensity of the distinct taste though.

Going through the whole menu to discover more and more interesting dishes, I went for “Kamchatka crab baked in cream with porcini mushrooms” (690 RUB). Super easy dish, super tasty dish! The smoothness of the dish is absolutely lovely, the intensity of the flavours without being too intense is perfect and the consistency is lovely.

The “Chicken Kiev with potato chips and lingonberry sauce” (490 RUB) was nicely juicy and the lingonberry sauce added a nice sweet element to the dish. The potato chips were good but a bit too greasy for my personal gusto.

To finish off the dinner I went for two scoops of “cranberry sorbet” (270 RUB) which was incredibly common in taste. But then again one should probably not go for something like icecream in a country like Russia.

The interior of the place is perfect – it is set up in a really traditional style and creates a very comfortable atmosphere. In addition to that it is interesting to see how Russians apparently have – like Europeans have their bottle of white wine – a bottle of vodka in the cooler which they have as an alcoholic beverage for dinner. Never seen something like that in a restaurant before.

The prices are absolutely decent for the food which is also true for “San Pellegrino” (0,75L; 480 RUB). Our waiter, Aleksander, did a great job as he was very attentive and caring (as at some point he asked the one person speaking Russian at our table if we were sure that we wanted yet another round of vodka). I can absolutely recommend the Restaurant Russian Vodkaroom No. 1 – make sure you book a table in advance as I randomly walked into a friend of mine from Milan (I saw last time 5 years ago) and he told me that they wanted to go to the Russian Vodkaroom the same night but did not have a reservation and could, therefore, not get a table.

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Contact Details:

Restaurant Russian Vodkaroom No. 1

Konnogvardeisky Boulevard 4

190000 St. Petersburg (RU)

Tel.: +7 812 570 64 20

Cell: +7 921 945 08 90

E-Mail: info@vodkaroom.ru

Homepage: http://www.vodkaroom.ru

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.