Before I report on another food experience on my Moscow trip, I wanted to share with you one of the facts why I like this city: Women of every age love to wear pretty dresses (or at least a skirt) for everyday and many of them even with (really!) high heels. Many of these dresses would be worn only special occasions over here (e.g. as a wedding guest), but the Russian woman love to dress nicely and emphasize their feminine side, be it with their children at the playground, be it on a business dinner or just when doing the grocery shopping. I love wearing dresses, so I got many inspirations during my visit.

But enough about the Russian fashion habits… now about food:

“Vanil”

Next to the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and with a good view on the magificent clerical building from its dining area is Vanil, a restaurant which I went to two times as it was that good. It is an elegant restaurant, which is suitable for a dinner with your business partner. You can have international cuisine, but also Russian dishes. I ordered Risotto with squid and sepia ink, a salad with avocado, salmon “seasoned” with wasabi and ate the Pelmeni (2x), which are delicious traditional meat filled Russian dumplings. I ate Pelmini at various locations, but the ones at Vanil are the best so far!

And I can recommend to try the pre dinner bread rolls that they serve along with a pea puree and butter, one of those bread rolls has baked-in raisins: yummy! Of course I had to satisfy my sweet tooth with a Russian caramel cake (Medovik) – which the staff divded into two halfs so that I could share the delicious dessert with my company! It looked so yummy that I totally forgot to take a picture first and that is why a corner of the cake is already missing in below picture…

Compared to cities such as London or Munich, the prices at Vanil are quite similar. Wine is expensive, but good (try the South African Pinotage!). And for Non-Alcoholic beverages, you may want to try the traditional Kvass or Kljúkwa juice, the Russian version of cranberry!

Where?   Ostozhenka St. 1, Moscow (across metro station Kropotkinskaja)