Caucasian Cuisine Moscow
NOYEV KOVCHEG (NOAH'S ARK)
Cuisine: ArmenianAddress: Maly Ivanovsky Pereulok, 9
Nearest metro station: Kitai-Gorod
Telephone: (495) 921-58-85
Working hours: 12.00-last dinner
Additional service:
Average bill: £25
Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club, Visa, MasterCard
The staff at Noah’s Ark takes responsibility for your pleasure during the several hours required for a meal here. Each course is discussed with the waiter before the order is made; and each must be accompanied by the appropriate spirit - preferably Armenian brandy (which they call konyak). Nestled in one of the steep, zigzag lanes of the Ukrainian Quarter, the restaurant can be hard to find; however, it's worth the exploration of this quiet and oft-ignored neighbourhood in Moscow's historic centre. The atmosphere gets pretentious on weekend nights, as rich Armenian and Russian executives try to outdo each other by ordering the most expensive items on the menu. The meza or appetizers, incorporate the spices and fruits of the Caucasus Mountain region, with an emphasis on cilantro, apricots, and pomegranates. The dolma, grape leaves stuffed with lamb and rice, are succulent. The plain roast lamb is better than the cubed version.
GENATSVALE
Cuisine: GeorgianAddress: Ostozhenka street, 12/1
Nearest metro station: Kropotkinskaya
Telephone: (495) 202-0445
Working hours: 12.00-0.00
Additional service:
Average bill: £15-20
Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard
This family-run restaurant - whose name means "comrade" in Georgian - is Moscow's best introduction to the colourful and flavourful cuisine of Georgia. Other restaurants may have finer decor or subtler chefs, but at Genatsvale you get accessible prices, an inclusive atmosphere, and copious choices. The country-style dining hall is a welcome dose of earthiness on this street of chic restaurants and posh residences. The only drawback is the cabaret show, a performance of overly loud Georgian love songs accompanied by tinny synthesizers. Come here for lunch or early dinner to avoid it. Try the three-cheese khachapuri, a kind of sauce less pizza, the finely ground lamb kebab, or the garlic-walnut paste rolled in thinly sliced eggplant. It's a good choice for vegetarians, who can easily fill up on a selection of appetizers (which is what most Georgians seem to do). The restaurant has another location on the Arbat, which is more convenient but is gaudier and less pleasant and cosy.
MAMA ZOYA
Cuisine: GeorgianAddress: Mama Zoya on the Water at 16d Frunzenskaya Naberezhnya
Nearest metro station: Frunzenskaya
Telephone: (495) 242-8450
Working hours: 12.00-23.00
Additional service:
Average bill: £7-10
Credit cards: Not accepted
The family of Mama Zoya started with a rudimentary cafe, than expanded to an out-of-the-way cellar restaurant, and now boasts a multi-storey boat-restaurant moored along the Moscow River across from Gorky Park. The latest location is less intimate but more accessible and successful. The food is just as homely even if the service is not quite so familiar. This is an atmospheric and decently priced way to sample the rich and underappreciated pleasures of Georgian cuisine. The grilled lamb - cubed and skewered ground and skewered, or grilled by the leg -- is a specialty, and it's divine. Also try adzhapsandal, an eggplant-and-tomato based ragout; or pkhali, spinach, garlic and walnuts ground to a rich paste. Ignore the weird decor of gnomes, palms and mannequins and look out at the river instead.
PRISONER OF THE CAUCASUS (KAVKAZSKAYA PLENNITSA)
Cuisine: CaucasianAddress: Prospekt Mira, 36
Nearest metro station: Prospekt Mira
Telephone: (495) 280-5111
Working hours: 12.00-0.00
Additional service:
Average bill: £30-40
Credit cards: American Express, Visa, MasterCard
A restaurant named after a popular Soviet film plumbs the cuisines and stereotypes of the ex-Soviet lands of the Caucasus Mountains: Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. People don't come here just for the food but for the wild mountain ambience, which includes caged livestock and waiters decked in capes and daggers. This atmosphere makes it cost more than other restaurants in the same genre. It can be over the top but is fun for large groups or a weekend night out. The extensive appetizer bar is the best way to sample the unfamiliar fare; choose from piles of marinated and fresh vegetables, smoked meats, and spicy salads. The grilled meats (especially lamb) are a specialty. Caucasus wines tend to be sweeter and cruder than most tourists prefer, but if you feel daring, try a Saperavi or Mukuzani, rich, dry Georgian reds.
TSARINA TAMAR
Cuisine: GeorgianAddress: Bolshoy Spasoglinishchevsky Lane, 3, building 5
Nearest metro station: Ploschad Revolutsii, Teatralnaya, Kitai-Gorod
Telephone: (495) 9234637, 9246480
Working hours: 12.00-0.00
Additional service: free parking
Average bill: £15
Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard
The restaurant is named in honour of the famous Georgian Tsarina Tamar and the interior recreates romantic and stately atmosphere of the ancient Georgia. The menu provides a good selection of traditional Georgian dishes. Try most popular Georgian dishes like kharcho and khashi, among, khinkali, veal kharcho with nuts and shashlik and kebab. The menu is completed with various desserts of Georgian and European cuisines. The wine carte offers a great choice of best Italian, French and Georgian wines, including collection Georgian wines in jugs. Every evening the restaurant holds concerts of well-known Georgian artists and legendary Orera ensemble.
SHESH-BESH
Cuisine: AzerbaijaniAddress: Pyatnitskaya, 24
Nearest metro station: Novokuznetskaya
Telephone: (495) 959-5862
Working hours: 12.00-0.00
Additional service:
Average bill: £10-15
Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard
This is a cheerful and tasty introduction to Azerbaijani cuisine, a combination of Turkish, Greek and Russian flavours with a distinctly Caucasian (as in the Caucasus Mountains) accent. It goes overboard with its multicoloured decor and faux-traditional costumery, but the pillows are comfy and the service friendly. The souffra or salad bar is heaped with fresh and marinated vegetables, along with stalks of cilantro, parsley and dill that you're supposed to munch raw to cleanse the palate. Grilled meats are the pride of the Caucasus, but also worth trying is the cutaby, thin crêpe like dough stuffed with fresh greens, sheep's cheese, or ground lamb. Their chief gimmick is a game called shesh-besh (it means "six-five"), in which you toss two dice, and if you get a six and a five you get a free pitcher of (barely drinkable) wine or other beverage.
CHITO GRITO
Cuisine: Georgian, CaucasianAddress: Trubnikovsky Pereulok, 11
Nearest metro station: Arbatskaya
Telephone: (495) 203-5650
Working hours: 11.00-last dinner
Additional service:
Average bill: £10
Credit cards: Diners Club, Maestro, MasterCard, Union, Visa
You will be welcomed by friendly waiters in Georgian national suits and led into the hall with ancient lamps and bunches of ripe onion and pepper. And if you drop by in the evening, a live orchestra will play national Georgian songs for you. Most of the dishes are traditional Caucasian and made according to old national recipes. Here you will be offered pkhali, satsivi, lobbio, a magnificent choice of cheeses, and tender fillet of young pig. You can try chanaki soup – layers of meat, eggplants and potatoes in a special pot or Georgian borsch – you will understand how it differs from the Ukrainian. You will never resist the main dishes: chahohbili, obzhahuri (pork shoulder with potatoes, onion and garlic), chashushuli (meat stewed with onion, tomatoes and herbs on a national clay frying pan ketsi) and khinkali (dough with mince, Georgian classics to beer).
LAVASH
Cuisine: ArmenianAddress: Tsvetnoy Boulevard, 7
Nearest metro station: Tsvetnoy Bulvar
Telephone: (495) 925-82-85
Working hours: 11.00-last dinner
Additional service: free parking, take away service
Average bill: £15
Credit cards: DC, Maestro, MasterCard, UnionCard, Visa
Armenia has its inexpressible charm and enigma which you can touch in the Lavash restaurant.
The menu is inline with the décor - picturesque and very interesting - and includes a lot of national dishes that will essentially expand your idea of the Armenian cuisine. Here you can try shashliks almost from any part of a lamb (£4 for portion), a mild starter tzhvzhik from liver and a portion of fried potatoes (£6). Fish lovers can enjoy a variety of pond fish.