Awesome Things to Eat and Drink in Saint Petersburg

Spending time and money on food when I travel is a new thing for me, and to be honest – I’m still a little awkward at it. It’s easy when you’re traveling with someone and you can laugh together at your inability to communicate with the wait staff or work to figure out what exactly is in each other’s dinner. But when you’re all by your lonesome, communication tends to get more frantic and that curiosity about your meal turns into a quandary. I found eating in St. Petersburg to sometimes be a challenging experience – without any Russian skills I was intimidated going into many restaurants and cafés. However, I was determined not to let that stop me from enjoying as much food as I could in St. Petersburg. So here are some of a few things to eat and drink in Saint Petersburg. Let’s just say these are some of my most memorable meals yet.

VOSTOCHNY UGOLOK – Azerbaijani Cuisine

Russia is home to so many delicious and authentic cuisines, so when the guidebook recommended an Azerbaijani restaurant I thought it was a great opportunity to try something new. Of course, I failed to write down the name of the restaurant in Cyrillic, so by the time I found the restaurant I didn’t think twice about the fact that it was heavily curtained in a sub-basement. I did immediately notice that I was the only person in the restaurant and that all the wait staff loitering at the bar stopped speaking to watch me sweat through taking my pick of the open tables.

This will be great! my stomach told my head as I took a glance through the pseudo-translated menu.

The waiter was really polite, going through all the prerequisite pleasantries in Russian, even though we were both painfully aware that I had zero clue what he was saying. He did understand “red wine” though, with a look of relief crossing his face that there was a manageable task. He returned promptly, both of us hoping a little booze would make the situation better.

As I sipped my red wine and flipped through the mammoth menu, he came hurrying back out from the kitchen.

“Russian Russian Russian Russian passport Russian,” he said.

I’m traveling solo in an empty restaurant and the waiter is asking for my passport. Immediately I wondered if the KGB is still in operation. (Naturally.) “Ehm… No passport.”

He pointed to my glass of wine and held up his hands. Ten. Eight.

“Oh,” I said. “No problem. I’m way older than 18.”

He shook his head. Ten and eight again.

“Yes, I understand.” I took out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down 18. He nodded. I crossed it out and wrote 29. His head snapped back to stare at me.

“No,” he whispered.

“Yes,” I said, smiling and clutching my wine.

He walked away shaking his head in disbelief. A few minutes later I saw him and a chef peep out of the kitchen. At least I got to keep my wine.

Things weren’t necessarily much easier when it came time to order. The guidebook suggested a lamb and mint soup. I decided to go for it, even though the poorly translated English description included an allusion to “tail bone fat.” The waiter came over, ready for my order, but when I pointed at the menu and smiled, he made a face.

The waiter made a face. I instantly regretted my decision.

“Is it ok?” I asked.

He started talking in Russian, trying to mime something. He gave up and went to the bar to get his phone. I frantically started flipping through the novel-sized menu, trying to find anything else to order. I worried about what he was trying to translate for me – what mystery ingredient would be so unpalatable for a Western traveler that the waiter would try to persuade them against it? I am no adventurous eater and my stomach started to churn as he came back over with the iPhone. He flipped it around.

Greasy.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Oh. That’s ok. But still, he seemed adamant that I won’t find it satisfactory, so I ordered a home-style chicken dish instead. He approved of that decision and went off to the kitchen.

It came in a hot skillet and was delicious. Excellent food and flattering service – I mean who gets IDed for red wine at dinner in Russia?

Motion – Creative Cocktails

One of the most challenging things, for me, about solo female traveling is drinking alone. And I’ve only had positive experiences – no hassling, people are friendly, bartenders tend to take really good care of me – but that initial moment of walking into a bar or brewery by myself is intimidating. When I lived in England as an au pair I would walk by a pub three times to peer in the window before I would make my actual entrance.

But one of the best ways to experience culture is by drinking it! So when I found cocktail bar Motion on Spotted by Locals, I immediately put it on my to-do list.

Turns out Motion is on this street that’s full of tiny bars and shops jammed in close to each other. Each one is about half the size of a cozy (cramped) New York City apartment and each one had a decidedly different feel to it. I went in early, when there were only a couple of other people hanging around the bar, clearly friends of the bartenders. The menu was all in Russian but the bartender was extremely helpful. I told him I liked gin and he took care of the rest.

He spent seven minutes making my drink. It involved a blender! What he handed to me was one of the most refreshing cocktails I’ve ever had, a basil and lime gin concoction that looked more like a smoothie than a boozy indulgence. It smelled so good that I kept sniffing it, which I’m sure looked real cool.

Also he didn’t mind breaking my 1000 ruble bill. This is a bar I would be at all the time if I lived in Saint Petersburg.

Salkhino – Georgian Classics

After my strange but delicious experience at the Azerbaijani restaurant, I decided to give the guidebook another try. Flipping through, I came across a description of a Georgian restaurant, Salkhino – it had me at “cheese-filled bread.”

Another unassuming restaurant, with only one other party, I was initially trepidatious. “Cheese-filled bread,” I reminded myself sternly. At least the waitress didn’t seem bothered or confused by my solo female traveling presence, so I took comfort in that.

I don’t know much about Georgian food, so I stuck with the guidebook’s recommendations, ordering the cheesy khachapuri and a delicious cold dish of eggplant stuffed with walnuts and garlic, sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. I don’t know who thought of that combination but they are a culinary genius.

I stuffed myself, then took a leisurely walk back to my hostel to try to work off a fraction of the calories I had just consumed. I’ll be happy to visit Georgia if there’s more where that came from!

Pelmenya – Dumplings for All!

I am weirdly enamored with restaurants that serve only one kind of food. So when I stumbled across a dumplings-only restaurant on Spotted by Locals, I was totally sold. So sold, that I ended up going twice.

The first time I had the dim sum and pumpkin manti, washed down with a goblet of beer. Tasty and filling. The second time I went by accident. It was my last night in Saint Petersburg and it was raining. I had tried to get to a hotel rooftop bar but had ended up circling the building, completely stumped on how to get into the hotel at all. I just wanted to be warm and comfortable, so I headed back to Pelmenya.

It ended up being super comfortable, because I had the same waitress as the first time (she totally noticed, too) and I ended up ordering way too much wine. I haven’t really figured out the litre system yet. The previous night I had ordered about a quarter glass of wine at the Georgian restaurant. Determined not to make the same mistake, I ordered .5L. It came in a carafe.

The sucker just kept going. Between that, the pelmini (Russian dumplings) soup and the massive dim sum I ordered (again), I definitely warmed up. Getting to the bus station for my bus to Estonia was a leisurely affair after that.

Pyshechnaya – Soviet Donuts

If there’s a donut shop in a city, I will find it. So when I heard about severe Russian ladies dolling out donuts and coffee in a Soviet-era café, I was near giddy with excitement.

There were mentions about the lack of, er, warmth from the donut ladies, so before I went I made sure I had exact change for my donut and coffee. The café was minimalist, painted with the kind of colors people probably thought looked cheerful, like faded mint and Pepto-Bismol pink. I got into the fast moving line, people muttering their orders and the short, timeless donut lady slinging donuts across the counter at them. Again I cursed my lack of Russian skills. And when I got to the counter, I relied mostly on sign language.

I held up a finger – “one donut” I whispered – then another “and a coffee.”

The Soviet donut lady looked at me skeptically and asked me something in Russian.

“DA!” I said, panicking.

She cracked a smile. I had made a Soviet donut lady smile. I felt really pleased with myself.

Until she put my coffee and two donuts on the counter, then slid over a calculator with my total. I shook all my change out of my purse, frantic to find exact change. I was sure I had it –

Nope, 10 rubles short.

Flushed, I handed her a 100 ruble note. The little good-will I had built up instantly disappeared, and I hurried away with my change and donuts to a corner of the café away from her laser gaze.

The coffee was the tooth-decay instigating sweet that is ‘normal’ Saint Petersburg coffee. There were stacks of stiff paper in lieu of napkins on the tables, and I carefully observed other patrons using them to pick up their donuts so I followed suit. The grease soaked right through the paper almost immediately. Some of the locals were putting down three, four donuts, but even for an enthusiast like me, one would have been enough.

But totally go. Atmosphere is everything.

I don’t think I ate a bad thing in St. Petersburg. Even the pastries I picked up every morning from Bushe, the bakery around the corner from my hostel, were drool-worthy as you can see at the beginning of the post. Totally worth all the sign language and wine-glass clutching!