My Favorite Restaurants in Russia

I was responsible for picking out the restaurants where we would dine Moscow, so naturally I chose those known for having the most over the top interiors. There were two restaurants that really stood out from the bunch, Cafe Pushkin and Turandot. Only a few yards apart on the same street, the two restaurants share a single visionary: Andre Delois, a restaurateur who is trained as a builder/restorer. Both restaurants are amazing flights of fancy, transporting you to the 18th and 19th centuries, respectively.

Cafe Pushkin, the more famous of the two restaurants, is like stepping through time into a bustling 19th century eatery. It is open 24 hours a day, with a more casual and boisterous atmosphere downstairs, a refined dining room on the second floor, and a rooftop terrace which we didn't venture to (even in mid-June it's chilly in Moscow).

Like almost every dining room in Russia it was a two-tiered affair (the high ceilings are a ventilation blessing when everyone around you is smoking).

Also, like almost every dinner in Russia, there was live music!

Unlike every other dinner, there was a gentleman in period costume.

Andre Delois' other restaurant, Turandot, a little further down the street, is a lavish rococo fantasy.

Apparently Mr. Delois bought an 18th century palace that had belonged to a lover of Catherine the Great and knocked it to the down to build this over the top eatery at $50-75 million!

Of course we again saw the ubiquitous musicians at dinner, but here they are clad in period costumes! And staged upon a rotating replica of the Peacock Clock at the Winter Palace!