Home-cooked Russian food in Moscow, Mari Vanna
Home-cooked Russian food in Moscow, Mari Vanna
We learnt about the existence of this restaurant, Mari Vanna, through Lonely Planet’s recommendation. The idea of having home cooked food in a traditional Russian home was a draw. It was slightly challenging to find our way there, as it’s not located as near to the metro station and you need do a couple of turns to get there.
There are also a couple of other restaurants along the Spiridonyevsky Lane, and the signboard is not big so we eventually found it via a tiny palm sized signboard which says “Mari Vanna”.
You have to ring the bell and the door man will open it. He will also help you with your coat.
The waitress recommended us to try Kvass, a non-alcoholic drink made from regular rye bread – it taste slightly like beer, only sweeter and there’s no alcoholic taste. Very yummy, and just like Makgeolli I can drink tons of it.
The borscht is really good. It’s flavourful, brimming with flavour from the beef stock and I can taste the sweetness from the beetroot. It taste good with sour cream too.
Price: RUB570/ USD18 / SGD22
Hailing from sunny Singapore surrounded by warm tropical waters, and I had never eaten such thick slices of salmon. It’s really fresh and good. The Zucchini pancakes were a tad too moist for me though. I absolutely loved the salmon slices and dill.
I didn’t get the price for this. It should be about RUB700 – USD22 – SGD27
Pork on the Bone. It’s a hearty meal, just that the pork was a tad tough. The Zuchinni, Eggplant and Capsicum were grilled to perfection. So were the potatoes.
To be honest, I can’t give a recommendation if you should try this place, because I haven’t tried many other restaurants in Moscow. That being said, this was my best meal, after trying another Japanese place and a takeaway near our hotel. That being said, the reviews on Tripadvisor are very good, so I guess it’s worth a trip there.
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Apart two restaurants in Russia, there are also branches in London, New York, Washington and Los Angelas.
Address: 10a Spiridonyevsky Lane, Moscow, Russia (nearest metro Pushkinskaya)
Opening hours: 9am – 11pm
Website: http://marivanna.ru/msk/ (It’s in Russian and in Flash though, so you can’t do a Google Translate)
