Red Corner: Fine Moscow Cuisine

There was a time when “fine cuisine” and Moscow were never uttered in the same sentence. When I first ate in the Russian capital in 1991, there were less then 20 restaurants for an entire city of 9 million. The food, as you might imagine, was very sub par.

Then came capitalism and anyone with money it seemed, was opening up eateries, which, as you might imagine, were also sub par since no one had any experience running private restaurants.

But today, oh boy today, Moscow is awash in fine eating establishments. Sure, there is still a selection of junk and fast food, but high end dining in Moscow, fueled by a flush of cash from rising oil prices, has finally made its grand appearance.

Fortunately we have Robin Buss from The Independent to tell us where to go and what to eat. While not the most in-depth article, it does provide a nice insight into Moscow dining and has a couple of interesting stories as well. I particularly liked the one about the guy who was turned down for a job at McDonald’s so he borrowed money to start his own restaurant and now owns 90 of them.