Cafe Pushkin

Traditional Restaurant Moscow, Russia

The café, which is really a five-star restaurant, is open 24 hours a day and is situated in a building that was renovated to look exactly like a Russian aristocrat's home circa 1825. The staff speaks a beautiful, pre-Sovietized Russian (and English) and serves some of the best fare in town. You'll want to get the blinchiki (Russian pancakes) with black caviar, borscht and pelmeni (dumplings), before moving on to the famous Tsar's Sturgeon and, of course, one of Pushkin's many, many desserts. Make sure your meal includes a spot or two or three of vodka. They treat you like you're a member of the landed gentry here, and that's because Pushkin is one of only a few dozen restaurants in Moscow that really understands service.

This aristocratic restaurant is extremely famous and popular with local business men and passing tourists. Diplomats, bankers and Moscow’s rich and famous now frequent it, but it used to be known as the city's only upper class restaurant where you could eat European standard food and talk freely without being disturbed by the roaming ears of KGB men. The Russian and French cuisine recalls Tsarist times and on the first floor there is a sophisticated 24-hour café and a restaurant called the Library Room, which has a splendid view of Tverskoy Bulvar.