Dining in St Petersburg
1. Street Food
Street food is found in abundance, from ice cream and hot dogs to pies and doner kebabs. While most of it is safe to eat, some meat products, especially those sold by old women around the main train terminals, should probably be avoided – the “meat” may be of dubious origin.
2. Tipping
Tipping is not expected in taxis, but is commonplace in restaurants. At places where it is not included in a service charge, feel free to leave as much as you consider right – 10–15 per cent is usually the norm.
3. Restaurant Opening Hours
Most restaurants and cafés open around noon. Many stay open until the last guest leaves while some close their doors from around 11pm. In top-end hotels, restaurants open for breakfast, as do many cafés in the city. Alcohol can be bought round the clock.
4. Zakuski
Zakuski (appetisers), are usually eaten cold before the main meal. These could be salads, marinated mushrooms, pancakes, pickled herring or gherkins. They are usually served with bread and sour cream. There are also specific zakuski to accompany beer and vodka, including dried, salted fish, dried squid and anchovies.
5. Menus
In a majority of the restaurants in the centre and other tourist areas, menus will be in Russian and English. However, outside these areas, they are likely to be in Russian only, and it is improbable that your waiter will know more than a few words of English. In this case, make good use of the phrasebook.
6. Restaurant Areas
The main restaurant area is Nevskiy prospekt and the streets around it. Here, you can find a wide selection of cuisines, from Japanese to Georgian. Once you get outside this area, however, restaurants become thinner on the ground. The area around the Mariinskiy Theatre is also good for restaurants and cafés.
7. Sushi
Sushi is wildly popular all over Russia. In fact, Russia boasts the most sushi restaurants in the world outside of Japan. The quality, however, varies, from freshly flown-in to deep-frozen lumps of “fish”. As always, let the price and reputation of the eatery be your guide.
8. Attracting the Attention of Waiters/Waitresses
The Russian for waiter and waitress is “ofitsant” and “ofitsantka”, respectively. Yet it is customary to attract the attention of waitresses with a simple “Devushka!”(Girl!). It may sound very rude in the translation, but no one takes offence.
9. Vegetarian Options
In the USSR, vegetarianism was practically non-existent. However, since the collapse of the Soviet system, more and more Russians have begun to give up meat. Their numbers are still small, so there are only a few vegetarian restaurants in Russia, and practically none outside St Petersburg. The good news for vegetarians in St Petersburg is Idiot, which serves non-meat versions of traditional Russian dishes.
10. Caucasian Food
Caucasian food hails from the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ranging from doner-kebab-type “shashlik” to the spicy, often meat-free dishes of Georgia, this cuisine is very popular all over Russia. The excellent red wine from Georgia is currently in limited supply due to a bitter political quarrel between the neighbours.
