Yes, yes, yes – you’re right, it’s exactly that place.

It’s the one opposite Leform. Indeed, it’s here where Grandpa Hassan was killed by a sniper. This is IT/IT.

It’s open for 20 years already, and many different things can be found there: the main gangsters, not so regular passengers, plastic flowers, artificial bricks on walls and stained glass windows made of plastic of different colors.

I kept thinking, if there was anyone besides me among the visitors of the most esthetic store of the capital™ who also attended this establishment, or if it was totally out of style – to get here directly from the realm of Dries Van Noten, Margiela and Stone Island.

Till one day, when I got to watch an amusing picture: one… mmm, actually, the most-of-the-most-socialite-ladies-of-the-city™ coming out of Leform sort of looked around and slipped in here.

In order to enjoy this place it should be used strictly according to the rules.

Come in, sit down, put aside their huge 200-pages menu wrapped in cellophane and full of all those “sea fantasy” and “chef’s courage” salads, call for the waiter and just talk to him:

“We’d like vegetables and greenery. A big plate, please. So that it’d be tasty, ok?”

“Hmmm [mistrustfully].”

“All kinds of qutabs and matsoni…”

“Also with pumpkin [still mistrustfully, though less]?”

“Two with pumpkin! Two for each of us!”

“Ok, so?”

“And meat, all the most…”

“On the bone?”

“Yes!”

“You’ll have it all beautiful and nice. Also basil lemonade?”

“Yes, and your Azeri water. I forget all the time. What was the name of it?”

“Ok, you’ll get it. You’ll get it all. But please hide the wine you brought in, otherwise the bosses are gonna be really unhappy about it.

This is the only place in Moscow (I do not know any other) where they use saxaul™ wood as firewood for roasting meat.  Therefore, the effect is corresponding – the meat is crunchy from outside and medium inside. Of course, the meat itself isn’t bad at all. All best for the “respectable people”.

Back when even Azbuka Vkusa didn’t exist, in winter tomatoes and greenery was coming here from Iran by plane. We used to get here at night, when it was freezing cold outside and bite into sweet tomatoes so they burst right inside the mouth, and enjoy the smell of cucumbers, and the crunching of the leaves.

It remains that way.

There’s also a lot of extremely “forbidden” tasty stuff: pilaf, chorba, satsivi, flatbread with cheese. I tend to ignore this part of the menu in order to avoid obtaining spherical shape. But you should try it!

Do enjoy!