WHERE: Home for Gourmets

It is actually three things in one: a gourmet boutique (with reasonable prices), a gastrobar serving almost everything you can see in the boutique’s window and a small cosy lecture hall with ten seats (the owners also consider their educational function to be important). The price list includes only legal products (caviar obtained from killed fish and by “milking” live fish) from nine of the country’s leading factories: caviar from sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, beluga, sterlet, bastard sturgeon and bester (a cross between beluga and sterlet), plus all the necessary accessories — from special spoons to mini-fridges. The menu features a dozen traditional accompanying snacks to suit any pocket — in particular potato, cucumber, pancakes, fritters, eggs Benedict, toast, avocado, crab, burrata and oyster. An added attraction is provided by historic recipes: a “Soviet” sandwich (with pressed caviar) and “Khan Batiy” baked apple. A popular evening pastime is to buy a whole can of caviar in the boutique and leisurely eat it in the bar, washed down with a glass of good Russian sparkling wine, a shot of wheat-rye vodka or a cup of cold tea with lemon (the drinks are free of charge for those who order any can of caviar except PROMO). Or, if you come in a group, you can accompany the caviar with a bottle of top-class French champagne. Your life will immediately become more colourful. 1/47 Vladimirsky Pr. T: 448 6111.