St. Petersburg Restaurants and Dining

(St. Petersburg, North-Western Federal District, Russia)

Prepare to feast when you arrive in St. Petersburg, since the sheer number and quality of restaurants is better that you could possibly imagine. Most of the restaurants around St. Petersburg offer extremely good value and this really is the dining capital of Russia.

Generally, the more elaborate the restaurants, the more expensive they are, although when it comes to fine dining, you do not usually have to worry too much about the cost. Whilst hearty Russian fare often takes a prominent place on menus, such as beef strogonov (stroganoff) and borsch, many other strong international influences have now firmly made their mark in St. Petersburg and you can except to see eateries specialising in Indian, Japanese and more.

Where to Eat

If you are simply looking to self-cater and gather some breakfast things, or even prepare a picnic, Moscow contains a good supply of supermarkets and food markets, many of which are Western-style. Kuznechny is St. Petersburg's best market and is open daily, from 08:00 until 20:00. However, most people choose to eat out at one of the many restaurants within the very centre of St. Petersburg.

These are to be found in the greatest numbers around the Italianskaia Ulitsa, Karavannaya Ulitsa, Liteinyi Prospekt and on the Galernaia Ulitsa, close to St. Petersburg's famous Bronze Horseman statue. For oriental-style dining at its absolute best, the Chinese restaurant and the Grand Hotel Europe on the Nevskii Prospekt is simply unbeatable. Around ten minutes away and in the region of the Ulitsa Marata area of St. Petersburg, many further restaurants reside, including the acclaimed Orient Express, which features extensive buffet dining and is easy to spot since a miniature train engine is bursting through the main door.

On the eastern side of St. Petersburg city centre, many further restaurants await diners, around Aleksandrovskii Park and the Karavannaia Ulitsa. Vegetarians should make note of the Troitskii Most eatery, which serves only vegetarian food and soft drinks. For Soviet-Russian dishes next to the Neva River, the Picasso Restaurant on Bolshoi Prospekt, in the Petrograd Side area of St. Petersburg, is named after the renowned artist and foodie, Pablo Picasso. Close by, fine dining is also readily available along the Aptekarskii Prospekt, and further afield, on the Vasilevskii Island, near to the Kunstkammer Museum.