Local and International Trends in Hospitality and Gastronomy

Trends in restaurant menu in Saint-Petersburg

The big comeback of traditional Russian cuisine

More and more restaurants in Moscow are offering traditional Russian dishes as part of their mixed European menus or as the main thing. Thanks to the trend, more visitors to the Russian capital, and even locals, have a chance to rediscover real Russian food and learn that there’s more to it than kasha and blini (the famous borsch is, in fact, a Ukrainian special). Some places stick to the classic recipes and offer authentic botvinia (green vegetable soup with fish), pastille (prune-coconut- honey confections) – not to be confused with zefir(meringue-style confections) and sbiten (a honey-based traditional drink), while others get creative and serve
common dishes in very experimental ways – think of a classic Selyodka Pod Shuboi salad (commonly known as “Herring Under a Fur Coat”)

Farmers’ products and culinary start-ups

The farm-to-table trend has reached Russia, too. Leading chefs and restaurateurs turn to “boutique” food suppliers and proudly announce the partnerships.

Health consciousness

Slowly but steadily Russians are becoming more conscious about their food habits. Therefore, many are switching to more healthy and balanced dietary choices, which sometimes even include vegetarian/vegan/raw diets as well as fasting as a cleanse and not just for ethical and religious reasons.

Japanese cuisine

Japanese cuisine has established itself so firmly in Russia that many are already anxious for it to fall out of vogue. It is quite possible that this will never happen, though. Simple as far as the actual cooking is concerned, healthy, low-cal and delicious, Japanese food has almost become national in Russia. You can find sushi bars everywhere: at railway stations, airports, megamalls and lobby cafés in movie theatres.
But they are not taking risks by serving live seafood in Russia so far. Likewise, you will never find pufferfish here, since, if handled incorrectly, it can cause paralysis and even death. The Japanese consumption of the fish, however, reaches 2,000 tons a year.
The Japanese are indifferent to confectionery, favouring fruit or the local jelly-like sweet bean paste on cakes. Russian restaurants are not, however, that austere, offering the conventional fatty cream desserts to round off a dinner, but serving these in Japanese-style smaller portions. Sake, shochu (rice, barley or sweet potato spirits) and green tea are also popular.