Top 10 Autumn Restaurants in St Petersburg
Mon ChouChou (#1 Restaurant in St Petersburg)
Address: st. Karavannaya, 3/35
Opening hours: 09:00–23:00
Average check: 2000 rubles
Restaurateurs Anastasia and Dmitry Reshetnikov, brother and sister who opened Zazazu, the best wine bar on Rubinstein Street, have finally launched their second project, the French bistro Mon ChouChou on Karavannaya. It is one of the top restaurants in St Petersburg. Spacious and elegant, it is divided into several zones: a bistro (where it is appropriate to drop in for a coffee and a quick bite) and an elegant dining room with white tablecloths, wood, a painted screen and luxurious wine racks.
The goal of the project is ambitious – to restore the reputation of French cuisine in St. Petersburg, spoiled in the 2000s. The co-owner of the restaurant and chef Dmitry Reshetnikov cooks real onion soup, burgundy snails, bouillabaisse, duck and other classic French dishes. A separate section of the menu is devoted to breakfasts (served until 14:00): it includes classic croissants, poached eggs, French omelettes and coffee. There was also a place for experiments with haute cuisine. The team plans to have regular four-handed dinners with the participation of invited French chefs. Wine has not been forgotten either: sommelier Olga Boris promises to collect the largest champagne list in the city and more than 300 varieties of French wines in Mon ChouChou.
Minerals
Address: Nevsky Prospekt, 7–9
Opening hours: 12:00–01:00
Average check: 1500–5000 rubles
At the new five-star hotel Wawelberg on Nevsky Prospekt, the view restaurant Minerals has opened – a luxurious and multi-component project. It is one of the top-rated restaurants in St Petersburg. The main two-story space is occupied by a cafe and a pastry shop with an affordable average check and an outstanding interior made using natural stone – marble, onyx, malachite, charoite and quartzite. In the depths, behind the bar and pastry shop, there is a second – evening – restaurant with a separate menu and a large wine room. The menu is almost entirely built on rare Russian products: from giant scallops from Murmansk and Karelian porcini mushrooms (served with a sauce based on kvass must) to Dagestan lamb and Altai black boar Jamon.
Cafe Rubinstein
Address: emb. Fontanki, 67/69
Opening hours: 09:00–00:00 (on weekends from 12:00)
Average check: 1500 rubles
It finally happened: “Rubinstein” – the rarest institution in St. Petersburg, working in the genre of an artistic cafe – relaunched in a new location, on the Fontanka embankment, a stone’s throw from the BDT. The former team of reputable restaurateurs, Eduard Muradyan (“EM”) and Mitya Borisov, is engaged in the project. The format as a whole has remained the same: both in terms of the interior (it again gives rise to associations with the classic St. Petersburg living room) and in terms of gastronomic and event content. Relaxed Sunday brunches, creative evenings and chamber concerts will still be held here.
Chef Gleb Gerasimov is responsible for the food and came up with a moderately original menu: beef tartare is complemented by lingonberries and blue cheese ice cream, Jamon serrano is served with persimmon cream, and as main dishes, he serves trout for two and spider steak from the thigh. Sommelier Arseniy Maerenkov (EM) compiled the bar menu: a small selection of wines and spirits is already available in the cafe, and cocktails should appear soon. And most importantly, there was also a place for the Mitya bar in the new space (it was designed by the architect Alexander Brodsky, the author of the interiors of the One and a Half Rooms museum by Joseph Brodsky and the Rotunda installation in Nikola-Lenivets).
Mercado del Sol
Address: st. Belinsky, 5
Opening hours: 09:00–23:00
Average check: 2000 rubles
Mark Lapin and Alena Melnikova (Grecco) launched the second joint project at the site of “Spices and joys” on Belinsky. It is one of the best restaurants in St Petersburg, Russia. The two-story Mediterranean restaurant Mercado del Sol is divided into two zones: on the first floor, there is a bright city cafe with early breakfasts, on the second floor there is a respectable restaurant with a spectacular view of the Temple of Simeon and Anna. That’s not all either: in the coming months, a separate “secret” living room with Chef’s Table will open here.
The main specialization of the restaurant is seafood. Chef Leonid Ivanov serves octopus, sumptuous tuna tartare with black caviar, black paella with squid, bakes turbot, barramundi, sole, and in the raw section, you can find oysters, sea urchins, scallops and rare shrimp.
“Pike”
Address: emb. Moiki, 72
Opening hours: 12:00–23:00
Average check: 2500 rubles
In place of the “House” on the Moika embankment, the “Pike” was launched. The format is similar: this is again a respectable Russian restaurant with white tablecloths, rare specialities from the regions and a large wine list. Chef Yury Golov is in charge of the food: he serves Yamal deer carpaccio with ashes, wild boar dumplings, bear cutlets and, for example, cabbage rolls with crab. There is also a gastronomic set – a choice of six and ten courses.
All Grain
Address: Kurlyandskaya, 48
Opening hours: 11:00-23:00 (weekends from 10:00)
Average check: 1500 rubles
The AF Brew team launched the All Grain restaurant of author’s cuisine on the territory of the former Stepan Razin factory. A new institution is located the door to door with another project of the team – a taproom with its own brewery – perhaps the main attraction of the historical industrial zone, which is now actively turning into a new creative cluster.
The main thing to know about All Grain is that this is the first AF Brew project where beer is not the main thing. The bar menu is opened by an inventive selection of wines created by sommelier Stepan Klimushin (Swallows, Big Wine Freaks). The menu is appropriate: Chef Nikolai Khvalynsky (Pullman & Mercure Sochi Centre, Hermitage Hotel) serves here fermented mackerel with parsnip and ponzu sauce, scallop Crudo with tomato water and mussel cream, quail with bone marrow, and hot, for example, grilled lamb with ptitim and cod with Jerusalem artichoke puree. Special mention deserves the project’s own bakery run by chef Vladimir Petrov (Bio My Bio, Cococo) and a full breakfast menu.
Mishka Bar
Address: Konnogvardeisky Boulevard, 4
Opening hours: 11:00–23:00
Average check: 1000 rubles
The legendary Mishka bar, which has existed for more than 10 years on the Fontanka embankment, has relaunched at a new address – on Konnogvardeisky Boulevard. Not only the location and interior have been updated (now it is a spacious space with brick vaults and huge semicircular windows), but also the format. During the day, from 11:00, the bar is open as a relaxed cafe with sandwiches, toast, sweet buns for breakfast and full bento lunches. After 18:00, the bar mode with cocktails is activated, and after 21:00, parties begin.
Numero Zero
Address: Big Ave. V.O., 16
Opening hours: 12:00–23:00
Average check: 1500 rubles
The Subzero team has opened a new project on the Vasileostrovskiy market — the Italian trattoria Numero Zero. Contrary to expectations, this is not just a corner at the food court, but a full-fledged cafe on the second tier of the space with an elegant and stylish interior in the spirit of the Italian 70s.
Ilya Burnasov (Pizza Point) became the chef of the project. It serves eight varieties of pizza, chicken liver pate, a modernist version of Vitello tonato, and pasta classics such as rigatoni with smoked cheese and olives or Roman spaghetti carbonara. There is also a bar list: it contains cocktails on Italian aperitifs from the 812 bar team, Italian wine and beer.
“My Kalinka”
Address: emb. Griboedova, 18–20
Opening hours: 12:00–23:00
Average check: 2000 rubles
Near the Kazan Cathedral, on the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal, there is now a two-story restaurant “Kalinka Moya” – the project of Elena Krasovskaya and Anna Ismagilova, who have impressive experience in managing network restaurant projects (Two Sticks, Marchellis).
As the name suggests, this is a restaurant of Russian cuisine, and also an attempt to revive the culinary traditions of pre-revolutionary Russia with “the use of a local farm product and a modern democratic presentation.” Chef Maxim Razhev, who previously worked at Grand Сru, the Wine Cabinet bar and Hamlet & Jacks, is responsible for the food. The menu includes homemade pickles, dumplings and hand-made dumplings, dried meat and sausages of our own production, as well as various (not only pre-revolutionary) classics: borscht, Olivier salad with doctor’s sausage, buckwheat porridge with porcini mushrooms, cabbage rolls with stewed duck, beef stroganoff and Black Sea rapans with salted lemons.
Kruch
Address: Korpusnaya st., 9
Opening hours: 10:00-20:00
Average check: 500 rubles
Confectioner Marina Kruch, known for the projects “Full Ballet” and Department 57, opened the first independent project on the Petrograd Side, where she bakes bread and croissants and prepares cakes and desserts. The new confectionery looks very stylish: strict colours, wood, rounded shapes, mirrors and a large communal table made of steel and oak. On display are elegant croissants with various fillings (they have already become Instagram stars), artisan bread, and dozens of pastries and cakes. There is also an interactive element: the process of preparing desserts can be observed through a glass wall separating the kitchen from the dining room.
