A new vegetarian
restaurant opened at Pyatnitskaya 43, stroyeniye 3. Tel.: +7 495 959 3510. Tried to do a review. Overcame
aversion to excessive decoration in quasi-oriental style and forced myself to walk in. Ask
for a beer while perusing their rather expensive menu. No. Asked for a coffee. No. Asked for
don't remember what. No. Walked out disgusted.
Jaghannath Express.
Kuznetsky
most 11, Metro Kuznetsky Most, tel. +7 495 928 3580. A combination of a cafe, a restaurant, and a health food type
shop. OK food, good coffee but no alcohol. Cheerful vegetarian faces
combined with a surly security guard produce an effect that leaves me at a loss
for words. Inability to have a beer with my meal does not help in positively
describing this place either. The shop has to-fu, soy sauce,
and credible-tasting fake sausage. The latter is a treat for carnivores in
heart. The prices at the shop are often nearly double of what they are elsewhere
in this already way overpriced city. Recently
I wanted to update the review of this place but could not make myself walk in.
Just not the sort of space where I am comfortable. Too much New Age and
Ikea.
Here is an old (around 2000) review of the
place. Occasionally I drop by the shop to get to-fu or fake
sausage. The attitude of the stuff remains profoundly indifferent. One
example from years back that got imprinted in my mind: a homeless woman
walks in, asks to have her own cup filled with hot water so that she make
instant soup - and told to go away or pay for a cup of fucking hot water! I
somehow thought that a bit of compassion was part of the vegetarian deal.
But this land is not high on compassion. Another recent episod is from 2009,
when I went to their shop for a block of to-fu. It was one of those days
when air consisted largely of rain. I was soaked. When getting to-fu I
touched their refrigerator and received a considerable electric shock.
Naturally, I pointed to the clerk that their refrigerator needs attention.
The response consisted, first, on pretending she is not hearing me. When I
insisted that something needs to be done I was told that I should not be
touching their refrigerator with wet hands. Still, Jaghannath remains one of
its kind in Moscow and for this reason I have no choice but to recommend it.
POSSIBLY OUT OF BUSINESS. TO BE
CHECKED. Put k sebe ("path towards self").
Leningradsky prospekt 10a, Metro Belorusskaya, tel. 257-3987. This cafe is
par of an esoteric - whatever it means - shop.
Avocado. Chistoprudny boulevard 12-2, tel.
921-7719. Looks, feels, and costs like an upscale restaurant. Expensive.
Years ago (around 2003), when Moscow was not as expensive, a snack for two
was an equivalent of about $30. My guess is that a proper meal for two is no
less than $60 but in the foreseeable future I will not be in a position to
do a review.
Second
location: Tverskaya 5/6 (same building as Teatr Imeni Yermolovoy), tel.
(495) 629-2802
SEE
IF THEY ARE STILL IN BUSINESS Yamskoye Pole. Tretya ulitsa Yamskogo
polya 14/16, tel. 257-1052/0490. Again, my own experience with this place
is outdated but back when I tried, unsuccessfully, to make myself part of the
scene, the most "vegetarian" plate they had to offer had an unidentified part of a
dead chicken on it. I'll be delighted to hear a report that they have improved.
Ganga Vegetarian Cafe. Leningradsky
prospekt 37-B, 3rd floor of the shopping center. Tel. 743-4984, 8-916-644-9694.
I think this is a new location of a place at is or was run by the Hare Krishna people
at their
center by Metro Begovaya. If so, expect to find good cheap no-frills food
and very functional service.
Visited it,
ate there. Bland. soggy, expensive. The good thing is that you can buy beer
in a stall next door. Good reviews from others, generally. Habitués of the
Vita forum accused me
of gluttony when I said that my bill for a light snack was 400 roubles. Perhaps
they are right, I am guilty of one of the seven. A small cafe that receives
the most praise from the vegetarian crowd in Moscow. I succumb to public
opinion and recommend it. I like the Krishna people, of nothing else,
because they are nearly banned here in this near-totalitarian state.
TO BE CHECKED.
Veggy Bar.
Leninsky prospekt 1, tel. 238-6061, veggymanager@mail.ru
More info on
vegetarian cafes and shopping in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia here:
www.happycow.net
www.veganforum.com
www.vegsource.com/travel/europe/