Vegetarian cafes, restaurants, and good places to shop in Moscow, Russia
The Vietnamese food market
From the www.expat.ru forum The Vietnamese market near Metro Tulskaya, behind 9 Varshavskoe shosse...From the street, follow the signs through the parking lot back to the Vietnamese market. Enter the large building on the left full of shopping stalls (clothes, shoes...). There are several entrances, but you will basically need to find your way to the very back left corner, at which point you need to enter an unmarked door in a stairwell, then through another unmarked door, and then you will enter the (illegal?) food market- I bet you a 1000 dong you won't be able to find it without asking someone! It's kind of a hike to get there but tofu blocks the size of bricks are only 20 rubles...This is near the food store run by the Danilovsky Monastery where you can buy credible fake sausage. Details later but "Gde monastyr?" and, once you get there, "Gde magazin?" should get you there. In the store you ask for "falshivaya kolbasa".
Jaghannath Express. Kuznetsky most 11, Metro Kuznetsky Most, tel. (495) 928-3580. In Dom Khudozhnika ("house of artist"), across the English bookstore the name of which escapes me at the moment. A combination of a cafe, a restaurant, and a health food type shop. OK food, good coffee but no alcohol. Cheerful vegetarian faces with big eyes combined with a surly security guard produce an effect that leaves me at a loss for words, and inability to order a beer does not help either. The shop has to-fu, soy sauce, and credible-tasting fake sausage. The latter is a treat for carnivores in heart.
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.
Yamskoye Pole. Tretye 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 Again, my own experience with this place is outdated but back when I tried, unsuccessfully, to make myself part of the scene, the most "vegetarian" plate they had to offer had an identified part of a dead chicken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, just as things are supposed to be in a vegetarian cafe, IMH yet correct opinion.
Veggy Bar. Leninsky prospekt 1, tel. 238-6061, veggymanager@mail.ru
Of places to shop I'll just mention my two favourites:
Indian Spices. Sretenka 36/2, tel. 207-1621, open daily 9-9. Metro Sukharevskaya Ploshad. Excellent fake goulash for those craving for the taste of flesh. Raw and marinated ginger, frozen okra, lentil patties from India, good Basmati rice etc. The owners, real Indians, speak English. I'm able to offer a varied vegetarian menu at my dacha near Staritsa thanks largely this establishment.
Their other recently opened location is at Ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 5/2, M. Belyayevo or M. Yugo-Zapadnaya, tel. 956-2403, 434-6629, open daily 10-10.Japanese Supermarket. Prospekt mira, tel......., also near Metro Sukharevskaya. There I go to buy locally-made to-fu (30 roubles, or $1 per package) and bean sprouts and Kikkoman Soy Sauce in economical 1.5 liter bottles.
October 10, 2007
June 20, 2007
I and especially the visitors of this site will appreciate clear instructions on getting to each of these places. Any volunteers to write clear concise instructions with diagrams?