9 Best Restaurants in Moscow, Russia

The name comes from a popular Russian pastry, but there's nothing common or traditional about the presentations in this old mansion stripped down to its bare-brick walls. Head Chef Dmitry Shurshakov lets fresh, locally sourced ingredients shine through in dishes like stewed turkey necks with pearl barley and spiced carrot puree, and cauliflower and cod liver crème brûlée. You can enjoy the namesake vatrushka, a cottage cheese–filled pie, for dessert.

In a mansion meant to recall the days when the writer Pushkin stolled the 19th-century avenues of Moscow, staff members dress like household servants; the menu resembles an old newspaper, with letters no longer used in the Russian alphabet; and the food is fit for a tsar. All the favorites can be found here—blini, caviar, pelmeni (meat dumplings)—and there's a fine, if over-priced wine list. Prices rise with each floor (there are three) of the house. If you don't want to splurge on dinner, the three-course business lunch is an excellent way to sample Pushkin's food without breaking the bank. Open daily, 24 hours, Pushkin is popular for breakfast after a night of clubbing. In summer you can dine on the rooftop patio.

This massive Uzbek café and lounge on ploshchad Pushkin is part of a chain with almost 20 locations around the city and offers diners the chance to sample traditional dishes like plov, a rice pilaf with lamb, and succulent kebabs. Each pillow, light fixture, painting, and plate is worthy of note. The only downside is that hookahs are a major part of the concept, so don't be surprised if the flavor of your neighbor's aromatic tobacco smoke infuses your meal.

This cheap and cheerful replica of a classic Parisian bistro, open 24 hours a day, is almost always busy, and little wonder: the selection of wines by the glass is the best in Moscow; the daily lunch special, with a choice of soup, salad, and main, is a great value; and water is free, an unusual treat in Moscow. Some of the mains are hit or miss, but the steak is reliably good.

Find the unmarked entrance, ring the right doorbell, and you will be taken back half a century to an idealized Soviet home. It could be Red Army Day, the way the tables are garnished with white cloth and water goblets—and the flour-and-water baranki crackers on the table evoke bygone scarcity. Stolid, apron-clad waitresses glide from table to table delivering beet salads, mushroom soup, and other nostalgic fare. Wooden shelves and the bric-a-brac on them—glass cookie jars, an old radio, a deer figurine—make this place feel truly homey. The experience isn't entirely homespun, though—Mari Vanna has branches as far afield as New York and Los Angeles.

Recalling the splendor of prerevolutionary Russia, the opulent interiors of the Metropol hotel's grand dining hall are a stunning memorial to Russian art nouveau. The nearly three-story-high dining room is replete with stained-glass windows, marble pillars, and a leaded-glass roof. Among the famous guests to have dined here are George Bernard Shaw, Vladimir Lenin, and Michael Jackson. The menu is laden with French and Russian delicacies, such as the popular fried duck with wild-cherry sauce and a baked apple. Cap your meal off with wine from the extensive list and cheese. There is also live music at breakfast and in the evenings.

Join the masses for pancakes and kebabs at this popular cafeteria-style chain. This location is just a block away from the Lubyanka, once the home of the KGB, and still the main building of that notorious agency's successor. Compared to the offerings at similar Russian fast food joints, the food here is of a higher quality. Even so, unless you love mayonaisse, skip the mystery salads for simpler meats and sides that include stuffed and fried cutlets and dumplings, grilled meat and fish, and classic Russian soups, including borsch and shi, made from cabbage. The staff doesn't speak much English, but you can generally get by with gestures.

This chain scattered throughout Moscow serves sandwiches and burgers in brightly lit 1950s settings and is popular with late-night workers, early-morning partygoers, and American travelers and expats looking for a taste of home. This location is especially busy because of the city-center location and secluded summertime patio. Waiters are young and friendly, speak English, and serve fast.

One of the most fashionable restaurants in town is distinctly Russian, serving a menu that's a throwback to Soviet times, with items such as Russian cured sausage and kefir, a sour-milk drink. The interior is sophisticated and understated, with gold-and-black-suede booths and walls lined with photos of fashion models, many of whom are regulars.