Admiralteistvo
$$$$
This charming little restaurant is on the second floor of an old redbrick pavilion across the lake from the Catherine Palace. Its nostalgic interiors are furnished with antique furniture and a number of partially enclosed seating areas that give you some isolation for a private dinner. The kitchen specializes in European and excellent Russian cuisine. For a genuine Russian dish, go for fish such as baked sturgeon or sterlet, which was very popular at the tsars' tables. You can also try traditional Russian homemade pelmeni, dumplings with various fillings, or different kinds of kotleta, a stuffed and breaded meat dish (also known as Kiev).
