Skedaddle

Why, yes, it was quite expensive (surprise). We typically spent between $60-80 for the two of us to eat dinner. For this, we got a soup, a main dish, and a beer. No caviar!

However, a few nights, we didn't feel like finding a resturant and we picked up some things from the grocery. There, the food was very, very reasonable. A complete picnic with beer and leftovers for $10-12US. We got flatware from the hotel, but we have a couple pairs of collapsable chopsticks that I would probably have thrown in if I had realized that places wouldn't have plastic spoons or forks.

The food was really quite good! My grandmother had visited in the mid-1990's with ElderHostal and she complained and complained about the food, saying the borscht was just colored water with a blob of lard in it, etc. So, I was prepared for fairly bland and non-descript food. We had several delicious meals though. We had blini - both savory and sweet paired with a fizzy, lightly fermented rye drink called kvas (much better than that sounds). Little dumplings called pelmeni filled with all sorts of vegetables and meats. Really good beef Stroganoff (but less saucy than what my family makes, so noodles weren't served with it). A really good turkey thing that I can't remember the name of - it was ground and seasoned turkey formed into quenelles, then coated with grated potatoes, and deep-fried. And we had borscht - all sorts. Interestingly, every time we had it, it was different - some were spicy, some were very rich, some had large pieces of beets, etc. I do like beets to begin with, but this dish was always delicious.

Another thing that we hadn't expected (but, I guess if we had thought about it, it was predictable) was the number of Uzbekistan resturants. We had kebabs, rice dishes, and flat bread. We had Tibetan food and Chinese food. And, for snacks, we had Stardogs. These are hotdogs put into a bagette-type roll that has a hollowed-out spot in the middle rather than being split. They are sold from little kiosks and the server squirts your choice of condiment into the hole in the roll and then stuffs in a piping-hot Stardog. Now, in Cyrillic, the name of this place looks like Crapdogz - very humorous after a few days!

So, really good, but expensive, food.

katya_NY

The "CTAP-DOGS" / crap dogs thing is funny... my kids LOVED those, especially when they squirt the sauce into the bun.

Food is very expensive in many Moscow/St.Pete restaurants, I totally agree. It sounds like you struck a good balance!