5 Best Restaurants in City Center, St. Petersburg

This large, bustling, and brightly lit dining room where oil paintings commemorate various Romanovs seems to be lifted right off the pages of War and Peace, and the dining experience is truly royal. A meal might begin with the classic Russian appetizer of layers of herring enclosing a beet vinaigrette and move on to beef Stroganoff or a Pozharskaya cutlet, served with sizzling hot potatoes, made in a copper pan. Despite the grandeur, the atmosphere is pleasantly relaxed and the service is anything but intimidating.

You can enjoy a pot of tea or a glass of champagne, served with bowls of strawberries, in this lovely mezzanine café. You can also order unique chocolates made at the hotel's own factory. Take a peek at the art-nouveau lobby, furnished with stained-glass windows and antique furnishings.

Distinguishable by its white and orange teaspoon logo, this is an extremely cheap and cheerful counter-service blini chain with locations all over downtown. You may be put off by the plastic cutlery and the lackadaisical service, but the blini are authentic and filling, and they provide a great cheap meal when you are in a hurry. The two-course business lunch is also a good deal and very popular.

Starbucks clones have sprung up on almost every corner in St. Petersburg, and many belong to the Coffeehouse chain. At any you can grab a good and inexpensive lunch with soup, salad, and coffee or tea, and a full range of reasonably well-made coffee drink is available.

Don't be put off by the spartan setting: the owners penny-pinch only on furnishings and presentation. Cooked in front of your eyes, their famous blinis are deservedly considered to be the best in town. Stuffed with mushrooms, ham, pork, grilled chicken, cream, honey, and a dozen other fillings, they're rich in flavor and never over- or underdone, always tasting just as your Russian mom might have made them. A single blini is so rich and hefty that it may leave you stuffed, so be conservative when you order. Teremok also operates a chain of 137 venues, including 41 street stands.