Emelya: Russian National Cuisine

A chain of bistros Emelya is called by the name of a Russian fairy-tale character whose main habit and lifestyle was being idle. What he likes the most is to lay on a big stove, as it can be seen on the picture above. Though over the course of the fairy-tale he appeared to be a a bit crazy and clever guy to destroy all his enemies. I’d not say it’s a typical Russian hero, but it has some national features.

Emelya is a chain of eateries is of pure national food. Decorated in the style of a Russian village house built of  wood, it’s good for a rather fast but at the same time heart eating in nice atmosphere.

The menu features main dishes of the Russian traditional cuisine. First of all, I’d recommend you ‘pelmeni’ which can be described in English as ‘ravioli’ or as meat-pockets or as in an Italian manner ‘tortellini’. Of soups it’s worth testing borstch (or borshc) or fish soup since we’re talking about Russian dishes.

Out of hot dishes dumplings would be nice, another variant is stuffed cabbages leaves. Drinks provide not a great choice, I mean of national ‘origin’, but you may enjoy yourself with cranberry-juice or quass, in other words it’s kind of  bread juice. There is also a wide range of beers, coffee and teas.

My dinner without drinks did not go beyond 200 roubles which is an average price for middle-class eating or a lunch in the center of  St. Petersburg.  Coupled with nice serving and atmpsphere it creates a good experience.

Address of the Emelya chain in the city’s center:

• Bolshaya Morskaya-street, 36
• the Vitebsky railway station
• The seventh line of the Vasilievsky island, 24. By the way, to walk along this line and get known why it is a ‘line’, not a street, you can by reading my illustrated post here.
• The Griboedov’s channel, 22
• Nevsky prospect, 64

All these eateries are open 24 hours.

Photo credit: www.omskpress.ru