The Bolskoi Moscovski, which is on one of the big squares of the city opposite the Town Hall, has a spacious dining-room. The waiters here are also dressed in the white linen Tartar dresses. An orchestrion discourses music during the meals. The Bolskoi is a favourite restaurant in summer at lunch- time with the men whose families are at the Datchas or villas in the country, and who therefore take their mid-day meal at one of the eating-places in the town. Testyoff’s, a rather shabby little white restaurant at the corner of the Theatre Square, its walls covered with Testyoffs, Russian inscriptions, is the best purely Theatre Square Russian restaurant of the town, so I was told, and the Grand Dukes and other great nobles go there to eat Russian dishes. I thought I would emulate these great men, and sat down at one of the Russia 393 closely-packed little tables in the dining-room. Not a soul in the restaurant could or would speak any- thing but Russian, and when a bearded man in white makes strange teeth-breaking sounds and puts a menu which looks like a collection of dislocated flies’ legs before one, what can one do ?• I tried the principal bandit in English, French, and German, and he made noises indicating that he understood none of these, so in despair I rose, bowed lowly, and went over to the restaurant of the National, where they talk all languages but Russian. I followed the footsteps of the typical Russian making holiday so far as to drive out to the Mavritania in the Petrovski Park, an enclosure Mavritania, with a bandstand and circle of wicked- Petrovski Park looking little cabinets particuliers , but I did not feel equal to dining at five o’clock, and only drank tea there. Other tea-places to which I went during the week were the Cafe Philipov, a big caf<§ Philipov, white building with plate-glass windows, Tverskaya half confectioner’s, half cafd, which is on the Tver- skaya, the principal street of the city, and a pleasant place near the Slavianski Bazaar, the name of which utterly beat me, where little chalets formed tea or dining rooms. Like my Russian example I went to the Aquarium and Ermitage Gardens, which are to Moscow what Earl’s Court is to London, and my first evening about i a.m. I supped at the Yar, a res- , TL x r 7 , The Yar, the taurant in the rark. 1 he Y,ar, the Golden Anchor, Golden Anchor, and the Strelna, the the strelna, ' r A Petrovski Park latter, the most gorgeous or the three, being open in winter only, are the Bohemian supping- places of Moscow. The Yar has a special celebrity for the cooking of sterlet. It is a long saloon, its floor space covered with little tables, and it has at one end a stage. While I and a companion waited and 394 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe

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The Bolskoi Moscovski, which is on one of the big squares of the city opposite the Town Hall, has a spacious dining-room. The waiters here are also dressed in the white linen Tartar dresses. An orchestrion discourses music during the meals. The Bolskoi is a favourite restaurant in summer at lunch- time with the men whose families are at the Datchas or villas in the country, and who therefore take their mid-day meal at one of the eating-places in the town. Testyoff's, a rather shabby little white restaurant at the corner of the Theatre Square, its walls covered with Russian inscriptions, is the best purelyy Theatre Square Russian restaurant of the town, so I was told, and the Grand Dukes and other great nobles go there to eat Russian dishes. I thought I would emulate these great men, and sat down at one of the Russia 393 closely-packed little tables in the dining-room. Not a soul in the restaurant could or would speak anything but Russian, and when a bearded man in white makes strange teeth-breaking sounds and puts a menu which looks like a collection of dislocated flies’ legs before one, what can one do ?• I tried the principal banditi in English, French, and German, and he made noises indicating that he understood none of these, so in despair I rose, bowed lowly, and went over to the restaurant of the National, where they talk all languages but Russian. I followed the footsteps of the typical Russian making holiday so far as to drive out to the Mavritania in the Petrovski Park, an enclosure Mavritania, with a bandstand and circle of wicked- Petrovski Park looking little cabinets particuliers , but I did not feel equal to dining at five o’clock, and only drank tea there. Other tea-places to which I went during the week were the Cafe Philipov, a big café Philipov, white building with plate-glass windows, Tverskaya half confectioner’s, half cafd, which is on the Tverskaya, the principal street of the city, and a pleasant place near the Slavianski Bazaar, the name of which utterly beat me, where little chalets formed tea or dining rooms. Like my Russian example I went to the Aquarium and Ermitage Gardens, which are to Moscow what Earl’s Court is to London, and my first evening about i a.m. I supped at the Yar, a res- , TL x r 7 , The Yar, the taurant in the rark. 1 he Y,ar, the Golden Anchor, Golden Anchor, and the Strelna, the the strelna, ' r A Petrovski Park latter, the most gorgeous or the three, being open in winter only, are the Bohemian suppingplaces of Moscow. The Yar has a special celebrity for the cooking of sterlet. It is a long saloon, its floor space covered with little tables, and it has at one end a stage. While I and a companion waited and 394 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe

The gourmet's guide to Europe