Saint-Petersburg Foodie Guide and Restaurants

If you search the depths of the Internet for St. Petersburg restaurant tips, you will be confronted with over 9,000 listed restaurants on Tripadvisor alone. A culinary jungle that overwhelmed me when looking for a nice restaurant for New Year’s Eve. My research ended in the fact that we didn’t find anything for New Year’s Eve (I should have taken care of it in October), but bit by bit we unmasked the current foodie hotspots of St. Petersburg. And because we were so impressed by the variety, the attention to detail, the great service and the cozy cafés and restaurants with mostly uncomplicated, open Wi-Fi access, I have put together an overview of my discoveries for you.

(Warning, this report may cause hunger pangs)

Breakfast Happiness & Coffee Break

Kofe Na Kukhne | Fountain embarkment 15

In the alternative café “Coffee in the Kitchen” in the center of St. Petersburg there is heavenly porridge with bananas and cinnamon (80 rubles) and wonderfully freshly roasted coffee (127 rubles). For me, definitely the highlight in terms of breakfast and the perfect place to start the sightseeing day comfortably.

Coffee Bar Bonch | Bolshaya Morskaya St., 16

The Bonch is centrally located not far from Nevsky Prospekt and St. Isaac’s Cathedral. We liked the stylish interior and the large selection of kitchens. With over 250 rubles for a cappuccino and between 200 – 300 rubles for a piece of cake, it is one of the more expensive places for breakfast.

Sicaffé | Gorokhovaya St, 2/6

In typical St. Petersburg basement style (many restaurants, bars, and cafes are located in the basement of the buildings), this café just around the corner from the Hermitage Museum and the General Staff Building offers an inexpensive and delicious breakfast menu. I ordered the cappuccino and fried eggs separately and paid 250 rubles for both together. Cappuccino and strudel are available for 180 rubles (50 extra with ice).

Artemy Lebedev Cafe | Zhukovskogo St., 2

Here we warmed up after a long walk at minus 15 °Celsius with a spicy coffee blend. The cozy café is located in the trendy district and has great coffee creations on the menu. If it’s crowded, the Dead Poets’ Bar is a few 100 metres away, a good alternative.

Bushe | Griboyedov Canal Embankment 18

Bushe is a bakery/coffee house chain with eateries in several places in St. Petersburg. We happened to walk past it and the view through the large windows lured us inside. Pastries and coffee – of good quality – are available here for around 400 rubles and I really liked the bright ambience.

Something warm in between

Bureau Burgers and Bar | Zhukovskogo St, 29

Six different homemade buns and 12 burger variations to choose from, plus rosemary potatoes and homemade ginger-lemon lemonade. Bureau Burgers and Bar would also do excellently in Zurich’s Kreis 5. The concept is simple, the burgers are convincing and the bar is correspondingly well frequented. I can recommend the vegetarian beetroot avocado cream cheese pesto burger with whole wheat bun (290 rubles). The friend, of course, tested the Double Cheesburger with bacon (390 rubles) and was also delighted.

BGL | Fontanka River Embankment, 96

BGL follows a similar concept – only instead of burgers, bagels are available in sweet and salty variations. I ordered a carrot-ginger soup to warm up and then tried the hummus-pepper bagel (127 rubles). If you are very hungry, you can order the bagel burger (310 rubles). Really delicious! And totally sympathetic ambience with young people.

Sup Vino| Kazanskaya ulitsa, 24

As the name suggests, this small restaurant (5 tables and two seats at the bar) focuses on soups and wine. If your stomach growls louder, you will also find a small selection of Italian and Asian dishes. The main courses cost between 450 and 500 rubles, the soups around 250 rubles.

Attic Restaurant | Pochtamtskaya st., 3

The Mansarda was the most expensive restaurant on our food tour of St. Petersburg. This is due to its exquisite location on the roof of the modern office complex “Quattro Corti” with a direct view of the dome of St. Isaac’s Cathedral. The good news: on weekdays between 13:00-17:00 there is a 20% discount on the menu prices. You can hardly find a more stylish place to warm up with a portion of bortsch (around 500 rubles).

Fine Dining

Duo Gastrobar| Kirochnaya St., 8A

Duo Gastrobar was founded jointly by two young chefs and has already made a name for itself after a short time. Accordingly, it is advisable to make a reservation in advance (went via e-mail tiptopp). The menu is small and convinces with a surprising variety of products – e.g. they also cook with quinoa and bulgur. I chose a vegetarian variation with pumpkin and cream cheese for the starter and treated myself to a delicious beef fillet with truffle sauce as a main course. The friend opted for crab bruschetta and duck breast with sweet potatoes and ginger sauce. With drinks (a glass of Merlot, ginger beer and water) we paid 2’400 rubles for this dinner for two.

Severyanin | Stolyarny Lane, 18

If you want to immerse yourself in the world of traditional Russian cuisine, Severyanin is the right place for you. The restaurant is trimmed to retro and totally comfortably furnished. The feel-good ambience is rounded off by the attentive and friendly staff, who are happy to explain the various specialties and make recommendations. Very important – you should still save some appetite for dessert. In addition to the homemade ice cream creations (e.g. from halva and wholemeal bread), the sea buckthorn cream catapulted us into pleasure heaven. We had a really good time here and feasted our way through three courses together – costing around 3,600 rubles. It is also recommended to make a reservation in advance.

RoseMary | Sytninskaya St., 14

I chose the RoseMary because of its good Tripadvisor rating. The restaurant is located on the Petrograd side near the Gorkovskaya metro station (about 30 minutes walk from the Hermitage). Surprisingly, the restaurant was half empty, which may have been due to the date (January 1st). When it comes to culinary delights, both thumbs go up. If you like fish, RoseMary is the right place for you. The dishes not only taste good, but are also beautifully presented. Three courses each, including mulled wine, cost us 3,700 rubles.

Stupid!

Terminal Bar | Belinskogo St., 11

The bar scene in St. Petersburg is the Eldorado for every cocktail lover. We each looked for a bar that was practically between the restaurant and the hotel – of course, there would be much more to discover.

The Terminal Bar can definitely be described as a classic. Impressive is the long counter, where you can watch the guys behind the counter mixing virtuoso cocktails. Also impressive is the large selection of spirits. If you can’t make up your mind – like me, for example – just ask the bartender to “mix me something”. Led to a good result for me (cocktails around 400 rubles).

Warsaw | Kazanskaya ulitsa, 11

The Warszawa is more comfortably furnished compared to the Terminal Bar and with luck you will get one of the cozy seating areas. Here you can find a cocktail menu with the house cocktails (conveniently also in English). We tried “Moscou Rouge” (very sweet) and Riga’s Cerini with vanilla vodka (interesting) for 350 rubles each.

On holidays, such as the 1st of January, the Na Parakh (e.g. the one at Nevski Propect 74-76) is also a safe place to go.

For even more St. Petersburg restaurant tips, I recommend the Spotted by Locals app. I downloaded the app for about 4 CHF and was really impressed by the menu, the detailed descriptions and the sorting options by “bars”, “coffee & tea”, “restaurants”, “snacks” etc. When researching restaurants, I also like to browse through the Wallpaper City Guides. The one for St. Petersburg is unfortunately a bit outdated and some of the restaurants and bars listed in it no longer exist. The same goes for the New York Times’ 36 hours guide (from 2007), where most of the restaurant tips lead to the void – but the rest of the recommendations are still valid.