The kind of food visitors will eat from day to day depends on which city they are visiting and the time of year. Breakfast is often similar to the Scandinavian, with cold meats, boiled eggs and bread served with Russian tea. For the midday and evening meal the food is often more traditional, again depending on the region.
Things to know: City-center bars close around midnight.
National specialties:•
Kasha (porridge) is a staple breakfast dish, made with milk and oats, buckwheat or semolina.
•
Blini (small pancakes filled with caviar, fish, melted
butter or sour cream).
•
Ponchiki (hot sugared doughnuts).
•
Pirozhky (fried rolls with different fillings, usually meat).
•
Borshch, a beetroot soup served hot with sour cream.
•
Pelmeni (meat dumplings).
National drinks:•
Chai (sweet tea served without milk).
• Vodka (often flavored and colored with herbs and spices such as
zubrovka (a kind of grass),
ryabinovka (steeped with rowan-tree berries),
starka (dark, smooth, aged vodka) and
pertsovka (with hot pepper).
Posolskaya,
Stolichnaya and
Rossiskaya are popular brands.
• Krushon (cold ‘punch’; champagne, brandy and summer fruit are poured into a hollowed watermelon and chilled for several hours).
• Nalivka (sweet liqueur made with fruit or berries).
•
Nastoika is a fortified wine made of herbs, leaves, flowers, fruit and roots of plants with medicinal properties.
Tipping: Hotels in Moscow and other large cities include a 10 to 15 per cent service charge. Otherwise 10 per cent is customary.
NightlifeTheater, circus, concert and variety performances are the main evening entertainments. Tickets are available in advance or from ticket booths immediately before performances. Visitors should note that prices for foreigners are usually much higher than those paid by Russian nationals. The repertoire of theaters provides a change of program almost nightly. In the course of one month, 30 different productions may be presented by the
Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Company. Details of performances can be obtained on arrival. Visitors should apply to the service bureau of their hotel. All of these establishments are open 0600-2200.
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