Our last stop was in St. Petersburg. We traveled with a group and toured the city a bit, and even outside the city to some palaces. We made a stop for lunch at a banquet hall across the way from Putin’s Palace. We we served a pre-arranged traditional Russian four course meal.
To start we had these beautifully plated chicken and egg salad with peas, carrots, and potatoes. It was alright and I really appreciated the use of different vegetables.
Next was a pickled red cabbage soup and I loved it. It was super vinegary but worked well with the sweetness of the cabbage.
For the main entree, we had mashed potatoes with beef and gravy and a side of pickles which were very yummy. The mashed potatoes were pretty good and I tried a bit of the meat but was not the biggest fan.
In between the main dish and dessert we had coffee and tea time. I tried a lime flavored green tea which was very refreshing and very unique. I don’t think I’ve seen a lime tea before.
Next up we had dessert and it was delicious! A huge slice of cranberry and cream cake. It was super rich and had such unique flavors. I’m not a big cake person, but this was very tasty. Besides cranberries, the cake also had some smaller red berries, which I think were the same berries we had in Paris, honeysuckle berries.
Overall the food in Russia was fairly tasty and it was interesting to see what a traditional meal includes, as far as fresh produce and different ways to cook the same food. I really enjoyed St. Petersburg and liked being able to see this little bit of the world.