I COCKED up. I was supposed to review another restaurant, but hadn’t booked, assuming they wouldn’t be busy at lunchtime, but they were, so I missed my deadline. As punishment, the editor sent me to Siberia. Well not exactly Siberia, but the nearest thing we have to it, St Petersburg, the Russian restaurant on Sackville Street. (This was fair enough, they’d sent another writer to prison the other week, I’ve no idea what she did.)
Our waitress/owner stopped me, “people come here for steak, you must try ‘RASPUTIN… (dramatic pause)…IN FLAME’
This place has been around for about a decade, but Confidential has never reviewed it. It has even slipped under the radar of Manchester’s most prolific food bloggers. I’ll wager that many of you have walked or driven past it, but have never been in. Perhaps you’ve been put off by the faded frontage, the chintzy drapes or fake flowers in the window.
What is Russian food? What kind of thing does Putin eat, for example? (Out of bowls carved from the skulls of his sworn enemies.) Actually, a surprising number of Russian dishes have made it into popular British food culture. They even sell Beef Stroganoff and Chicken Kiev in Iceland – although I’m sure it’s nowhere near as good as St. Petersburg’s Dvorianskaya (£14.95).
So if you can get over the frankly horrible décor, and a chair so uncomfortable it would be second only to the Iron Throne (I spent the whole meal clenching so I wouldn’t get tipped off) then stay and enjoy the food, because it’s really good.
'Orrible decorI’d viewed ‘The Tsar’s a la carte menu’ online before I got there, so wanted to try the ‘Solianka Miasnaya’ (£9.95) which sounded bizarre. ‘Famous Russian thick meat soup made from selected prime smoked meats, smoked sausages and pickles, served with black olives and lemons.’
They’d done it absolutely no favours by subtitling it ‘Russian Liquid Pizza’, but I’m glad I took a chance. It was Kremlin comfort food, manna from Moscow and Vladi marvellous; homemade broth brimming with smoky sausage, capers and olives. The lemon cut through it nicely, lifting the whole thing higher than an oligarch’s penthouse.
To be honest, I hadn’t had high hopes for it, so I thought I’d balance the odds by ordering some caviar. St. Petersburg restaurant isn’t for the caviar connoisseur, as there isn’t really the market to go all out offering Ossetra, Sevruga or Beluga. The choice is black or red, so I ordered both. 2.5g (about a tablespoon) of black costs £8.95, and the same of red, £4.95 (main image). Five grams and under comes served on an egg ‘with special filling’, if you order 10 or 20g, you get blinis and probably a bit more ceremony. Now I can scratch ‘eat caviar in a Russian restaurant ‘off my bucket list.
Smokey hot meat soup - Solianka MiasnayaI was going to order ‘Miasnie Golubtzy’ (£14.95) – ‘Famous Russian dish including cabbage leaves stuffed with minced beef, herbs and tomato sauce’, but our waitress/owner stopped me, “people come here for steak, you must try ‘RASPUTIN… (dramatic pause)…IN FLAME’.” So we did.
It’s basically fillet steak on a hot plate with vodka, but this being an authentic Russian restaurant, they didn’t just use vodka for a flourishing flambé, they also served an ice cold shot on the side – well it is made from potatoes. (Note, the more vodka you drink, the less bothersome the Russian soft rock soundtrack in the background becomes.)
Ra-Ra-Rasputin
Ssss-steakOrder it a grade less than you would normally want your steak cooking. It comes on a hotplate, so after the flambéing, medium will end up borderline overdone. It is served with salad and a huge pile of fabulous fried potatoes, just like babushka used to make.
I couldn’t be talked out of ordering some kind of dumpling though, and Streletskie Pelmeny (£14.95) was just the ticket. Minced chicken and herb meatballs wrapped in pastry and steamed in vodka-infused bouillon (naturally) served in a traditional Russian ugly-mug. Russia shares a border with China so could claim some dumpling origins. Slightly rougher round the edges than silky Italian pasta, pelmeny are hot and rib-sticking enough to keep even the iciest heart warm during a Russian winter.
Streletskie PelmenyThey didn’t have a dessert menu so we stuck to wine ‘from the Russian empire’. Winner of the 2015 ‘Deanna Thomas Award for Best Description on a Wine List’ is Saperavi (£19.95 for a ‘bootle’ or £5.75 a glass) ‘a blessed balance in taste and tannins that has the lady sitting next to you drooling about bitter dark chocolate’. I glanced over at the woman seated at the next table; she seemed quite unfazed by my choice of beverage.
We dined midweek, but with live music at weekends, it can apparently get more bolshie than Bolshoi, so choose when you book according to how much vodka you can take. Either way, this restaurant will take you by surprise.
All scored reviews are unannounced, impartial, paid for by Confidential and completely independent of any commerical relationship.
St Petersburg, 68 Sackville St, Manchester M1 3NJ. Tel 0161 236 6333.
Rating: 13/20
Food: 7.5/10 (caviar 6, meat soup 9, steak 7, dumplings 8)
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 2/5
Recommended: the meat soup would put hairs on a chest of drawers
Give a miss: dessert; vodka won’t drink itself.
PLEASE NOTE: Venues are rated against the best examples of their kind: fine dining against the best fine dining, cafes against the best cafes. Following on from this the scores represent: 1-5 saw your leg off and eat it, 6-9 get a DVD, 10-11 if you must, 12-13 if you’re passing,14-15 worth a trip,16-17 very good, 17-18 exceptional, 19 pure quality, 20 perfect. More than 20, we get carried away.
