RUSKI sounds very proudly!
It’s a very important Russian restaurant.
Yes, this is the name of such an ambitious project. Ruski and no compromises! No RUSSIANS, no English loan words or adaptations. The name RUSKI gives a clear idea about the national belonging of the performed cuisine to the country, which is spread out fr om the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea, from the Northern Seas to the Black Sea coastline, and here the exceptional pride is sensed. Moreover, RUSKI has got a lot of reasons to feel proud of.
Reason No 1 is a good location. From the light and spacious restaurant hall situated on the 85th floor of the OKO tower there is a breath-taking view over the city, which captures not only foreigners. The whole Moscow-city lies like on your palm and you won’t find such fantastic panorama anywhere else!
Reason No 2 to be proud of is its design. MEGRE INTERIORS design company team had a complicated task to tell about the Russian culture and history, what is close to us, Russian, from our childhood and what foreigners know from the literature but to do it without visual clichés and patterns, ordinary and well-worn solutions. As a result, they created a light avant-garde interior full of old reminiscences and at the same time reflecting open-minded trends of the future.
The main accents include:
The Restaurant has been designed according to the principle with the kitchen in the centre of the hall and guest areas surrounding it, so the guests may go round the kitchen 360 degrees contemplating the city views. Each of 4 areas has a different mood and ambiance based on elements of old Russian traditions of honoring the nature: kitchen is Fire, icebar means Water, the hall with the stage means Earth and a banquet VIP hall means Air. All of them are united with light tones, soft and nice-to-touch interior lines. The Russian restaurant flying over the city on the 85th floor just couldn’t have been different!
The Restaurant begins with the kitchen, which has been made as a heart of RUSKI. The first completely open Russian kitchen is a stage wh ere a few star chefs create their masterpieces at the same time. As a result of this, a royal Russian menu with the most important dishes collected is Reason No 3 to feel proud of. A huge kitchen is managed by a big team of professionals under the guidance of brand chef Konstantin Shatrov.
The RUSKI striking feature is a unique 3-throatsoven 8 metres high. One of the main culinary stories of the project has been created around this oven. It is so good that they bake bread in it. Thanks to the temperature that keeps decreasing gradually for a long time in the oven, they bake special bread here: first, the crispy crust appears and then the internal layer is getting ready. In the oven it is planned to cook a real authentic Russian product which doesn’t exist in any other culinary culture – it’s baked milk. For today the oven menu includes coulibiac (it’s a fish, meat or cabbage pie), open pies, patties with beef, pickled cucumbers and onion, chicken pie, boiled fermented milk, cottage cheese pie etc.
RUSKI would not have been Russian if it didn’t try to surprise with its scale. The biggest and most up-to-date chapter of the menu is taken under his wing by project executive chef, young and hot Alexander Volkov-Medvedev, who worked before with Sauli Kemppainen in the Orange 3, with Regis Trigel in the Strelka and in the Pushkin Restaurant. The key dishes of this chapter are often cooked in a quite modern style but looking back at the century traditions of the Russian cuisine. It’s definitely worth paying attention to Oxtail soup with oxtails, marinated smelts with potato pancakes, Karelian trout with celery root cream, simmered pork side with oranges, various porridges with traditional and not only traditional toppings which might be added according to a guest’s wish.
Another culinary direction in the RUSKI project has been taken under control by Elena Manienan, the owner of the famous Chastny Visit Hotel in Plyos town, who seems to be hosting almost all Russian and foreign political leaders officially visiting the town. Elena Vyacheslavovna has welcomed everybody with very good entertainment and open heart performing her own view to the traditional Russian cuisine. Nowadays she has her “residence” in the capital with her own author’s menu. That means her famous dumplings stuffed with potatoes and fried onion, homemade cheese, greenery and mushrooms, stuffed duck neck Delicieux, carp topped with colourful blanket, Russian patties and liquors have become closer for 400 km (a distance to Plyos).
Reason No 4 to be proud of in the RUSKI, the future star of Instagram from all over the country (that’s for sure!) is a magic icebar, completely made of ice blocks, the highest in the world made by Alexander Kan, Roman Portnov and Ilia Doronin. The main attraction here is not only a caviar bar and an exclusive selection of liquors and other drinks with vodka never seen before but local uniform: when entering the bar, the guests are promised to give fur coats made of natural fur!
Another project trump card is that project founders managed to take on a serious educational role. Compared to Veranda 354, an extended team of historical guides is working here who are preparing a list of high-quality exciting excursions. They are going to tell about not only food that our ancestors used to eat but also about authentic Russian products and how to eat them. Culinary stories will be accompanies with the notes about the most important dates and events throughout the history of Russia. Besides, the stand with the brand-name souvenirs will be open in the restaurant hall. Whynot? Afterall, the RUSKI is a real city landmark!
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Project 354 has been realized by a few key persons of the Russian restaurant market:
