Russian restaurant makes Top 50 list

Moscow is known for many things, but good food is not among them. Russian cuisine is notoriously bland (boil potato, add overbroiled meat plus a sprinkling of dill and a huge dollop of mayonnaise, serve lukewarm). Russian attempts at fine dining can be even worse (would you like a side of sushi with your pasta carbonara?)

But things are – slowly – getting better. The clearest sign yet? A Russian establishment has made Restaurant Magazine’s list of 50 best restaurants for the first time. The prestigious distinction was awarded to Varvary, the central Moscow restaurant run by chef Anatoly Komm. It came in at 48. Komm uses molecular gastronomy to deliver delicate dishes that are as expensive as they are (allegedly) delicious (your humble reporter is too poor to go).

Komm is also notoriously, and hilariously, outspoken. Read a great interview with him here. The choice quote comes when he complains that few Russians visit his restaurant:

“They prefer to eat shit," he decries. "They don't care about food, you know? It doesn't matter what [they] put in [their] stomachs—shit or chocolate—because it's all the same."

Ouch.