Palkin

Palkin, one of the oldest restaurants in St Petersburg is also easily one of the city’s finest. Palkin stands as a testament to St. Petersburg’s rich culinary history,. The restaurant features sumptuous interior designs that recall the bygone era of Russian decadence under the Tsars. Servise is impeccable; friendly and professional. The menu bursts with luxurious foie gras, angus beef, truffles, black caviar and game moulded into historic French/Russian recipes from a bygone era. My only remark is that there is room for much focus on gimmicky techniques like dry nitrogen. You can use that for one course but to have that repeatedly is a bit too much.

If you’re in the area, you absolutely must try this restaurant! I’ve always been fascinated by life in the turn of the century… well here is a piece of it! Beauty, pride and traditional all live here! Not only is it a dining experience, the food and service is simply outstanding! I recommend the full course.

This is classic Russian restaurant and is probably the best in the city, with white crispy table clothes, attentive waiters and perfect food, as it should be in the fine dining establishment. Perfect carpaccio, enjoyable sturgeon with champagne sauce and made in front of you icecream. The wine list is comprehensive and expensive, which is a norm for upscale restaurants in St Petersburg. The service is excellent. I would recommend Palkin for those who are not on a very strict budget. The dinner at Palkin is an experience which stays with you for long.

This is a fancy, & not cheap restaurant, right on Nevskiy in the heart of Piter. It’s been around for ages, & kind of reminds me of Cafe Pushkin (though not as opulent a setting…) in terms of trying to capture the “feel” of days gone by. While it sometimes felt a bit more like kids playing dress-up as a 5-star restaurant than an ACTUAL 5 star restaurant (said with all due respect…), I had a great dinner here, with excellent service & very entertaining presentation. The food itself was good, but not great, but for several courses with drinks & dessert, it was pricey by Piter standards, but pretty affordable for someone from the west. I went on a Thursday evening, on the later side (9:30pm…they do last service at 11pm), & I was 1 of only 3 occupied tables during my 2+ hours there (slow/ off-season & Covid no doubt had an impact). They have a set menu for 8100 rubles, if you want to try a bit of ALL their specialties, but I opted to just build my own little banquet. I started with the “Hare Cutlets” (little ground rabbit meatballs) that were very tasty (tho small in size…basically 4 single bites- see photo). I then moved on to the “shchi” (sheee) traditional Russian soup which was DELICIOUS! Smoked pork with sauerkraut in a very fragrant broth, capped by a puff pastry shell which is removed & set aside for you to eat, tableside. Th shchi is served with a side of sour cream & garlic, as well as a horseradish spiced sweet mustard that is FANTASTIC. Add both to the soup, & smell/ taste as the flavors explode. The soup also comes with a traditional shot of “spiced” vodka. Several flavor options are put before you, from pepper, to garlic, to pepper & honey, rye, etc. But the suggestion is to take the horseradish vodka with the shchi, so that’s what I did. After theatrically chilling the shot glass with liquid Nitrogen (a recurring theme at Palkin, you’ll find, & entertaining…), I took a spoonful of the soup, downed my ice-cold horseradish vodka shot, & continued on my culinary journey. Prior to the next course, the server brings out a bowl of warm lavender water, to which liquid nitrogen is added, creating a billowing, fragrant cloud of condensation, refreshing your sinuses/ sense of smell, as you enjoy a palate-cleanser lime sorbet that is brought out at the same time, to refresh your taste buds. Classy. & fun, heh. The next course was my main dish: the Goose pie. This is basically spiced, stewed goose meat, inside of a pastry shell, served with a red wine Demi-glacé on the side. I’m not sure I’d ever had goose before, but it had a somewhat “gamy” dark-meat fowl flavor, akin to duck (which I really like…). I was starting to get pretty full by this point, so I ate a few bites (it was good, not great…) & then had the rest wrapped “Sa boy(?)” …to go. Next came the “piece de resistance”: the famous Palkin ice cream. The servers wheel over a cart that is half mini-kitchen, half “mad scientist laboratory”, with a 4 ingredient “raw” ice cream mix of cream, sugar, egg yolks & vanilla (in a pitcher, in liquid form…). The server then dons goggles & gloves, & adds liquid nitrogen to a bottom silver bowl (double boiler style) then adds the ice cream mix to the bowl above it & whisks it for a minute or so, and…voila! Instant ice cream. Pretty cool. They quick freeze some raspberry’s which they then “shatter” over the top, along with some raspberry purée that you can pour over the ice cream, which is resting on top of some golden cake. The whole combination is really delicious, & the ice cream has a texture/ flavor somewhere between custard & gelato. This ain’t no Häagen-Dazs, it’s much much better, heh. With a couple whiskeys, some sparkling water, a coke & waaaay too much food w/ dessert, plus tax & tip, the meal was a little under 9100 rubles (currently around $125). Again, high by Piter standards, but for a great “dinner & a show” with some very cool “flourishes”, & very kind & welcoming service, in English no less, the expense was well worth it. Check this place out for a very memorable night out in SPb!