1 post tagged “russian”
The very FIRST thing you will notice when you step into this restaurant is that it is old and it looks as if it has seen better years. However, all these just adds more charm to this place. It is almost as if you've gone into another time period, a time capsule of sorts. Everything is almost like how it was when it opened in 1986. I heard even the staff remained pretty much the same.
Here's the thing. Even though everything in this restaurant is old, it does not stop people from waiting outside the restaurant before it opens for lunch hour. When I got there today, there were about ten people waiting outside, for the slow and magical movement of the elderly staff to come over and flip the sign from "Closed" to "Open".
The second thing you will notice is that the restaurant is very dimly lighted. There are lots of nice and no doubt pretty lamps with yellow lights hanging overhead you if you have a seat at the sides, but they are still not bright enough. I guess it is a good place for a romantic date since it is quite dark and you can hide any facial imperfections. It is also good to hide oily food (if any) or dusty and dirty corners (if any).
Everyone settled in very quickly and everyone seemed to be a regular there. Orders were taken very quickly, deeming the menu almost redundant. The service there by the more mature waiters and waitresses are fast, efficient and chop chop. This is not a place to complain about their service. Sometimes they smile at you, sometimes they don't. But they are in no way unfriendly. They have just been working in this line and this same restaurant for many years.
We had escargots for appetizers.
They have half dozen portions and a dozen portions. The escargots had melted butter all over it, and when you bite into it, you could be mistaken into thinking you're biting into a really good mushroom . The flesh is just the right amount of thickness and it is very nice to bite into it. (Yes, I know I am repeating, but I have no other ways to describe how it feels like)
We ordered their famous Borsch soup too.
That dollop of white white thing is sour cream. This soup is tomato based, and there are cabbage, onions and beef pieces inside it. I would say the soup is very delicious and tasty. For people who love cabbage soup, this is a fantastic soup. The soup can be described as slightly on the heavier side, but it is definitely not like cream of mushroom thickness. It is light with hints of heaviness. Haha. The soup is really very intense with the tomato flavour but it is not as thick as those canned tomato drinks. And I think that is a good thing.
For our main dish, we had their all time favourite Shashlik Beef Fillet.
Its that long blackish looking thing in the middle. Blame the lightings.
When they serve it, they will bring the stick that they bbq (grilled?) the beef on and they will slide the beef off the stick and onto a sizzling plate for you. It really smells good! The beef was medium cooked and when it goes into your mouth, you can almost taste all the bbq (grilled?) goodness of the meat. The meat is tender and it is comparable to some very good lamb just that it has no lamb taste and it is not that tough.
This main dish comes with this too.
Vegetables done in some pickled way (aka a bit sourish those kind), a slice of papaya, 1/4 of a hard boiled egg, shredded cabbage, pickles, cucumber, potato and carrots. The slices of tomato and spring onion look a like thing from the previous photo came from this plate too.
For desserts, we had no more room for it. But its seems that they are well known for their Baked Alaska (which is something similar to an ice cream cake. I say something similar because I am not sure at all). Usually for Baked Alaska, they will light the top of the dessert and so it will look very pretty I guess. And for the alcoholic, Makansutra recommends their Cherry Jubilee dessert too. It has brandy inside!
Overall, an interesting place to go for a meal. After all it is a Russian restaurant, and we seldom come across restaurants like this. The Borsch soup is really good. But if you are a non beef person, the rest of their stuff are just average. Their chicken which I tried the last time was nothing great.
All these cost $85. So it's not really cheap. But the soup is very good! Haha.
Shashlik Restaurant
545 Orchard Road
#06-19 Far East Shopping Centre (Not FE Plaza)
Opening Hours:
12pm - 2pm
6.30pm - 9.30pm
Neighborhood
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