Strelka

Address: 14, Bersenevskaya Embankment, Moscow, Russia
Tel: +7 (495) 771 74 16
Website: view Strelka’s website
Style: Cocktail bar

Review

The Chocolate Factory District of Moscow, on the island in the Moscow River, is the site on which the well-loved Red October chocolate factory once stood, turning out bars for the Russian people for over a hundred and thirty years until it closed its doors in early 2008.

In its place there are plans for a great redevelopment said to include residential accommodation and commercial property worth upwards of £16,000 per square metre. In the meantime, however, this is Moscow's warehouse district and is home to art galleries, studios and, of course, a series of great bars.

On the north side of the island facing across the Moscow River from the rebuilt (and hugely impressive) Cathedral of Christ our Saviour, is the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design. As part of the facilities, the Strelka Bar houses one or two of Moscow's top bartenders, so the drinks are good and, as you would expect from its setting, the bar is sleek and remarkably well-designed, with a strong influence of 1960s lines and colours.

The cocktail menu is original and well made, however it is the quality food that takes you by surprise. For most bars in Moscow, food is very important and here is no different. The all-day breakfast from 9am serves a range of Eggs Benedict and Florentine with Walnut Toast and paired with the Mini-Bloody Mary is a welcome cure for the dregs of the previous, inevitably long night.