Delicatessen

Address: Sadovaya-Karetnaya ulitsa, 20 строение 2, Moscow, Russia
Tel: +7 (495) 6993952
Website: view Delicatessen’s website
Style: Cocktail bar

Review

You can find Delicatessen tucked away on one of the busiest Moscow streets, past a barrier and through a courtyard of garages and offices. A large, half demolished brick wall disguises its presence from the peering eyes of the apartment blocks across the way and the tower-like oval entrance looks like an advertising hoarding or perhaps the entrance to the subway. Rather less intimidating is the welcome inscription above the door that reads: 'Thank you for finding us!'.

The straight staircase down to the reception is comfortingly dusty and well trodden. The door to your right opens into a bright, fairly small, but immediately homely room with light timber flooring, bookshelves lining the walls and a small collection of dark green coffee tables. The smell of fine coffee and cigarettes adds to the bohemian feel of the place, but it's the bar that gives it its indisputable character. Dark green in colour with a solid wooden top, it's very comfortable to sit at and lean on, and with the worn golden work surface and flamboyant tools on display, you could indeed be in 1940s Paris. The team here prides itself in producing a wide range of clever and delicious infusions such as Raspberry Cognac and Apricot Rhum Agricole, to name but a few, which make their take on classic cocktails unique and utterly sumptuous.

Delicatessen markets itself as 'cocktails & munchies' and the food here, as in so many Moscow bars, is very good indeed and well worth ordering at the bar while you while away a few hours.