St. Petersburg. Not Florida, Russia!

Last week was spring break so my niece and I took advantage of the incredible travel deals available right now and took a quick trip to St. Petersburg, Russia!  I'm sure I will be sharing lots more highlights from our trip but today I have to post a bit about the food.  Before we left, several people, including a few Russians living in here in Atlanta, warned me not to expect much from the food.  I was fine with that but given the multiple comments I had no idea what to expect.

On our first night in town we decided to eat at a cozy Georgian restaurant, Rustaveli, which was located just a few doors down from our hotel. WOW!  We ordered several items but I fell in love with the eggplant with walnuts! In case you are interested in trying a few dishes, check out this website with recipes for Georgian cuisine including the eggplant with walnuts.

Luckily the waiter spoke 7 languages, including English and he helped us make selections.

After a night and half-day of traveling, we were ready for a cozy dinner.

The recipe for these dumplings can be found on the website link I shared in the post.  Aren't these dumplings adorable?

This eggplant walnut appetizer was amazing!

And of course, Georgian wine.

We also enjoyed a restaurant called Stolle that serves up a version of Russian fast food.  This little cafe could have been easily overlooked but because several of the locals kept recommending it, we decided to eat lunch and try a "pie."   At Stolle, you can enjoy pies filled with rabbit, cabbage, salmon, apple, black currant and lots of other fillings but get there early.  By mid-afternoon they sell out of some of the many offerings.  

Do you love blinis?  I do even though I don't care so much for pancakes.  Little blinis are just the right size for me and I love the variety of toppings that can accompany blinis.  Every day we had blinis for breakfast and of course before we left town I had to try authentic beef stroganoff.

One of the restaurants where we dined put our bill inside the nesting doll when it was time to pay the check.  How cute!

I'm back home, having gained two pounds,  but we had so much fun trying some traditional as well as new dishes. 

P.S.  Just in case you are wondering, yes, I enjoyed several bowls of borscht too!