Restaurants in St Petersburg

As you might expect from St Petersburg's grandest hotel, this elegant restaurant has an opulent interior, with a stunning stained-glass ceiling. The creative Russian menu (with French flourishes) offers well-prepared sturgeon, caviar and pheasant, and there is an elaborate Sunday jazz brunch. Prices reflect the high quality of the food and the surroundings.

Lavishly decorated with botanical prints and Tsarist trim, this trendy club-cum-restaurant manages to be cool without feeling snooty or intimidating. The name means 'ginger' and the menu features some interesting Asian and Middle Eastern fusion dishes, as well as modern Russian cooking. DJs begin spinning early every evening, and keep at it until early in the morning (usually about 0200). There's a 30% discount off menu prices on weekday afternoons.

Authentic-tasting Asian food is hard to find in St Petersburg, but Sukawati fills the gap with an innovative menu of Japanese and Indonesian fusion dishes, served in a sleek modern dining room decked out with Lombok-style furniture. The business brunch is particularly good value.

This Ukrainian themed restaurant fills the belly with tasty vareniki (dumplings stuffed with soft farmer's cheese), blini (pancakes), meats, salads and glasses of gorilka - a homemade vodka. It's good hearty food and you'll be served by staff in mock-up national costumes at rough-hewn tables and chairs.

This Moscow chain is a favourite with locals for its low prices, homestyle Russian cooking and endless buffet of salads, roasted potatoes, soups, fish and more, served in a chintzy Russian village-themed dining room. The menu features all the Russian standards - grilled meats on the skewer, cutlets, blini (pancakes), and pelmeni (Siberian meat-filled dumplings). There are several branches around town, as well as this one on Nevsky prospekt, and all are open late, though not always 24 hours as advertised outside.

Inspired by the Dostoevsky novel, The Idiot is a rare vegetarian choice in St Petersburg, but patrons are just as excited by the quirky décor. Set in a moody basement, the four rooms are decorated with eclectic antique furniture and oil paintings, and bookshelves are stacked with Russian and English books. Many locals come here to while away an afternoon playing chess and backgammon. It's easy to miss the entrance - look out for the stairs leading down off naberezhnaya reki Moyki.