On 5 February, Alexander Rappoport’s long-awaited new restaurant opened at the Charger. And the «long term» is not marketing: the project was maintained for almost two years because of the difficulty of putting the building into operation, where it was located. But as a result, «Mashenka» has not stopped, but has insisted, and has received the first guests in the best form — both interior and gastronomic — food.medica will not lie!
Interior
The name of the restaurant was inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, and his atmosphere took the best of life in nostalgia and warm, though sad, memories of past love. The Rappoport is a whirlwind and active, and even though we don’t see her face, the heroine «girl» in every detail, from the thick smooth braids of waitresses to looking at the curious eyes under the couch-- this detail repeats itself on the cover of the menu and in the ornament over the wine cupboards. The design was the responsibility of the ARCHPOINT Bureau, which offered space with many bruises and links to Russian culture without the shadow of the abdomen. The key part is a shpaler wall with portraits of outstanding Maria Russian history. Portraits are covered with a grid that tells images of mysterious ripples and sort of blurs their individual features.
Food
The chief chef of «Mashenka» was Peterburzetz Igor Grishekkin, who made his name in «Casta Diva» and Cococo. It’s a thoughtful and very technical chief, whose approach combines thoroughness with the creativity of the highest sample. For «Mushka,» Grisechkin spins tiny pigeons from Brussels cabbage with crab, cooks beef for gray stew, tows root for stew, like a jewel infestes a ship’s filler with a urine redhead, up to plate whiteness shines a pelt for shrubs with marble beef. And the discreet and vetted desserts of Chief Conditor Marina Raeva include such items as a wax-cream honeymoon, a Borodin tiramisu with a coriandre and a cream-brüle stone, which, when served, is bleed with almond essays — as Mashenka could splash «Brocar.»
Wine and bar
Mahaon, Geliconia, the menu of cocktails reminds me of Nabokov’s love for butterflies. The chief bartender, Alexandra Vodnica, uses beet and baked pumpkins in mixes, and her cocktails are based on moonshine, bread wine, and half-garons. The wine map produced by the chief semel of Elena Capanelli only includes Russian wine, which is civil. More than 100 labels from large producers and tiny households are proposed for selection.
