Petersburgers continue to seize the capital and transport successful St. Petersburg projects to Moscow. This time, on the site of the Ragout restaurant, the former gastronomic Mecca of the city, a new project of the St. Petersburg holding Italy Group was opened - the Italy restaurant by Mikhail Sokolov and Timur Dmitriev.
prayed place
Bolshaya Gruzinskaya, 69, has long been entrenched on the gastronomic map of Moscow - in addition to a dozen more establishments at this address, it is primarily associated with the Ragout restaurant. Italy occupied the premises in which a few years ago, with the confident hand of Alexei Zimin, there was a small big revolution in Moscow gastronomy. Passing by velvet chairs and wooden tables, you involuntarily imagine the interior of the former main restaurant of the city: here was a bar, tables were set like this, and here the waiters took out food ... Italy turned out to be simple, bright, minimalistic, but quite serious: velvet chairs on wooden legs in burgundy and emerald tones, a large wine cabinet, mirrors, pink sofas and glass chandeliers that look like compounds of molecules. In fact, something similar to an expensive dining room, and this is really wonderful, because, on the one hand, it does not oblige you to anything, but on the other hand, it still creates the feeling that you are in a restaurant. The design turned out to be stricter, more expensive and much more elegant than in similar projects in St. Petersburg (there are four of them), and this is understandable: Moscow is still more demanding, although it is precisely because of the St. Petersburg simplicity and sincerity that everyone here is a little sad.
Good Italian food
It seemed that almost every second restaurant in Moscow was either Japanese or Italian: a relic of the 2000s, the abundance of Two Sticks and Il Patio left their mark. In fact, this is not at all the case, and you will not find good Italian restaurants in the afternoon with fire, but you can’t go to Probka alone. And finally, the latter has a worthy competitor - only less pompous and not so expensive.
Brand chef Evgeny Engelke is responsible for the cuisine in Italy, the menu turned out to be very large, and it is difficult to make a choice. For starters - sections of salads, appetizers, soups and bruschettas, each with a dozen items. Bruschettas are all good - the bread is soft, with a crispy crust, the fillings are also not spared. In starters you can find excellent vitello tonnato and eggplant alla parmigiana, in salads, of course, burrata with tomatoes. But the main thing in Italy, of course, is the dough and everything connected with it. On a separate page, the kingdom of carbohydrates is spread - and it is for them that you need to go here in the first place. First, pasta: here it is of all kinds and variations, it is made by hand in the kitchen, and this is important for the restaurant. In the menu, in addition to two dozen different pastas, there is also pasta grande - a very large portion for two, closed pasta, gnocchi and risotto.
The guest is offered to choose the type of pasta on their own: spaghetti, fusilli, tagliolini, maccheroni, casarecce and tagliatelle. I must say that the pasta is really good, cooked al dente and perfectly balanced in the filling. There are no questions about pizza either, besides, it is served either whole or in half, and this greatly simplifies life and the stomach. If you have already tried all the pasta, then in Italy there are two more large sections with meat and fish, as well as side dishes, but still take spaghetti!
Wine is served by the glass or brought in bottles. The wine list was compiled by Sophia Bracalia, and in Italy there are about 60 wine labels, both Old World and New.
The dessert menu is good, the confectioner Evgenia Lappo is responsible for it, but it’s better to take tea not in Italian for sweets - there is a large collection of Chinese varieties, and illy coffee is poured, and this, I must say, does not suit everyone.
Feast of carbohydrates and the main alternative to Probka
Italy turned out to be excellent in all aspects. The pleasant interior is designed for every day, and here you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner with equal pleasure. In the morning there is a morning menu, in the afternoon they make a discount on the main one. The cuisine is simple and understandable, the quality of the products is not to be criticized: what they can, they bring from Italy, the execution is, if not better than in the homeland of pasta, then definitely not worse. It seems that Probka has a main competitor, because in terms of space and the level of food, Italy can easily compete with Aram Mnatsakanov’s restaurant, but it immediately wins at least in terms of the average check, which is still much lower here. In a word, bellissima.
tell friends
In June, the Italian restaurant Italy will open at Bolshaya Gruzinskaya, 69. This is the second ITALY GROUP project in Moscow by Mikhail Sokolov and Timur Dmitriev: following the Belgian gastronomic pub Bruxelles, they bring their flagship concept to the capital, which began the history of the restaurant group in St. Petersburg 8 years ago.
Visually, Moscow Italy is somewhat different from its four predecessors: the interior of the restaurant turned out to be even more modern and minimalistic . Here, preference was given to natural materials - light wood, forged elements, discreet fabrics. The mood is set by large panoramic windows, a small open kitchen area and a wine cabinet suspended right under the ceiling. The main hall is designed for 65 seats, another 40 can accommodate a summer terrace . The space is organized in such a way that it is comfortable to accommodate both two people and a company at a large common table.
Italian cuisine is based on quality products, carefully selected during blind tastings. Every day here handmade homemade pasta, pizza and ravioli using flour from hard varieties wheat. Be sure to try tortellini with ricotta and spinach in al tomato sauce, signature pasta with shrimp, tomatoni and Pernod Ricard. There are also three types of Grande pasta on the menu: garganelli with rabbit ragout, pasta with vegetable stew and Calabrian salami and pakcheri "Al Pomidoro" with stracciatella. As in Italy, it is brought in a large plate with a serving for the company. Another one the pride of the restaurant is thin-crust pizza . Here, everyone's favorite "Margarita", and the original pizza on rye dough with parma and goat cheese - a total of 11 types.
Pizza 4 cheese
Also on the menu is Italy's brand chef Evgeny Engelke included dishes that have long been loved by guests of Italy in St. Petersburg , supplementing them with some seasonal positions. Among them are bruschetta with stracciatella and tomatoni, agnolini with veal and parma in broth, gazpacho with avocado and crab, quinoa salad with avocado and cod with cauliflower and fennel cream.
Guests of Italy will be able to order extra virgin olive oil tasting set from three regions of Italy - Liguria, Sicily and Tuscany. It will be served with balsamic and warm ciabatta. After the tasting, any of the oils you like can be purchased with you.
For those who like to start their day beautifully and tastefully, Italy serves breakfast - from 9:00 to 13:00 on weekdays and from 9:00 to 15:00 on weekends . If you want something special, you should try scramble with black truffle, stracciatella with seasonal fruits, millet porridge With baked pumpkin and honey and Piedmontese sweet sandwich with chocolate and ricotta. Fans of the classics will love syrniki with sour cream and homemade jam and egg Benedict with salmon.
Spoiled holiday
Sit back, readers, a fascinating story awaits you about the experience of visiting the Italy restaurant on Bolshoy Prospekt.
It all started with the fact that on February 2 I decided to go to an abstract view restaurant in St. Petersburg for St. Valentine's Day. I used the search engine and chose Italy on the Bolshoi, especially since my girlfriend has long wanted to go to another restaurant of the same chain. Everything is standard - I called to book a table and made an emphasis on the fact that I want a seat next to the window, if the view allows. Two weeks before the date, this was unlikely to be a problem, and the girl on the phone convincingly answered “Yes, of course we will make a note!”.
On February 13, realizing the general workload of restaurants during this period, I decided to call myself and clarify whether my table reservation was still valid and whether everything was fine with the seats by the window. I was again assured that the reservation was checked and a gorgeous view was waiting for me.
On February 14 in the evening at the indicated time, when I arrived at the restaurant, I found that all the seats by the windows were occupied. My first thought was that there was also a second hall, and when the second hall was not found, I already decided that we would be seated with a couple at a six-seater table. But everything turned out to be simpler - we were simply seated against the wall, near the passage from the kitchen overlooking a large mirror. To my reasonable question that a mistake had crept in somewhere and I called TWICE to book a table by the window with a beautiful view, the girl at the reception began to fumble in the tablet. And then it turned out that exactly two Dmitrys booked a table for 20.00, and employees ask the guests for mobile phone numbers “for show”.
My blood boiled and only the presence of my companion restrained my emotions. Of course, the administrator immediately ran up to us, offered drinks at the expense of the establishment and assured us that as soon as the table by the window was free, we would be transplanted.
Drinks were brought, we made an order, which was brought quickly enough, taking into account the peak load of the kitchen at that moment. Here I want to thank the kitchen staff - all the dishes and drinks were really tasty. Closer to ordering dessert, I noticed that one of the tables near the window was free, and asked one of the girls, who seemed to be no longer a waiter, but not yet an administrator, to transfer us, as previously promised. The girl disappeared somewhere, under the pretext of finding out if there was a reservation on that table. After five seven minutes, images of violent activity came and with a sad look said that there was a reservation on the table for 22 hours, despite the fact that before that time there were still 50 minutes left and obviously we would not drink tea for so long. At the same time, this table was occupied by other guests who had obviously just arrived at the restaurant. Of course, no one was going to transfer us anywhere from the very beginning, it was just necessary to reduce the “heat of passions”.
The dessert was delicious and it was time to leave the establishment that ruined all the plans for that evening. The entire restaurant team already at 10 pm was photographed on Instax by a local mime and entertained themselves with standard gossip, and as soon as the guests in the form of me and a companion began to move from the table towards the wardrobe under the prompter whisper of the administrator “Goodbye! Goodbye!" a dozen people around the counter began to break into smiles and “all_good_goodbye.”
This is such a visit. There is only one conclusion. If you book a table at this restaurant, be prepared to be "dumped", so try to book at the same time a place in other establishments nearby so that you do not have to endure such an attitude. It may seem to someone that an elephant is swollen out of a fly, but it was on that day that an important event was planned, and it was in the restaurant, which suggested some privacy and a certain atmosphere. Because of one ridiculous incident, the whole plan went down the drain.
