Reviews

BernieLevin - 18-11-2010

There's quite a few Russian restaurants in London but none can be really compared with this place. Firstly the location: right on the seashore on an island overlooking a yacht habour with mountains in the distance! Secondly the building: an ancient stonebuilt village inn with an old bar with wooden tables and barrels, a stone fireplace and piano, Russian beer adverts, decorations and wooden dolls. Thirdly the beer: a whole shelf of different Russian beers, local Real Ales served straight from the barrel, and German weissebeer. Then there's the wine and vodka: wines bought from the old Tsar's winery in Moldova and a couple of dozen Russian liqueur vodkas! So then there's the food. Here, Babushka has brought her research into the traditional dishes made before the Soviet time, and they are recreated faithfully using the finest Scottish ingredients, which can be very good indeed. So the food is on a different plane to other Russian places I've tried. There's fresh seafood and fish, in-house sausage baked with apples and lingonberries, Highland Ox as Strogonov with wild fungi or simply grilled, Red Deer venison and ranched ducks. Each main course is accompanied by latkas, sauercroute and baked red cabbage, but while the food is being cooked (it's all cooked freshly from fresh ingredients,) a magnificent salad turns up while you're waiting complete with a basket of freshly baked bread. A first course is only for the very, very hungry! My family and I ate at The Russian Tavern every day for our week's stay on the island and thoroughly enjoyed it; there was enough variety and a jolly atmosphere of guests appreciating the relaxed, almost Mediterranean atmosphere. It was notable how many French and Belgians had found the place...they always track down good food!

What's near The Russian Tavern?

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