Named after communal housing in the days of the USSR, Kommunalka features an authentic menu, homemade vodka and a washing line

The first thing to know about the new Kommunalka restaurant in Moscow is that the experience is all about nostalgia rather than fine dining. The name, Kommunalka, means “communal apartment” – a flat shared by two or more families of the kind that was widespread in the Soviet Union until the 1980s.

This appeal to Soviet sentiment has been tried before, most successfully at Russian restaurant magnate Arkady Novikov’s bar Kamchatka, but Kommunalka takes it one step further.

The design is so authentic that it’s hard to believe you’re in 2016. The restaurant is in a former communal apartment, with its original layout and even some of the décor. Walls are covered with 1970s newspapers and there’s plenty of Soviet paraphernalia, including old radios, television sets, scales and jars with pickles scattered around.

The main room looks like a kitchen with utensils in display, a small collection of samovars and even some washing drying on a line in the corner.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kommunalka’s main dining room would have been home to one family. Photograph: Moscow Times

The cuisine is made up of a collection of dishes from the former republics of the USSR, with the chef making a decent attempt at getting the best of them on the menu.



But the restaurant does have one innovation that did not exist in Soviet times – a salad bar.

The bar, spread out in an old glass display case in the front room, has all the Soviet classics. There’s Olivier salad (boiled potatoes and a lot of mayonnaise), vinaigrette (boiled beets, carrots and plenty of vinegar), mimosa (canned fish, potatoes and eggs), and various kinds of pickles — all for just 85 roubles for 100 grams.

There are traditional dishes such as borsch and shchi (cabbage soup) in small pots (170 roubles), as well as more unusual ones such as yozhiki (hedgehog) meatballs with rice served in tomato sauce (380 roubles), and makarony po-flotski (macaroni, navy style) (390 roubles).

And of course, Kommunalka also has a long list of homemade vodka infusions: try any five of them for just 500 roubles. Don’t miss quince, prune and chokeberry.

4/4 Strastnoi Bulvar

Metro Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya

A version of this article first appeared on The Moscow Times

