In Moscow you eat well, you eat cheap and, if you splurge a little, you eat in some of the best restaurants in the world. The dining scene runs from Russian fast food (Teremok, Kroshka Kartoshka) and Soviet-style stolovayas with full meals under 700 rubles, all the way to panoramic restaurants like White Rabbit or the classic Café Pushkin. On top of that, there’s a huge presence of Caucasus cuisine (especially Georgian), which for many travelers ends up being the best food they try in the city. In this guide I’ll explain which type of restaurant to pick for your budget, what happened to the international chains, and how to get by without speaking Russian.
Restaurant types in Moscow: prices and quick overview
To give you a quick reference, this is the breakdown I always use when people ask me where to eat in Moscow. Prices are approximate per person, no alcohol, in rubles (1 USD ≈ 85 ₽):
| Type | What you find | Price per person |
|---|---|---|
| Russian fast food | Blinis, stuffed potatoes, pelmeni | 400 – 700 ₽ |
| Stolovayas and buffets | Soviet-style home-cooked Russian food | 500 – 1,000 ₽ |
| International chain replacements | Vkusno i Tochka, Rostic’s, Burger King | 350 – 600 ₽ |
| Mid-range (Georgian, Uzbek…) | Caucasus and ex-USSR cuisine | 1,500 – 2,500 ₽ |
| Charming sit-downs | Modern Russian, polished setting | 2,500 – 5,000 ₽ |
| Fine dining | Tasting menus, views, big-name chefs | 5,000 ₽ and up |
My advice is to mix it up: a stolovaya at lunch one day, a Georgian place another night and, if you want to treat yourself, book a panoramic restaurant or one of the Russian-cuisine classics.
A few practical things before you head out to eat in Moscow
Before going into each restaurant type, there are five practical things worth knowing:
- Hours. Russians eat lunch from noon to around 4 pm and dinner between 7 pm and 11 pm. Restaurants really start filling up around 8 pm. Many central spots stay open all day with no break between meals.
- Language. Chains, stolovayas and tourist-area restaurants in the center have an English menu; neighborhood restaurants may not. In a mid-range or upscale place there’s usually at least one waiter who manages in English. One option that always works: translate the menu with your phone.
- Payments. Your Visa and Mastercard cards don’t work in Russia since 2022. You’ll need to bring cash (rubles) or get a Russian MIR card. Almost every restaurant takes cash without issue, and the more touristy ones also accept MIR.
- Tipping. Standard is 5–10 % if you liked the service. No tipping at stolovayas or fast food.
- Reservations. At the top restaurants you’ll need to book ahead (especially White Rabbit, Twins Garden, Café Pushkin). I explain how a bit further down.
What about international chains? What closed and what’s there now
After the conflict in Ukraine, many international chains pulled out of Russia. That said: most of them reopened almost immediately under new local brands, with the same staff, the same locations and pretty much the same menu. Here’s what you’ll find:
- Vkusno i Tochka («Вкусно — и точка», «Tasty and that’s it»). The McDonald’s replacement. It took over the same locations and most of the menu is virtually identical: the «Big Hit» replaces the Big Mac, the «Grand Deluxe» replaces the Quarter Pounder. Full combo around 350-500 rubles.
- Rostic’s. The KFC replacement. Same wings, same bucket. Some locations still have the KFC sign because they continue to operate as franchises.
- Stars Coffee. The Starbucks replacement. A coffee chain with a green-and-white logo that looks very similar. Mid-size coffee for 250-400 rubles.
- Burger King and Subway. These are still operating under their original names: the parent companies wanted to leave but the local franchisees refused, and there are still about 800 Burger Kings and 450 Subways across Russia.
My honest take: if you’re going to travel to Russia, don’t waste time on these chains. You have local options that are far more interesting at the same price.
Russian fast food: Teremok and Kroshka Kartoshka
If what you’re after is eating fast, cheap and trying something genuinely Russian, the two chains you should know are Teremok and Kroshka Kartoshka. You’ll find them in central areas, inside the big shopping malls and at some metro stations.
Teremok: blinis for every taste
Teremok.ru («Теремок») is the most widespread Russian fast food chain. Their flagship product is blinis (Russian stuffed crepes) in sweet and savory versions: cheese, ham, salmon, cottage cheese, berries, honey, and even caviar. They also serve hot dishes like pelmeni, borsch soup and Olivier salad (the original «Russian salad»). To drink, I recommend trying kvas, a fermented bread-based drink that’s about as Russian as it gets.
A blini with a drink runs around 350-500 rubles, and a full meal won’t go over 700 rubles. English menu, photos of the dishes, very easy to order.
Kroshka Kartoshka: the potato, in every form imaginable
Kroshka Kartoshka («Крошка Картошка», «Little Potato») revolves around a very simple idea: a large baked potato wrapped in foil, split open and stuffed with whatever you choose: melted cheese, mushrooms, meat, chicken, salmon, shrimp, herbs… They’re filling, cheap and Russian in spirit. They also have soups and salads. A stuffed potato with a drink comes to around 400-600 rubles.
If you want to dive deeper into typical Russian dishes before deciding what to order, I recommend this article: What do you eat in Russia? Typical dishes and Russian restaurants.
Stolovayas and buffets: eating cheap and like a local
Stolovayas (столовая, «canteen» in Russian) are the best way to eat home-style Russian cooking without spending much or speaking the language. They work as a self-service: you grab a tray, walk along the line of hot and cold dishes, point at what you want, pay at the register at the end and sit down to eat. There’s no menu to decipher and the food is in plain sight.
Three options I recommend:
Stolovaya 57 (inside GUM, Red Square)
If you’re visiting Red Square or the Kremlin, head up to the third floor of the GUM galleries and step into Stolovaya 57. It’s a stolovaya with full Soviet styling — period posters, stainless steel counters and home-cooked Russian food: borsch, Olivier salad, seledka pod shuboy (herring «in a fur coat» of beetroot and mayo), Russian beef cutlet, chicken Kiev, pelmeni, kompot… You pay for what you take. A full meal with drink and dessert usually comes to 600-900 rubles. On the same floor you’ll also find Café Festivalnoye, another very cheap option with pizzas and sandwiches.
Heads-up: at peak hours there’s a queue and the staff usually doesn’t speak English. But that’s exactly the fun of it: you really feel like you’ve stepped inside the USSR of the 1970s.
Mu Mu: Russian buffet across the city
Mu Mu («Му-Му») is the most widespread buffet chain in Moscow. Easy to spot thanks to the black-and-white cow at the entrance of every location. It works just like a stolovaya but a bit more modern and clean: tray, pick, pay. They cover the full range of Russian classics (soups, salads, meats, pelmeni, vareniki). A meal here runs around 600-900 rubles. There are locations all over the center, including Arbat.
Grabli: a step up
Grabli («Грабли», «Rake») is probably the best value-for-money buffet in Moscow. The locations feel nicer than Mu Mu’s, with sections for pasta, wok, salads, soups, grill and desserts. The food is better prepared and the indoor café is a good spot for a relaxed coffee after lunch. Here you’re looking at 800-1,200 rubles for a full meal.
Georgian and Caucasus cuisine: Moscow’s biggest surprise
If I had to pick one kind of restaurant in Moscow apart from the Russian ones, it would be Georgian. That’s my number-one recommendation for almost any traveler: the food is full of flavor, hearty, social (dishes are shared) and prices are very reasonable for what you get. They’re absolutely everywhere across the city.
These are the dishes you can’t miss:
- Khachapuri (хачапури). Bread filled with melted cheese. The most famous version is khachapuri adjaruli, boat-shaped with a raw egg in the middle that mixes with the butter and the still-hot cheese. Highly photogenic and very filling.
- Khinkali (хинкали). Large dumplings filled with spiced meat and broth. You eat them with your hands: bite a small hole, sip the broth, then finish the rest. Never cut them with knife and fork — that’s a sacrilege for Georgians.
- Badrijani. Eggplant rolls stuffed with walnut paste, garlic and herbs, topped with pomegranate seeds. Fresh and very aromatic.
- Lobio. Red bean stew with spices, served with cornbread mchadi.
- Shashlik or mtsvadi. Grilled skewers of marinated meat.
Almost every Georgian restaurant in Moscow has an English menu, has a cozy atmosphere and runs around 1,500-2,500 rubles per person if you share dishes. A reliable and very affordable chain is Khachapuri, with several locations in central areas. In the Arbat area you’ll find the classic Genatsvale, known for decades and decked out in a «Georgian village» style.
Beyond Georgian, in Moscow you’ll also find lots of Uzbek restaurants (kebab, plov or Uzbek rice, samsa, lagman) and Armenian ones (dolma, spiced kebabs, lavash baked fresh). If you like spiced cooking and grilled meat, these places are a fantastic choice.
Modern Russian cuisine and Moscow’s top restaurants
Now we’re stepping up a level. Over the last ten years, Moscow has gone through a real culinary revolution and today has several restaurants that have appeared on the World’s 50 Best lists. If you feel like splurging, these are my recommendations:
Café Pushkin: the must-do classic
Probably the most photographed restaurant in Moscow. It’s on Tverskoy Boulevard, decked out like a 19th-century pharmacy and library, and it’s open 24 hours. It serves classic Russian cuisine at a high level: blini with caviar, borsch with beef, pelmeni, duck with apples, vareniki… If you go for lunch, the daily menu is more affordable (around 2,500-3,500 rubles per person); at dinner à la carte you’ll easily hit 4,500-6,000 rubles. Worth booking a few days in advance.
White Rabbit: modern Russian cuisine with 360° views
White Rabbit sits on the 16th floor of Smolensky Passage, under a glass dome with 360° views over Moscow. Chef Vladimir Mukhin recovers forgotten Russian ingredients and techniques and reinterprets them in a modern key. It spent several years on the World’s 50 Best list (number 13 in 2019). Tasting menus or à la carte. Dinner runs around 7,000-9,000 rubles per person without alcohol. Book several days in advance, especially if you want a window table at sunset.
Twins Garden: the most fine-dining of the bunch
The project of twin chefs Ivan and Sergey Berezutsky (on Strastnoy Boulevard) earned two Michelin stars before the guide suspended its Russian edition. They work «from seed to plate»: 70 % of the produce comes from their own farm in Kaluga. Tasting menu only, around 9,500-12,000 rubles per person, and the wine list is one of the largest in Russia. For a serious gastronomic experience, this is my first pick.
Beluga: caviar and vodka next to Red Square
On the ground floor of GUM, Beluga is the spot to try Russian caviar properly served. It has a wide menu of Russian cuisine, but the reason to walk in is the caviar and the vodka pairing flights. A small 15 g tasting of salmon caviar with vodka runs around 800-1,000 rubles. If you want sturgeon caviar prices climb sharply (3,500-7,000 rubles per 15 g, depending on type). It’s probably the most comfortable spot in the center to live the classic caviar-and-vodka experience without going to a top luxury restaurant.
Dr. Zhivago: Russian cuisine with a Soviet wink
Right across from the Kremlin, in Hotel National. Red-and-white decor with references to the 1930s-50s and a well-executed Russian menu: borsch, pelmeni, beef Stroganoff, kotlety po-kievski, blinis with caviar. Open 24 hours. A meal here runs around 3,000-4,500 rubles per person. It’s an «easy» recommendation: polished setting, good food, unbeatable location and always full of tourists and locals.
Other names you’ll see repeated in any current ranking: Selfie (auteur cuisine, in Novinsky), Sakhalin (seafood specialty, in Hotel Azimut with Moskva river views), Sixty (in the Federation Tower of Moscow City, spectacular views from 256 m), Bolshoi and Turandot (palace-like decor, on Tverskoy).
How to book a restaurant in Moscow
At the top restaurants I just mentioned (White Rabbit, Twins Garden, Café Pushkin, Selfie, Beluga, Sixty…) booking several days ahead is a must, especially on weekends and for tables with views. There are basically three ways to do it: through your hotel, on the restaurant’s own website, or via a booking platform or Yandex Maps.
I cover everything in this article: How to book a restaurant in Moscow, St. Petersburg or other Russian cities.
Quick takeaways
How much does it cost to eat in Moscow?
It depends on the kind of place. At a stolovaya or Russian fast food chain you can eat for 500-900 rubles. At a mid-range restaurant (Georgian, Uzbek, neighborhood Russian) it runs around 1,500-2,500 rubles per person without alcohol. At Moscow’s top restaurants dinner starts from 5,000 rubles and up.
Do they speak English in Moscow restaurants?
At touristy restaurants in the center, at the chains and at many Georgian places, yes. At stolovayas and neighborhood restaurants, not necessarily. At a mid-tier or higher restaurant there’s usually at least one waiter who manages.
Will my Visa or Mastercard work at restaurants?
No. Visa and Mastercard cards issued outside Russia haven’t worked since 2022. You’ll need to pay in cash (rubles) or get a Russian MIR card.
What’s the most famous restaurant in Moscow?
The two names that show up on every list are Café Pushkin (classic Russian cuisine, on Tverskoy Boulevard) and White Rabbit (modern Russian cuisine with 360° views from the 16th floor, on Smolenskaya Square).
Are there international restaurants in Moscow?
Yes, lots of them: Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Mediterranean, Indian… But my recommendation is to use the trip to try Russian, Georgian, Uzbek and Armenian cuisine, which is what really sets the city apart.
Is there McDonald’s, KFC or Starbucks in Moscow?
Not as such — they pulled out of the country in 2022. But local replacements opened in the same locations: Vkusno i Tochka (McDonald’s), Rostic’s (KFC) and Stars Coffee (Starbucks). Burger King and Subway are still operating as themselves.
I hope this guide helps you plan where to eat in Moscow. If it was useful, share it, and if you have a favorite restaurant recommendation, drop it in the comments. ❤️
