The seasonal menu of St. Petersburg is presented in all its glory.
For VIP guests, five-star hotels in the historic center of St. Petersburg presented a special menu. According to hotel representatives, it includes dishes from pre-revolutionary Russia, including Lake Ladoga trout, pear dessert, and pancakes with black caviar.
"We have a seasonal menu in effect until June 21, which recreates the offerings in our hotel from September 1914," said a representative from one of the hotels.
According to her, the pre-revolutionary Russian menu is focused on the French cuisine of that time. As a main course, guests can choose between Lake Ladoga trout with Polish-style cauliflower and caper butter (2,100 rubles) or roasted duck breast with seasonal vegetables, Malaga sauce, and watercress salad (2,700 rubles).
The menu also includes the dessert Poire Belle-Hélène ("Beautiful Helen Pear" in French). It is noted that the name of the dessert is associated with the Paris premiere of Jacques Offenbach's operetta "La Belle Hélène" in 1864. The dish consists of a pear cooked in syrup and served with vanilla ice cream under hot chocolate sauce. Its cost is 1,300 rubles.
In another hotel located near Nevsky Prospect, reporters were informed that the current menu of the historical Art Nouveau-style restaurant remains relevant during the days of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. It includes, in particular, signature dishes with black caviar. Ten grams of the delicacy combined with pancakes and sour cream costs between 2,600 and 7,000 rubles, depending on the variety.
At the SPIEF, not only the elite of society gather, but also those who profit from them — and this does not only refer to the fortunate hoteliers and restaurateurs.
The rates for an evening that flows into the night were about 200,000 to 500,000 rubles last year, a source suggested.
