ST. PETERSBURG - St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn - page 98

$$ M Hotel, a good value, has 61 very central rooms tucked away in a quiet courtyard
off Pereulok Krylova, a narrow street that runs between Sadovaya Ulitsa and Ploshchad
Ostrovskogo a block south of Nevsky Prospekt and the Gostiny Dvor Metro stop (May and
July-Sept: Sb-3,200 R, Db-4,600-5,200 R; prices rise in June and drop Oct-April, high-
er prices are for larger rooms, extra bed-1,000 R, visa invitation-800 R, non-smoking,
air-con, elevator, free Internet access and Wi-Fi; official address is Sadovaya Ulitsa 22/2,
but entrance is through archway at Pereulok Krylova 2; tel. [phone], www.mhotelspb.ru ,
sales@mhotelspb-ru ).
$$ Hotel Kristoff is very close to the Vladimirskaya Metro station in an authentic, re-
spectable residential neighborhood. It has no elevator, but all 31 rooms are either one or
two floors above street level (mid-May to July: Sb-5,300 R, Db-6,200 R; mid-April to mid-
May and Aug-mid-Sept: Sb-4,300 R, Db-5,200 R; prices drop in winter, extra bed-900 R,
visa invitation-500 R, non-smoking, air-con, free Internet access and Wi-Fi, Zagorodny
Prospekt 9, tel. & fax [phone], www.kristoff.ru/en , [e-mail] ).
Hostel
$ Hostel Life, with 68 beds in 15 rooms, is the pick of St. Petersburg's many youth hos-
tels—it's competently run, affiliated with Hostelling International, and has a super location
just off Nevsky. You have to ring the bell and take the elevator to the fourth floor (4-bed
dorms-1,000 R, 6-bed dorms-900 R, 8-bed dorms-800 R, D-2,700 R, visa invitation-600
R, includes sheets and breakfast, non-smoking, elevator, free Internet access and Wi-Fi,
kitchen, laundry facilities, lockers; at Nevsky Prospekt 47, but enter just around corner on
Vladimirsky Prospekt; tel. & fax [phone], www.hostel-life.ru , [e-mail] ) .
Eating in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg has a huge selection of eating options, and it's easy to find attractive cafés
and restaurants—but hard to find ones that are value-priced. The listings below are all
standouts in location or value for money, and all have English-language menus. Many
cafés offer speedy, convenient light meals. Russians are big on soups and appetizers, and
it's perfectly reasonable to order two or three of these at a meal and skip the main dishes.
Some restaurants have “business lunch” specials, served until 15:30 or 16:00.
Russian Food
You'll find many cafés serving sandwiches, light meals, salads, and crepes (bliny) with
both sweet and savory fillings. A restaurant usually has higher prices and a more formal
atmosphere.
Russians love soup—popular kinds are borscht (made with beet-based broth), ukha
(with fish), shchi (cabbage-based), and solyanka (meat soup). Russian cuisine is also heavy
on small dishes that we might think of as appetizers or sides, such as pelmeni and vareniki
(types of dumplings), kasha (buckwheat groats) prepared in various ways, bliny, and high-
calorie salads. As in Italy, the main dishes tend to be the least exciting part of the meal.
You'll see beef stroganoff and chicken Kiev on menus at touristy restaurants, but these
dishes are rarely served in Russian homes—they were both introduced to Russia in the