Cuisine

No one ever came to Russia for the food alone but that does not mean you won't have some really good meals.

A substantial breakfast (served at around 8 a.m.) will provide you with enough energy to tackle even the heaviest sightseeing schedule. The first meal of the day consists of fruit juice, cold meat or cheese, eggs, bread, butter, jam and yoghurt.
It may also include blinis (sometimes stuffed with meat or curds) or fritters in sour cream or honey.

Lunch (around 1 p.m.) will be of similarly large size consisting of at least three courses:

• ZAKUSKI isthe Russian name for hors d'oeuvres which consist of some or all of the following: a selection of cold meat, sausages, salmon, various vegetables, sturgeon and caviare.

Processed caviare varies in colour - black, red or golden and also in the size of the roe. It is eaten with bread and butter or served in blinis (thin pancakes).

• SALADS traditionally proceed the main course. Following are the salads recommended as local specialities:

- Crab meat salad
- Fern and onion salad
- Salmon and tomato salad
- Mixed green salads
- Meat or chicken salads with potatoes, egg, green peas, relished richly with mayonnaise.

• SOUPS

Russian soups seem to be uniformly good and filling - meals in themselves with a stack of rye or wheat bread.

Best known is BORSCH: beetroot soup which often includes other vegetables (potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions and tomatoes), chopped ham and a swirl of sour cream. When in Russia help yourself to Moscow, Ukrainian and Siberian borsch.

SHCHI or cabbage soup cooked without potatoes, is the traditional soup of the proletariat and was a favorite of the last Tzar Nicholas II.

RASSOLNIK is a soup of potatoes, onions and pickled vegetables.

SOLYANKA is a thick soup with potatoes, onions, olives, small cuts of beef, ham and sausages relished with lemon.

UKHA - fish soup with vegetables.

• FISH

In Khabarovsk these include salmon and local delicacy - kaluga (endemic white-meat fish of the Amur river). They can be served fried or with a creamy sauce.

• MEAT

ZHARKOYE or beef stew - meat, potatoes, carrots and mushrooms baked in a pot.

PELMENY come from Siberia. They are small dumplings filled with meat and served in a pot as a main course.

BEEF STROGANOFF - beef cuts with sour cream and mushrooms.
It is named after the famous merchant family who financed the first Siberian military expedition in the 1580s.

CHICKEN KIEV - minced and breaded chicken filled with butter.

• DRINKS

Vodka predominates, of course. Russians prescribe to drink it neat in small single shot glass at one gulp. In Khabarovsk try vodka of local manufacturers and you will never be disappointed.
Beer is also popular and the choice is wide: European and Japanese brands, made in Russia beer, local bottled beer among them.
Wines either white or red are delicious but tend to be rather sweet for the Western palate.
Russian champagne is surprisingly good and cheap.