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Went to meet with my Jap class friends to check out a new Russian restaturant Mayuko-san,our Jap class teacher, found in Kichijouji. Since we all loved Russian food the first time we tasted it in Smetana in Kunitachi, we headed to Kichijouji to sample more of this exciting cuisine. The theme from 007 From Russia with Love can’t stop playing inside my head

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The restaurant’s name was Cafe Russia. The name screams of its ethnicity so you won’t be able to miss it’s Russian The restaurant is actually Russian-Georgian but being the uncultured me, I wouldn’t have known the difference The restaurant is just a 5-minute walk from the Kichijouji station so catching the last train going home would not be a problem.

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The restaurant has a relaxing cozy pink interior. Marina-san (the owner, I think) came all the way from Moscow and it was very amusing to listen to our friend Nas-chan speak her native tongue to place our orders It pays to  have a Russian friend who can choose everything to be ordered since we have absolutely  no idea what should taste good Love you, Nas-chan

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Nas-chan ordered the Russian soup borsch/борщ which is a red vegetable soup made from beets, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and onions topped with smetana/сметана or sour cream cheese. This soup, served hot is sweet, sour and salty (♪ nanonano… ♪). The sour cream cheese makes it perfect. It is by far one of the best soups I’ve tasted in my life. I loved it

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Our appetizers were mushroom pickles whose name I forgot and can’t somehow search in the internet and Ajapsandali, Georgia’s version of the Ratatouille . This is by far the best ratatouille I’ve ever tasted. The combination of eggplants, bell peppers, tomatoes and seasoning was perfect. We ate these with Georgian rye bread and Pirozhki/пирожки, baked buns filled with meat or vegetables.  Pirozhki is not far from the Empanada

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Other stuff we ordered were beef stroganoff (about the “safest” one we ordered ),  Suluguni (I’m not sure about this name though ) – baked tomato topped with a thick layer of cheese and Russian Kebab which according to Nas-chan is called Comlula. All of these we downed with Georgian sparkling wine and that despite of already having poor results in my liver exam I can’t help but get more refills because they were just so damn sublime

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We ended our meal with Russian apple cake and Russian tea with rose  jam. The jam was to be put into the tea to act as its sweetener. It was my first time to taste rose jam or any jam from a flower for that matter. I didn’t know flower jams actually existed. I never thought rose petals could taste that delicious either. I’ve tasted my mother’s roses when I was a kid and don’t remember them as pleasant I liked the rose jam so much that I bought a whole jar for myself to enjoy during my tea time

It was a great night spent with great friends. I would definitely go back to try more of their dishes. Perhaps I’ll muster enough guts next time to sample their scorpion vodka which has a real scorpion being fermented in it’s bottle. The scorpion could be eaten if requested. Now, that would be a some experience

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Cafe Russia details:

Location: B1 Building Nine 1-4-10 Kichijouji Honmachi, Musashino City, Tokyo

〒180-0004 東京都武蔵野市吉祥寺本町1-4-10 ナインビルB1

Tel No: 0422-23-3200

Business Hours: 11:30 am – 12 mn

Average Budget: 3000円

Reservation: Recommended (it was crowded when we got there)

Map and access can be viewed here.

Happy eating

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