Bolshaya Georgian 69 restaurant. Opening of the Italian restaurant Italy on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya. Good Italian food
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In June, the Italian restaurant Italy will open on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya, 69. This is the second ITALY GROUP project in Moscow by Mikhail Sokolov and Timur Dmitriev: following the Belgian gastronomic pub Bruxelles, they bring to the capital their flagship concept, with which the history of the restaurant group began 8 years ago in St. Petersburg.
Visually, Moscow Italy is somewhat different from its four predecessors: the restaurant interior turned out to be even more modern and minimalistic . Here preference was given to natural materials - light wood, forged elements, discreet fabrics. The mood is set by large panoramic windows, a small open kitchen area and a wine cabinet suspended directly from the ceiling. The main hall seats 65, and the summer terrace can accommodate another 40. . The space is organized in such a way that it can comfortably accommodate both two people and a group at a large common table.
Italian cuisine is based on quality products, carefully selected through a blind tasting process. Every day here hand-prepared homemade pasta, pizza and ravioli using durum wheat flour. You should definitely try tortellini with ricotta and spinach in Al Pomodoro sauce, signature shrimp pasta, pomodorini and Pernod Ricard. There are also three types of Grande pasta on the menu: garganelli with rabbit ragout, pasta with vegetable ragout and Calabrian salami, and paccheri Al Pomidoro with stracciatella. As in Italy, it is brought in a large plate with a portion for a group. Another one The pride of the restaurant is thin crust pizza . Here you can find everyone’s favorite “Margherita” and original pizza on rye dough with Parma and goat cheese - 11 types in total.
Pizza 4 cheese
Also on the menu is Italy brand chef Evgeniy Engelke included dishes that have long been loved by guests of Italy in St. Petersburg , supplementing them with some seasonal items. Among them are bruschetta with stracciatella and pomodorini, agnolini with veal and parma in broth, gazpacho with avocado and crab, quinoa salad with avocado and cod with cauliflower and fennel cream.
Guests of Italy will be able to order tasting set of extra virgin olive oil from three regions of Italy - Liguria, Sicily and Tuscany. It will be served with balsamic and warm ciabatta. After tasting, any of the oils you like can be purchased with you.
For those who like to start their day beautifully and tastefully, Italy serves breakfasts - from 9:00 to 13:00 on weekdays and from 9:00 to 15:00 on weekends . If you want something special, you should try scramble with black truffle, stracciatella with seasonal fruits, millet porridge with baked pumpkin and honey and Piedmontese sweet sandwich with chocolate and ricotta. Lovers of the classics will love cheese pancakes with sour cream and homemade jam and eggs Benedict with salmon.
Spoiled holiday
Sit back, readers, a fascinating story awaits you about the experience of visiting the Italy restaurant on Bolshoy Prospekt.
It all started when on February 2 I decided to go to an abstract restaurant in St. Petersburg for Valentine's Day. I used the search engine and settled on Italy on Bolshoi, especially since my girlfriend had long wanted to go to another restaurant of the same chain. Everything is standard - I called, booked a table and emphasized that I wanted a seat next to the window, if the view allowed. Two weeks before the date, this was unlikely to be a problem, and the girl on the phone convincingly replied, “Yes, of course we’ll make a note!”
On February 13, understanding the general workload of restaurants during this period, I decided to call myself and check whether my table reservation was still valid and whether everything was fine with the seats by the window. I was again assured that the reservation had been verified and a gorgeous view awaited me.
On the evening of February 14, at the indicated time, I arrived at the restaurant and found that all the seats by the windows were occupied. The first thought was that there was a second room, and when the second room was not found, I had already decided that we would be seated with a couple at a table for six. But everything turned out to be simpler - they simply sat us against the wall, near the passage from the kitchen, overlooking a large mirror. In response to my reasonable question that an error had crept in somewhere and I called TWICE to book a table by the window with a beautiful view, the girl at the reception began fiddling with her tablet. And then it turned out that exactly two Dmitrys had booked a table for 20.00, and the employees were asking guests for mobile phone numbers “just for show.”
My blood was boiling and only the presence of my companion restrained my emotions. Of course, the administrator immediately ran up to us, offered drinks at the expense of the establishment and assured that as soon as the table by the window was free, we would be seated.
The drinks were brought, we placed an order, which was delivered quite quickly, taking into account the peak load of the kitchen at that moment. Here I would like to thank the kitchen staff - all the dishes and drinks were really tasty. Closer to ordering dessert, I noticed that one of the tables by the window was vacant, and asked one of the girls, who seemed to be no longer a waiter, but not yet an administrator, to seat us, as previously promised. The girl disappeared somewhere, under the pretext of finding out if there was a reservation for that table. After five-seven minutes of intense activity, she came and said with a sad look that the table had a reservation for 22 hours, despite the fact that there were still 50 minutes left before that time and obviously we would not have been drinking tea for that long. At the same moment, this table was occupied by other guests who had obviously just arrived at the restaurant. Of course, no one was going to transfer us anywhere from the very beginning, we just needed to reduce the “heat of passions”.
The dessert was delicious and it was time to leave the establishment, which ruined all plans for that evening. The entire restaurant team, already at 10 o’clock in the evening, was taking pictures on Instax of a local mime and entertaining themselves with standard gossip, and as soon as the guests in the form of me and my companion began to move from the table towards the wardrobe under the prompter whisper of the administrator, “Say goodbye!” We say goodbye!” a dozen people in the area of the counter began to break into smiles and “all the best, see you later.”
This is such a visit. There is only one conclusion. If you book a table at this restaurant, be prepared to be scammed, so try to book at the same time in other establishments nearby so that you don’t have to endure this kind of treatment. Perhaps it will seem to someone that a mountain is being made out of a mountain, but it was on that day that an important event was planned and in the restaurant, which implied some privacy and a certain atmosphere. Because of one ridiculous incident, the whole plan went down the drain.
St. Petersburg residents continue to seize the capital and transport successful St. Petersburg projects to Moscow. This time, on the site of the Ragout restaurant, the former gastronomic Mecca of the city, a new project of the St. Petersburg holding Italy Group has opened - the Italy restaurant by Mikhail Sokolov and Timur Dmitriev.
Place of prayer
Bolshaya Gruzinskaya, 69, has long been entrenched on the gastronomic map of Moscow - in addition to a dozen other establishments at this address, it is primarily associated with the Ragout restaurant. Italy occupied the premises in which a few years ago, with the confident hand of Alexei Zimin, a small big revolution took place in Moscow gastronomy. Walking past the velvet armchairs and wooden tables, you can’t help but imagine the interior of the city’s former main restaurant: here was the bar, this is where the tables were, and this is where the waiters brought out the food... Italy turned out to be simple, light, minimalistic, but quite serious: velvet chairs on wooden legs in burgundy and emerald tones, a large wine cabinet, mirrors, pink sofas and glass chandeliers that look like compounds of molecules. Essentially, something similar to an expensive dining room, and this is really wonderful, because, on the one hand, it does not oblige you to anything, but on the other hand, it still creates the feeling that you are in a restaurant. The design turned out to be stricter, more expensive and much more elegant than in similar projects in St. Petersburg (there are four of them), and this is understandable: Moscow is still more demanding, although it is precisely because of St. Petersburg’s simplicity and sincerity that everyone here is a little sad.
Good Italian food
It seemed that in Moscow almost every second restaurant was either Japanese or Italian: a relic of the 2000s, the abundance of “Two Sticks” and Il Patio left their mark. In reality, this is not at all true, and you won’t find good Italian restaurants during the day, but you can’t go to Probka alone. And finally, the latter has a worthy competitor - only less pompous and not so expensive.
Brand chef Evgeniy Engelke is responsible for the cuisine in Italy; the menu is very large, and it is difficult to make a choice. For starters, there are sections for salads, appetizers, soups and bruschetta, each with a dozen items. The bruschettas are all good - the bread is soft, with a crispy crust, and they don’t skimp on the fillings either. In appetizers you can find excellent vitello tonato and eggplant alla parmigiana, in salads, of course, burrata with tomatoes. But the main thing in Italy, of course, is the dough and everything connected with it. On a separate page lies the kingdom of carbohydrates - and it is for them that you need to go here first. First, pasta: here it comes in all kinds and variations, it is made by hand in the kitchen, and this is important for a restaurant. In addition to two dozen different pastas, the menu also includes pasta grande - a very large portion for two, closed pasta, gnocchi and risotto.
Guests are offered to choose the type of pasta themselves: spaghetti, fusilli, tagliolini, maccheroni, casarecce and tagliatelle. I must say that the pasta is really good, cooked al dente and perfectly balanced in the filling. There are no questions about pizza either; besides, it is served either whole or in half, and this makes life and stomach much easier. If you have already tried all the pasta, then in Italy there are still two large sections with meat and fish, as well as side dishes, but still take the spaghetti!
Wine is served either by the glass or in bottles. The wine list was compiled by Sofia Bracaglia, and in Italy there are about 60 wine labels, both Old World and New.
The dessert menu is good, pastry chef Evgenia Lappo is responsible for it, but for sweets it’s better not to take tea in Italian - there is a large collection of Chinese varieties, and the coffee is poured illy, and this, I must say, does not suit everyone.
A holiday of carbohydrates and the main alternative to Probka
Italy turned out great in all aspects. The pleasant interior is designed for every day, and here you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner with equal pleasure. In the morning there is a morning menu, at lunch they offer a discount on the main menu. The cuisine is simple and straightforward, the quality of the products is not satisfactory: whatever they can, they bring from Italy, the execution is, if not better than in the homeland of pasta, then certainly no worse. It seems that Probka has a main competitor, because in terms of the feel of the space and the level of food, Italy can easily compete with Aram Mnatsakanov’s restaurant, but it wins right away, at least in terms of the average bill, which is still significantly lower here. In a word, bellissima.
Restaurant Italy on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya became the fifth in the chain of Italian establishments from Italy Group, the first four are located in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg restaurateurs clearly chose the Moscow location for a reason. Once upon a time there was a famous establishment located there. Ragout.
The “filling” of the premises in Italy turned out to be calm, European, pleasant to the eye and to the touch. There was nothing annoying about the details and decorations. The gaze did not cling to anything. The modestly sized L-shaped room, which was hidden behind a glass wall-window, contained a bar counter combined with a pizza making station, a contact counter, a wine room under the ceiling, several columns, very successful, comfortable furniture and a large mirror on the burgundy wall . The tables are small but comfortable. The upholstered furniture is of good quality, without the touch of cheapness that network projects often suffer from.
The menu in Italy is extensive and represents not so much traditional Italy, how much it is adapted for large cities of Russia. The selection of dishes includes all our popular Italian dishes. They do not cause any particular delight and are perceived rather as something ordinary. Prices are above average for the Belorussky Station area, but not by much.
In Bruschetta with Ricotta and Pomodorini, two components clearly did not like the third. Sweet, tasty, fragrant tomato slices very willingly collaborated with soft cream cheese, but together they did not favor the weathered, dryish bread. Moreover, the disharmony was so obvious that I had to scrape the filling onto a plate and eat only that.
“Pizza Margherita,” which, as it turned out, could only be ordered half, pleased with its good thin dough and juicy mozzarella-style cheese, but disappointed with its sour tomato sauce, devoid of any spices. Edible, but not worth ordering a second time.
The Spaghetti Alio Olio was larger than usual and had a yellow tint that immediately brought to mind butter. The waitress confirmed my suspicion. Butter was present in the dish, which took it beyond the traditional “Alio Olio”, adding “Burro” as well. Fortunately, the addition of cream did not have a negative effect on the quality of the dish. The spaghetti was cooked flawlessly. The sauce was rich and spicy. The garlic was dry, but this gave the dish an interesting textural contrast.
“Scurt Steak with BBQ Sauce” arrived on a board already cut, but since the meat was allowed to sit after frying, there were no puddles on the board or dryness in the fibers. The steak was juicy, moderately tender, and had a good meaty flavor.
“Buckwheat with Parmesan” turned out to be hearty, cheesy and dense. As a side dish, it’s probably too nutritious, but as a main dish it’s very good, especially in the coming cold season.
The Tiramisu dessert was commendably juicy, restrainedly sweet, respectfully coffee-y, not dry or runny.
I liked the service without any reservations. The greeting is sincere and polite. The interest is not artificial, not forced. The advice and explanations are practical and meaningful. The girl worked without hesitation or hesitation. Everything is clear, everything is on time, everything is with a smile.
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