Tartarbar restaurant review - St Petersburg, Russia

No doubt spurred on by the success of their first restaurant, a gastropub called Duo, chefs Dmitri Blinov and Renat Malikov along with business partner Sergei Limonov have now launched their second eatery, this time focusing on a menu that showcases a rather creative variety of tartare.

Located in the centre of Saint Petersburg, a short stroll from the main shopping drag, Nevsky Prospect, the restaurant is housed on the ground floor of a residential building that used to be an army barracks, dating from 1908. Interior designer Alexei Penyuk has embellished the original exposed brick and steel-framed windows of the industrial pile, by cladding the remaining walls with concrete and smartly tempering them with live ivy, while quirky versions of Gainsborough’s Woman in Blue and Roslin’s Marquise de Becdelievre gaze down enigmatically from between perfectly placed spotlights. Meanwhile, further trimmings, from a decorative chandelier to the plush parquet flooring underfoot, add a dash of eccentricity to the eclectic mix of mid-century furnishings.

The tartare options range from the traditional steak, to venison with raisins, but if raw meat isn’t your thing, the menu has an array of options from a classic fillet of beef with cognac and bone marrow to Japanese-inspired offerings such as mushroom soup with noodles and shitake. We suggest joining the office workers at the end of the week for a long boozy lunch, followed by a stroll in the nearby Mikhailovsky Gardens, one of the many beautiful parks that dot this beautiful city.