A Salad By Any Other Name

What dishes do visitors to Russia normally associate with Russian cuisine? Chicken Kiev, borsch, solyanka and, last but definitely not least, stolichny salad.

"Of all Russian salads, stolichny is the most popular among our guests," explained Yuri Otdelentsev, chef at Moscow's Club Royal restaurant. "And for those who came to Moscow before perestroika it arouses feelings of nostalgia."

Many Russian gourmets feel the same way ¾ nowadays stolichny salad is rarely a feature of top class restaurants in this country. Their 'New Russian' clients tend to prefer ridiculously expensive exotic foreign dishes. Still, the cooks at these restaurants know the recipe for stolichny by heart, confident that one day the fad for things foreign will pass and Russian dishes will become popular again.