Not Your Babushka's Farmers' Market

Food sanctions and a weak ruble have caused culinary despair in Russia, but not for the shoppers at Moscow’s oldest farmer’s market, Danilovsky, which dates to the founding of the adjacent thirteenth- century monastery of the same name by Prince Danil Alexandrovich.

Danilovsky Market’s hipster makeover is reinventing the way Muscovites think about food. Walk into its trademark rotunda, and you might wonder if you’ve stumbled into London’s Borough Market by mistake. In addition to a major facelift of the market stalls, there is pleasant and comfortable seating (attracting “latte and laptop patrons”), and new cafe tenants offer everything from Vietnamese Pho to grilled Cypriot halloumi.

Olga Kukoba, Danilovsky’s Creative Director, said that the market makeover is a passion project for restaurant titan Ginza, who took over management in spring 2015.