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Moscow Nightlife | Moscow Bars Clubs Night Clubs |
 Nightlife in Moscow in the early years after Perestroika was akin to a fairytale. The perestroika reforms did little to help the social and economic problems of the Soviet Union of the time; instead it empowered organized crime and enabled businessmen with the right connections to amass huge personal fortunes - many of whom sank their money into clubs and restaurants with crazy prices and even crazier service, such as the Carousel and Moskovsky. Whole fortunes could be - and were - drunk away in a night. Waiters could end up with a tip bigger than their annual salaries, or a hole in the head…it was, to say the least, unpredictable. Today Moscow is still not for the penniless. If you want to make the most from Moscow nightlife, you’ll need a fat wallet and/or a beautiful face.
Moscow has always had clubs ‘for one’s own’ - hangouts for the intelligentsia such as Bely Tarakan (White Cockroach), located in the basement of - of all things - a police station. Although it is now closed, Cockroach set the precedent for many Moscow nightclubs such as Dzhusto - the first fashionable place in the city where everyone tried to get in, but 90% would be turned away! Today Dzhusto - 9 Bolshoi Tolmachevsky - is still one of Moscow's coolest clubs (owned by Iosif Kobzon, Russia's own Elton John) with an excellent upscale Japanese restaurant serving sushi galore (superb fresh spicy tuna rolls and draft Kirin beer). The waiters, in their classy black linen, look as though they should be on the catwalk - and indeed there are big screens showing Fashion TV.
In the late 1990s, the ‘Moscow crisis’ began, and millionaires became destitute overnight. Knowing it was all going horribly wrong, half of Moscow partied on tequila at the famous Crisis Party - held at the then unfinished Zeppelin club.
The Zeppelin Private Aeroclub (Mira Pr, 7, building 3) is still going strong and now one of Moscow’s most prestigious venues, attracting the city’s fashionable, beautiful and wealthy. Swanky and stylish with a chill out lounge, two VIP halls and a spacious dance floor, Zepplin also has a lavish black and beige restaurant with soft lighting, background music, and excellent cuisine with a mainly Italian flavour. |
.jpg "Fabrique Club, Kosmodamianskaja 2, Moscow") During the crisis period, the Moscow clubbing scene had to look for alternatives and Propoganda became the place to be….good music and, for once, reasonable prices. Located at Bolshoi Zlatoustinskii Pereulok 15, today Propoganda is a relaxed, unpretentious bar attracting middle class Russians and expats and popular with students into acid jazz and techno. Thursday is the big night and it gets very, very packed (Saturday is busy also), while Friday is rave night and Sunday gay night! Get there before 11pm for cheaper drinks - it’s worth it as the food served during the day is pretty good. So have a meal then hang around until 11 when the tables and chairs are removed for the night club transformation.
Most decent clubs operate a face control system - eg a man on the door who decides whether you are presentable enough to go in. If you are refused, don’t bother to ask why. Just accept it and move on. The Diaghilev Project for example- named after the Russian ballet impresario - is considered the most elite club in Moscow. On Karetniy ryad 3, theoretically you have no chance of getting in unless you are rich, know the right people, or beautiful…..go on, give it a go. You never know! It’s worth trying just to experience this large, two storey baroque style venue, if only to ogle the other glamorous guests!
Entry to Diaghilev, like many Moscow clubs, is free (if you can get in), but then - as we were told by a local, ‘that’s because the prices are so high, they don’t need to charge an entry fee’.
Other clubs to try include Nightflight, a long established club with a Swedish restaurant on Tverskaya st; Club Opera on Trehgorniy val 6- a newish ‘house music’ club popular with rich guys and beautiful girls; Krisha Mira (The Roof of the World) on Tarasa Shevchenko embankment 2/3; and Club First - an unforgettable trip into the world of the bourgeois on Plushchikha 64. Face control applies to all of them, so if you’re not incredibly wealthy, let’s hope you’re incredibly beautiful! |
 Bars are just as plentiful. For one with great city views through glass walls, try Red Bar on the 27th floor of23a Naberezhnaya Tarasa Shevchenko. A relaxing New York-style lounge/piano bar, it has a predictable scarlet décor and red-lit interior, through glass walls of the city below. Popular post work and post dinner, Red serves some excellent (and strong) vodka cocktails. I am told the he mirror-and-glass men's room, has a somewhat heart stopping view of the city below!.
Alternatively there’s the Sky Lounge on the 22nd floor of the Russian Academy of Sciences building in Leninsky Prospekt 32A which has the longest bar in Moscow. Food here is good too, with a French fusion /Mediterranean menu. Prices are relatively high, but worth it for the views.
Rosie O'Grady's (yes it’s Irish!) Ulitsa Znamenka 9/12 is probably the closest thing Moscow has to a real pub, with some good live bands and a great view of the Kremlin, while for true jazz lovers, Dom u Dorogi on Dovatora Ulita in the south west of the City is an absolute gem.
There is a Russian proverb: the house is noted for its pies, not for its interior. There has always been good food in Moscow, if you had the dollars to buy it and the right contacts to find it. Today the choice is much wider for everyone and Moscow offers as good a range of local and international cuisine as anywhere. Food is generally good but the service can be dodgey and a smile is not always guaranteed. Moscow has a huge variety of restaurants and cafes for every taste. ‘In’ at the moment are "trendy" pre-party cafes, which have taken over from last year’s sushi mania.
‘Bed’ at Presnensky Val st 6, is a typical example , recreating the bedroom atmosphere with parquet on the floors and ceilings and quilted silk walls. A huge round couch sits in the middle of the lounge surrounded by tables and high backed chairs. |
 Cafe Pushkin blv. Tverskoy 26a, for example, is considered by many to be the best restaurant in Moscow, with a reputation akin to The Ivy in London (with prices to match, though not always service). It has a 24 hour sophisticated cafe on the first floor, but the place to be seen is the restaurant on the 'library' level, serving classic French and Russian cuisine.
Its not just nightclubs that have provided millionaire salaries for Moscow businessmen - restaurants have too. The king of the Moscow restaurant scene is Arkady Novikov whose business enterprises extend throughout the city. And like the clubs, if your face doesn’t fit, chances are you won’t get in! Galereya on Petrovka is one example, China Club on Krasina Ulitsa another. Getting authentic Chinese in Moscow is quite difficult as it’s not a favourite with locals, but China Club does try hard with a fusion of Chinese, Asian and French which actually works pretty well. It’s not cheap though, with an average bill per head of up to $100. His Dymov No.1 beer restaurant chain - sort of a cross between a pub and a restaurant - is easier on the pocket. The music is loud and it’s not glamorous, but the menu is interesting with tasty sausages, Chilean sea bass and sushi.
Another of Novikov’s enterprises is the Vogue Café (yes as in the magazine), close to the Bolshoi Theatre. Publisher Conde Naste and the restaurateur have got together and opened this chic hot spot targeting the moneyed young Muscovite hipsters. The elegant interior and walls decorated with various fashion magazine articles create a unique spot that’d definitely worth visiting. Not content with Vogue, Novikov has also teamed up with GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly) to open the GQ bar on Balchug St. This cavernous bar is warm and inviting with a great big black glass bar. Like most of Novikov’s places there are usually enough Bentley’s, Mercedes and Maserati’s outside to fill a car showroom.
No trip to Moscow is complete without visiting 1 Red Square. Possibly one of the best addresses in the world, the restaurant is housed inside the beautiful red brick State History Museum with its stunning spires. Here you can literally eat like a Tsar! The menu includes Tsar-fish, or starlet, which is the most expensive item at around £20.
Decent steak in Moscow used to be hard to come by, but Goodman has changed all that With outets on Tverskaya str., 23 and Novinsky boulevard, 31, the place is distinguished by its wood and stone wall décor, leather sofas, dim lighting and forged lamps. Scottish bred Aberdeen Angus is used, helpings are generous and if, like me, you’re not really a steak person, the menu also includes salads, fish dishes and really rather good cheese cake and carrot cake.
El Gaucho is another good option for steak. There are two outlets, one large and showy at Sadovaya Triumphal’naya 4 and a small, cosier version near 'Krasnye Vorota' metro station - El Gaucho trys to be more than a restaurant; it’s a corner of Argentina in central Moscow, where you designed to make you feel part of a gaucho family of Argentinean gaucho. The star is the steak (again Aberdeen Angus), served on a special charcoal oven called a 'taganka'. Everything here is grilled: meat, vegetables, and fish. For an interesting change, try 'Caballero' lamb ribs and the soup, served in typical ceramic pots - calderas. The Caldereta (fish soup, with sweet pepper, tomatoes and onion) is superb.
If all else fails and you just want a decent burger (and the ‘Moscow’ version t-shirt), there’s always reliable American grub at Hard Rock Café on Arbat street (44), but for the best blue cheese-burger go to Star Lights in Bolshaya Sadovaya (the Aquarium garden). |
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