Eating & Drinking

It seems that barely a week passes without a new bar or restaurant opening its doors in Minsk. If you stick to Prospekt Nezavismosti or Prospekt Pobediteley you won’t go far wrong but I’d recommend venturing further. In particular the small bars and cafés on Karl Marx Street offer better value for money.

When beer cellars sell sushi and pizza restaurants do a nice line in traditional Belarusian potato pancakes it is difficult to pigeon hole each venue into a specific category so I’ve divided the list into four broad sections and some places appear in more than one.

In each section the position of a place in the list roughly corresponds with the it’s distance from the city centre, the definition of the city centre being that part of Prospekt Nezavismosti that runs from Ploshad Nezavisimosti (Independence Square) to Ploshad Octyabrskoy (October Square) 

The Menu

Next to each description on a menu you’ll see figures. These tell you the weight in grams of every item included in that particular dish. If you order a piece of meat then you’ll get just that. Everything else such as vegetables, fries, salads and sauces need to be ordered separately.

Most places in the city centre will have an English language menu but by no means all. I’ve indicated the places that I know definitely do have one. Where menus do have English translations you’ll often find that the drinks menu is still only in Russian.

Belarusian Food

It hearty Slavonic fare with lots of meat and potatoes, as well as traditional soups with beetroot, cabbage or mushrooms. Belarusians joke that if it wasn’t for Peter the Great there wouldn’t be a Belarusian nation (he introduced the potato to Eastern Europe) and there are plenty of potato dishes, the best of which are potato pancakes with sour cream called draniki If you’re on a diet then you’ve come to the wrong place.

Drinks

If you are drinking vodka insist on Belarusian vodka. The Minsk distilleries are amongst the best in the world and their products will cost a fraction of the price of imported brands. If you’re a beer drinker then the local brews will usually be up to half the price of imported Russian and Czech beer. Wine drinkers should take the opportunity to sample the many varieties from Moldova and Georgia although some of these may be too sweet for some tastes.

Mixing with the prols

Amongst the lists of cafes and restaurants I’ve tried to include some of the smaller, more proletarian venues where you’re more likely to be rubbing shoulders with students and families on low incomes. Don’t be afraid to try these places, especially if you are on a tight budget. I’ve been eating in them for years.

State Controls

All venues serving food and drink to the public are heavily regulated and so hygiene standards are pretty high. In each menu you’ll find a stamp and a signature at the back to show that the menu has been approved by the local authorities. Because of this they cannot by law rustle up whatever you fancy unless it appears on their menu.

Another consequence of regulation is that every bar, café and restaurant has to have an affordable lunchtime menu. The trendier places offer their usual menu with 20-30% off but the majority will have a separate set lunchtime menu. I think I can safely say that with only the odd exception these are only ever printed in Russian. But do bear in mind that if you are on a budget this can offer you the chance to dine at pretty much any place you want at lunchtime and it won’t break the bank.

Belarusian & Slavonic Food       European & International Food       Bars & Pubs       Coffee & Cakes