Arbat Elegant Russian restaurant with excellent authentic cuisine and live music every night

Cooking is Natalia Hitrina’s hobby, so the idea to open a restaurant came to her naturally. Nowadays her Arbat offers a complete and exquisite immersion in Russian culture – interior, cuisine, music… Besides a beautiful Summer garden, the place also offers free parking for customers.

(scroll down for the interview)

Natalia Hitrina came to Bulgaria in 1992. The idea to open her own restaurant came to her naturally because cooking is her hobby and friends and acquaintances have always encouraged her. Arbat opened 5 years ago. It’s called Arbat because it expresses the idea of the restaurant in the best way – for all Russian-speaking people Arbat is a signature place for spring, joy, smiles and friendship between people. The most popular artists lived and created there. It’s a street that’s always contemporary.

It’s worth visiting the restaurant mostly because of the authentic Russian cuisine with quality, authentic, fresh ingredients. The recipes come from Natalia, her mother and grandmother. The products are not exotic, Bulgarians are familiar with them but meals prepared with them are unusual and interesting. The interior is elegant and everyone who enters will immediately realise that they are in a Russian restaurant. During the warm months everyone prefers to sit in the beautiful summer garden. The free parking the restaurant provides is an additional convenience for customers. There’s a show every night – musicians from the former Soviet Union do theme musical nights – dedicated to Vysotski, Lube, military music, etc. 95% of the customers are Bulgarians, many of whom have studied in the USSR back in the day, the rest of them are Russians and foreigners, who reside permanently in Bulgaria.

Nature is what Natalia likes the most about Bulgaria. Russian mentality, soul and people is what she misses the most about her homeland. Her favourite childhood dish are pelmeni and her favourite Bulgarian dishes are Shopska salad and bean soup.

Interview: Elena Dimitrova
Photos: Stefan Suchev
Translation from Bulgarian: Boyan Boychev
Illustration: Yasen Zgurovski for Compote Collective
14 November, 2014