Located fifteen minutes' walk from Metro Petrogradskaya, "Shashlychnaya U Kamala" (Kamal's Shashlyk Restaurant) has a plain exterior which doesn't look inviting.
Nevertheless we ventured in, curious to sample Azerbaijani cuisine. The restaurant was opened three months ago by Kamal Abbasova who is both owner and chef. It doesn't present itself as anything more than a simple, no-frills eatery and, as such, caters well to those with a penchant for noshes of meat, namely lamb. I threw my vegetarian inclinations to the winds for the evening, and tucked in.
While the dining space is ample enough to swing a gazelle in, the decor is plain. Rectangular pine tables in three strict rows, plastic place-mats and condiment holders create an atmosphere reminiscent of a Russian stolovaya (workers' dining hall) of the Soviet era. A stereo on the mantlepiece tuned to a local radio station provided tinny background music. The reasonably priced menu is available in Russian only, with prices in roubles. Our waiter translated the array of Azerbaijani specialities into plain Russian for us, describing each dish with patience, if not alacrity. It would be a challenge for non-Russian speakers to choose a meal, as the staff do not speak English.
The range of appetizers was limited to a choice of two salads: assorted fresh vegetables (8,000 roubles) and assorted fresh greens (9,000), ham with a garnish (11,000), and cold smoked sturgeon (14,000). We chose the two salads. The first was a simple platter of sliced cucumber, tomato, onion and parsley (undressed!), while the latter consisted of a tangle of parsley, coriander, basil and dill.
The soups were tasty -- all based on lamb broth. We chose dyushbara (10,000), broth with small meat dumplings similar to pelmyeni and plenty of herbs, kyufta-bosbash (10,000), broth with a large meatball stuffed with cherry plum, dovga (12,000) a hot yoghurt soup with little meatballs and herbs, and parcha-bosbash (10,000) a piece of lamb with potatoes in broth. Also available was a cold yoghurt soup with, you guessed it, meatballs.
The rest of the menu was made up of a selection of shashlyk and "hot dishes" My companions ordered shashlyk "lyubitelski" (18,000), rather dry pieces of lamb on the bone, shashlyk "kavkaski" (18,000), also lamb but tender and flavorful, and shashlyk "svininy" (20,000), delicious, succulent pieces of pork.
All the shashlyk dishes were served with a garnish of parsley, onion and lemon wedges. Just one small pot of tomato sauce a tad spicier than ketchup was served with three portions of shashlyk.
I decided to try one of the few meatless options, kutabi (13,000), two rather burnt pancakes with an herb/onion filling and served with yoghurt. It was uninteresting. Our main course was accompanied by "shirin plov" (10,000), a fluffy sweet risotto with sultanas, dried apricots and decorated with pastry triangles. All the dishes that we ordered were served almost simultaneously, giving the impression that they were keen for us to eat up and get out. Apart from the usual range of alcoholic and soft drinks, there were three varieties of Georgian red wine to complement the shashlyk. We selected the mukuzani (25,000), an excellent dry vintage.
Unfortunately, there are no delectable Azerbaijani sweets available to round off the meal, only tea with lemon. While we didn't bother with the tea, our attempt to linger over the mukuzani was cut short by the waiter who pointed to his watch saying it was time to put the alarm system on.
While Kamal's is certainly not a taste of the dolce vita, it does serve a substantial, tasty meal at reasonable prices.