By Garfield Reynolds
Oliver and all of Fagin's urchins would find enough to more than satisfy their appetites at the Imperial Restaurant.
Perched above Nevsky Prospect, the Nevskij Palace's Imperial Restaurant offers a superb buffet for $34 a head.
Dinner begins with a complimentary glass of champagne and from then on it's up to the individual diner.
There was an extensive range of wines and spirits. Wines ranged from $27 to $130 a bottle and the spirits were mostly about $8 a glass. After deciding that the Krug magnum of champagne at $475 didn't suit our mood, we settled on a bottle of French Merlot from Languedoc for a modest $31. Having made that decision, it was on to a series of even tougher ones.
The Imperial's buffet is basically divided into three sections - - appetizers, main courses and desserts.
The starters were a bewildering Aladdin's cave of delightful cold dishes. The best of all the treats we plucked from the groaning table was the smoked salmon. It was so tender it was difficult to pick up whole, and as it melted in my mouth, it reaffirmed my lifelong love affair with this fish.
My partner told me to stop acting gooey-eyed over the fish and to start paying more attention to her. Other highlights were the cold roast beef (in pastry or wrapped around peppers and olives), a fish and nut roll, assorted meat terrines, marinated mushrooms, salmon mousse (we checked to make sure it was fresh), and marinated red and yellow peppers.
The marinated peppers were a masterpiece: firm and delicately spiced to bring out the full, sweet flavor of the vegetable.
A smorgasbord-style restaurant allows you to tailor the pace of the meal to your own desires and needs. We therefore took our time between courses, listening to the live music and watching a white cat dice with death as it leapt from balcony to window ledge and back again across Nevsky Prospect while we discussed the fate of the revolution.
The service was excellent. Attentive but tactfully unobtrusive. After sufficient time had elapsed for us to express an interest in food again, we headed to the mains section -- flanked on either side by the salad bar, stocked with Georgian specialties, and the elegantly named "Fish Cooking Station."
The latter was stocked with salmon and other fish fillets, plus fresh mussels, just waiting for the attendant chefs to panfry in parsley and lemon sauce.
We declined such service in favor of the various other dishes that awaited us. The roast veal was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening, succulently prepared, and peppered on the inside of the veal roll before baking. It was accompanied by a marvellous, slightly garlicky gravy.
Other main courses on offer were lamb shashlyk with spicy red sauce, pilaf, chicken with creamy asparagus sauce and stuffed roast beef. We sampled the chicken and were also in raptures over its smooth and delectable taste and texture. The beef and lamb were a trifle on the dry side.
Main courses were accompanied by baked new potatoes and seasonal vegetables -- both fresh, both superb. The potatoes had a spicy coating that was an added delight.
After another pause to regain our strength, it was on to the desserts which were again numerous, pretty to look at and delicious to taste.
Walnut poppy seed cake, fruit flan, fruit, custard and berry tarts produced exclamations of delight and regret at lack of remaining stomach space, though best of all was the raspberry mousse.
We rounded this off with some delightful cheese, especially tasty was the rochefort, garnished with fresh grapes on the side. This last morsel was washed down with sweet Irish coffee for me and Baileys and espresso for my partner.
As we strolled slowly off into a perfect St Petersburg evening, there was only one problem as we remembered our wonderful night out. What was that line in the musical "Oliver"? "Rich gentlemen have it boys -- indigestion!"