By Chris Graeme If there's one place in town where you can expect wholesome, no-nonsense food, it's at Balsen Le Cafe.
Balsen Le Cafe is one of the largest private catering establishments in St Petersburg, offering not only a top class restaurant serving German and Russian cuisine, but also a smart coffee bar, supermarket and bakery all under one roof.
The joint Russo-German venture opened in may 1993 and since then has expanded and grown from strength to strength. The key to its success is the vast selection of dishes on the menu and the fast, efficient service offered by the polite waiters and waitresses.
If you want fussy delicacies go to a top hotel, for here you can expect generous portions and filling dishes. We started off with a delicious and substantial mushroom soup with heaps of mushrooms, onions and potatoes in a clear bouillon with smetana (sour cream) at $3.90.
It was a difficult choice because also on the menu were mouth-watering chicken soup with sliced vegetables at $3.90, Russian borscht at $4.30 and traditional Russian solyanka with smetana at $4.30.
While we were waiting for our second course we were serenaded by a glamorous Alla Pugacheva-style singer accompanied by a violinist and pianist. The restaurant has two different regular groups and apparently many habitual clients come mostly for the music which starts daily from 8pm.
The pause in between courses gave me the chance to take in the atmosphere and decor which is decidedly Germanic. The restaurant, which seats 35, and cafe were designed by Swiss architects and are simple, making good use of mirrors to give the impression of space. Particularly interesting is the circular zodiac mirror on the ceiling.
This is one of the few places in town where you can get a really good German beer "from the wood" and available are Bitburger and Koestritzer at $3.50 for half and $5 for a liter. I also succumbed to a Campari orange at $6.50 although I could have chosen a San Francisco (vodka, banana syrup and orange juice), Kir Royal (champagne with creme de cassis) or Tom Collins (gin, lemon juice, tonic water) all at $6.50.
Also on the menu were a range of 18 other tantalizing cocktails with such intriguing names as Rolls Royce, Cuba Libre and Rob Roy.
After 10 minutes of romantic ballads from our singer -- performing especially for us on request -- came the main dishes. I had chosen the Gaucho mixed grill which consisted of two generous slabs of fried German pork schnitzel, beef cutlet, bacon and tasty German sausage garnished with a generous portion of thick French chipped potatoes, onions and salad garnish. With it came a spicy tabasco sauce. All this for a reasonable $16.90.
My dining companion succumbed to a Hawaii porkloin steak, tender and juicy and served up with tangy exotic fruits and gratinated with cheese at $12.50.
We also could have indulged in original fillet steak with either green pepper or madeira sauce at $12.50, baked fillet of perch with sour cream and mixed salad at $12.90, grilled sturgeon in a spicy sauce from Lake Ladoga at $14.50 or a range of omelettes with cheese, vegetable or mushroom fillings at $6.90.
Had we had room, we could also have chosen a mountain of salad from the buffet. On offer was a colorful St Petersburg Salad at $13.90 -- fresh seasonal salad with tangy dressing, garnished with crab and caviar.
Russian specialities on the menu include original Russian blinis -- pancakes served with sour cream and red or black caviar, cutlet Kiev -- fillet of chicken breast oozing with white wine cream sauce, French chipped potatoes and green salad or roast beef Pushkin with dried plums, tangy sauce and French chipped potatoes or rice.
But the in-house speciality here is food prepared before your eyes on a hot stone. Here you can choose from a variety of tasty set dishes including pork and scampi shashlik or tender fillets of beef and pork with a glass of French champagne at $28.
The restaurant does a special menu for tourist groups at $12.50 per person as well as catering for wedding parties and large business lunches in its ample banqueting suite.
And of course no one makes better cakes than the Germans? Here you can forget your calorie counter with rich chocolate cream pie at $2.90, Black Forest cherry flan at $2.90 and fine biscuit flan with fresh cream and exotic fruits at $2.90.