As St Petersburg approaches the end of the millennia, one of the city's premium restaurants is taking the opportunity to hark back to the origins of Russia's northern capital.
The Admiralty Restaurant in the city's Nevskij Palace hotel has responded to growing demand for a top-notch Russian cuisine restaurant by relaunching itself as a Russian theme restaurant.
Peter the Great founded St Petersburg in 1703 because Russia needed a sea port for the Russian navy he started seven years earlier.
So Nevskij Palace decided to honor the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet by turning the Admiralty into a replica of early St Petersburg restaurants, whose maritime decorations reflected the passion Peter the Great had for the sea.
The Admiralty's new menu features a large number of Russian classics, while retaining some of its original, seafood orientation. Several Georgian dishes round out the selection.
I had the chance to sample the restaurant's new bill of fare as part of a large group, so the table was groaning with a large number of "zakuski" (starters) that we were free to pick and choose from.
Such a platter would normally cost $19 per person, though all of the delicacies that greeted us are also available individually (at prices as listed).
These include traditional favorites stolichny salad ($7) and tomato-cucumber salad with smetana (sour cream) ($8) nestled next to marinated sturgeon ($15), platter with smoked fish ($12), Georgian lobio ($7) -- cold bean stew -- and pickled Russian vegetables ($6).
The Georgian appetizers were more exciting and unusual -- pchaleulli ($9), vegetable specialties made from minced spinach, cabbage and beetroot with nuts, garlic and coriander, and saziwi ($8), cold chicken in nut sauce with saffron and curry.
Being a man of immoderate and catholic appetites, I sampled all of the above -- and my palate was a long, long way from dissatisfied.
To stimulate said appetite, the restaurant provides each diner with a complimentary, traditional Russian aperitif -- vodka with cranberries -- and even the vodka was extremely tasty.
The stolichny salad was as far removed from the usual version of this dish as the vodka was from the varieties gracing kiosks around the city.
Real beef and tangy, creamy mayonnaise and succulent peas and potatoes combined to make a wholesomely filling delight.
But by far my favorite was the saziwi, a dish I had never before encountered. I took advantage of the fact that no one else seemed to be hugely interested in this savory and tender delicacy to grab the lion's share of our group's serving for myself.
My dining partners mostly settled for the more conventional tomato and cucumber salad and the cold fish dishes, though the pchaleulli's artful presentation and succulent, garlicky taste attracted plenty of attention also.
We also sampled some of the Admiralty's peerlessly buttery khatchupuri -- a traditional Georgian bread stuffed with salty cheese -- which went especially well with the vodka.
After tucking in heartily to the starters, my companions and I decided that soup would be too much of an indulgence, so we passed up the chance to sample borsch, vegetable solyanka, Russian ucha (fish soup) or Georgian chichirtma (creamy chicken soup), all of which are $8.
For the main course, I passed traditional fare such as beef Stroganoff ($23), Chicken Kiev ($25), pork or seafood shashliks ($27 or $29) by for elk ragout "Novgorod" ($24).
Elk can be a very difficult meat to prepare, with its unusual texture and gamey taste, but the Admiralty's beer marinated creation was just right -- tender and full of subtle flavors.
The creamy mashed potatoes that blended in with the sauce were an added treat.
The seafood shashlik was a popular choice with my colleagues. Topped with a genuine, forefinger-thick prawn, the slices of tuna and salmon were interspersed with onion and served on a creamy and piquant caviar sauce.
It was indicative of the standard of fare that several of us were able to order dessert on top of this already sumptuous feast, rounding off the repast with cottage cheese blinis "tworozniki" ($9) in a magnificent warm berry and honey sauce, the kind of sauce that has you smiling with pleasure for hours after the meal.