If you are looking for a meeting place with a difference your ship has come in.
Down on the Neva lies the Cafe Maria, with a wood panelled ward-room atmosphere -- which is not difficult to create given that that is exactly what it is.
The Maria is a 37-meter (120-foot) ship moored opposite the Bronze Horseman monument on Krasnovo Flota Naberezhnaya.
Inside the cafe, booths around each table seat up to six, though extensions can be added for a big party. The floor slopes upward to the bow, where a cosy bar has been squeezed in. The tiny casino that was formerly inside has gone.
As strong on torque as it is on atmosphere, the Cafe Maria features main engines of 630 horsepower. It is a shame that a few more of them were not applied in the kitchen.
"The highly qualified chefs can prepare you any exotic and refined food at your wish," as related in the Maria's advertising brochure must regrettably be discounted, if the same gentlemen prepared our meals.
In fact the Cafe Maria serves standard up-market Russian cafe food.
Cold starters navigate their way no further toward exotica than salami (22,000 roubles), salmon salad (15,500) sandwiches with sausage (9,500) and caviar (red and black, 28,500 and 45,000).
The soups (16,500-27,500) were more exciting -- but arrived tepid. My Rostov fish soup was a fine, tasty mixture of fresh herbs and chunks of tomatoes, featuring a large chunk of fish in its center. A second soup comprised strips of pasta and the same fresh herbs. The menu also offered Solyanka.
We specified that our mains should be hot. To the kitchen's credit, they did arrive piping hot. And, after one of our party complained that her soup had been too salty for her taste, her main arrived with the salt level suitably adjusted.
Mains range from 8,000-38,000. Included are sturgeon baked with mushrooms, meat Milanese style, perch, and the "Maria Special." There is also a selection of blini (pancakes) with sour cream, lemon, or red or black caviar.
The Maria Special turned out to be a strips of pork, rolled up and deep fried in a crumbed outer casing. The diner in our party who chose it seemed to enjoy it well enough. My blini were light and fine -- but barely warm -- and the black caviar of good quality. The perch arrived cut in strips and deep-fried in batter, in unfortunately heavy-handed fashion.
French fries arrived with each main, bar the blini. Garnishes were simple: olives, cucumbers and green peppers.
We were on safer ground with the cafe's salads, also fairly standard, but better done than the mains. Carrot salad; simple tomato slices (very fresh) covered in tasty smetana (Russian sour cream); and another which featured whole tomatoes cut open and stuffed with pate.
There is a wide range of alcohol (most of which are sold in the standard Russian 50 gram servings). Russian and imported vodkas range from 4,000-7,500 roubles, cognacs; whiskies and rums -- what else at sea -- are in the same range. There is a modest wine list, including French champagne at 20,000 roubles a glass (300,000 for the bottle).
Beers include Holstein, Heinekin and Lapin Kulta all for 10,000 roubles. There is a small selection of cocktails. Tea and coffee are available.
For dessert (13,000) there is fruit salad and ice cream. I recommend the chocolate ice-cream, which is served in flakes with a dusky chocolate powder sprinkled over it.
On the Wednesday night we visited business was brisk, including a rowdy table of predatory-looking mini-skirted young women who took advantage of the music and space to dance; an earnest couple who took advantage of the relative privacy of their booth; a sprinkling of new Russians; and two fully clad winter-uniformed GAI (traffic-police) men.
The Maria, which started life as an oil-rig tender, is available for charter at $100 an hour. When I asked one of the ships officers if my native New Zealand was within range, he said "Why not," and said he could probably arrange a discount on the price.
More frequent requests are for trips to Valaam, Kizhy, or Petrodvorets. The Maria sleeps 16 passengers, while it can seat 46 or accommodate up to 70 for a party.
Obviously there is the matter of the Neva River thawing first. The Maria will be at its present location until May, when it will shift to the Central Yacht Club.
While the Maria's food is not overly impressive, the atmosphere and friendly service made for a fun night out if you treat the place more as a casual cafe than a restaurant. Walking down gang-planks, stepping through bulk-heads, and staring out port-holes adds a tantalizing taste of adventure to an evening.
See Dining Guide