OKRA - RESTAURANT BRANDING

“I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea.”

Crime and punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky

RUSSIAN TEA

WATER - STILL

WATER - SPARKLING

KVASS

ORANGE JUICE

VODKA

MOSCOW MULE

SCREWDRIVER

COFFEE

SOUPS

BISTRO FOODS

SWEETS

SOUPS X BISTRO FOODS

SOUPS X SWEETS

BISTRO FOODS X SWEETS

THREE COURSES

Caviar is luxury food which is most closely associated with the Russian aristocracy’s love of decadence. Despite its reputation as a delicacy, caviar is an acquired taste. The jelly-like,burst-in-your-mouth beads have an intense briny and fishy flavour. Caviar is the salt-cured eggs and roe traditionally extracted from wild (and now highly endangered) sturgeon. Cheaper varieties are derived from salmon, steelhead, trout, lumpfish and whitefish. In Russia, caviar is usually served with blini, chopped onion or pickles, quail eggs and sour cream which serve to tone down the extreme salt levels somewhat.

Ukha is a classic Russian fish soup, which is delicious and comforting and can be made from various types of fish such as bream, wels catfish, northern pike, or even ruffe. Fish fillets are gently cooked to perfection together with potatoes and carrots in a rich broth infused with subtle flavors of bay leaf and black peppercorns.

The red king crab or Kamchatka crab is one of the most highly sought-after seafood in the world, driving fearless fishermen to battle the freezing Arctic waters of the Bering Sea in the hopes of netting a haul of these overgrown crustaceans. Capable of growing to enormous sizes, red king crabs are native to the waters of Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula and are prized for their abundance of moist, sweet white flesh. Crabs from Kamchatka are exported around the world as a delicacy and attract a hefty price tag.

Gribnitsa is a traditional Siberian soup where taiga mushrooms are one of the most popular products in the country. This is completely different from European mushroom cream soups. It has a clear rich broth with a pronounced taste of wild mushrooms , the most appreciated aromatic white mushrooms, good options for gribnitsa will be with aspen mushrums or opyata (seasonal autumn mushrooms, popular in Siberia), restrained spices, designed to only slightly shade the shades of natural mushroom taste. The composition also includes potatoes, root vegetables.

Rassolnik is a strange and classic soup. It is made with chicken, potatoes, pickles and barley, with onion and carrot adding a simple but delicious flavor. A dill pickle soup may seem like a bizarre concept, but if you’ve never heard of it before, I would encourage you to try it. Rassolnik is very comforting, since it has potatoes, chicken and creamy barley in it, but it also doesn’t taste heavy at all.

Solyanka is the real king of Russian soups – a thick, flavor-packed, meatbased broth that’s salty, spicy, sour and ever-slightly sweet. A winter favourite, Solyanka is prepared from choice cuts of meat, slow-cooked for several hours. A common recipe involves both cured and fresh beef as well as ham and sausages. Onions, carrots, garlic, peppers and tomato are added, with an array of other vegetables and herbs for extra colour. A dish that arrived in Russia by way of Georgia, it’s often eaten with adzhika (a spicy red sauce from the Caucus) and lavash (Georgian flatbread).

Pirozhki are literally “little pies”, pirozhki are beautiful miniature stuffed buns of soft, buttery pastry encasing a savoury filling of meat and vegetables, often spiked with cheese and herbs for extra flavour. Pirozhki are a popular Russian Christmas food, often passed around the kitchen as a snack while aunties and grandmas are busy with the ritual of preparing an elaborate festive dinner.

Mushroom julienne is a Russian appetizer consisting of thinly sliced mushrooms, onions, cream, cheese, and sour cream. The dish is often flavored with white wine, nutmeg, and ground pepper. It is traditionally served in small ceramic or metal dishes with toasted breadsticks.

Pelmeni small portions of ground meat and onion wrapped in a thin, unleavened dough and boiled. They are extremely popular in Russia, but historically this dish has an eastern origin. The word “pelmeni” is derived from two words of the Finno-Ugric language. Ancient men of Perm and Udmurtia called them “pelnyan” or “bread ears”.Dumplings were very popular in Siberia and later in the 14th century were discovered by the Russian explorers.

Bliny (so-called pancakes or crepes) are a kind of dish which is cooked on different occasions. Russians eat them at different times of the day as a dessert, snack, or even the main course. Bliny are served with sour creme, honey, salmon, caviar, and many other ingredients. Bliny are rather big (the size of the plate), so don’t confuse them with small and thick oladyi (another kind of pancakes). Blinis are a symbol of the sun, which is represented not only in the shape but also in the warmth you feel on a cold day.

“Don’t

be overwise; fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid - the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.”

Crime and punishment

Fyodor Dostoevsky