There’s much more to Russian food than the ubiquitous blinis. But don’t take this word for it: head to Palkin, one of St Petersburg’s oldest and most famous restaurants. Founded in 1785, both Dostoyevsky and his fellow author, Nikolai Gogol (a renowned 19th-century foodie), dined here while pondering the next chapters of their classic novels about tormented Russian souls.
It’s the ideal place to pass a cold St. Petersburg winter evening, with its ‘imperial cuisine’, including black caviar, crab meat and sturgeon, as well as simpler, filling traditional soups.