GO! Issue 2: December 2003 - January 2004

   Feature

Up in Smoke While the smoking controversy fumes around the world, Moscow is by degrees becoming more conscious of restaurant-goers yearning for a smoke-free environment.

Smoker's view For a long time I refused to write a column for The Moscow Times, but when I finally agreed, the then opinion page editor said: “Since your articles are not very serious and your appearance isn’t either, we need to think seriously about how a photograph might attribute some weight.

Where there's smoke... Much of the anti-smoking noise is aimed at cigarette smoking, while cigars and hookahs are attracting new fans. A growing number of clubs have set aside special areas for customers to chomp on hand-rolled Cubans or puff on a water pipe.

   Streetwise

Kamergersky Pereulok

   Drinking & Dancing

Drinking & Dancing A decade after the capital’s club movement was born, the city’s lack of suitably sized venues for major events had become quite obvious.

Measuring up Margaritas A classic margarita is made with fresh lime juice, tequila and Triple Sec. To make a truly superb margarita you need to make it from scratch.

From grain elevator to nightclub The idea of turning an abandoned grain elevator into a fancy nightclub sounded insane from the start. Everything — the venue’s distant location, the current state of the building and the enormous number of square meters to be transformed — made the idea seem far-fetched.

Shandra If Don Juan were alive today, he would find Shandra, a new addition to Moscow’s set of exclusive clubs, quite suitable for seducing the ladies — if he could get past the face control, that is.

   Restaurants

To market, to Market It’s like picking out your dinner from fish- and vegetable-merchant stalls in the South Pacific, only prices are in another league and, well, you’re still in Moscow.

Fish on ice is now the fashion New restaurant Market’s opening coincided with the unveiling of another fish restaurant with some remarkable similarities: Rybny Bazar, or Fish Bazaar.