Every week we meet with different people and ask them about their favourite example of “gurmanization”: combination of a restaurant’s atmosphere and the quality of its cuisine.
Perhaps there is a little child living inside of each of us, a child which is still capable of being surprised and amazed by miracles. A teacher of English language Dasha Karandasheva has told us about the wonderful world of moomins, tasty cacao for a wizard, button-shaped cookies and a place with fabulous atmosphere.
“My friend and I decided to meet in some nice place where we hadn’t been before. And while we were discussing and choosing such a place, she remembered about “MoominCafe” (Novoslobodskaya str. 46).
My friend is a great fun of moomins, so she was eager to see her favourite characters again. I, on the contrary, didn’t expect anything particular as I wasn’t really keen on moomins then. But it turned out to be a big mistake.
It wasn’t difficult to find this “MoominCafe”, we just went out of the metro and walked along Novoslobodskaya street chatting about different things, and we didn’t even notice how we got there.
Dash Karandasheva, teacher of English for kids, “Easy School”
I really liked the huge menu with fabulous names, cute comments to the dishes and drinks. I was as if enchanted, it took eternity to choose and order. Big choice is a great thing in a new place – it’s always so fascinating. On this stage you realize more or less if you would like to come back here again.
The menu includes not only names of the dishes but also cute pictures
“MoominCafe” is a great place, there are so many things to try, and it’s really pleasant to be here. There is also a good value for money.
In my imagination I ordered every second item from the menu, but in reality I decided to choose a Sicilian cottage-cheese cassata with dried apricots, raisins, hazelnuts and strawberry sauce (220 rubles, 210 grams) which I decided to complete with a Wizard’s cacao (150 rubles. 300 ml). In my opinion it’s a great combination of a cozy evening spent with a friend where you want to discuss in details different pleasant things.
The best place for relaxing would be this comfortable couch
I also liked careful and hospitable waiters. Everything was very nice, as if we had come to have a cup of tea in our old good friend’s house.
We ordered some meringues and button-shaped cookies to take-away. And earlier I saw one young girl painting kraft-paper bags, and I wanted my order to be packed in one of those.
But the cookies turned out to be very fragile, so we decided to put them into a solid container.
Wonderful meringue and “button” cookies
The interior of “MoominCafe” is very light, clear and a bit marine. There are plenty of amazing details which you can’t notice straight away. But this way it’s more interesting as you always can find something new.
One of “MoominCafe” interiors
I would also like to mention a hammock and a huge bookcase filled with jam pots.
When I choose a place to go, an important factor is the atmosphere, so I was really pleased to find the “MoominCafe” filled with it: the interior design, the menu, the attitude of the people who work there.
The first hall of ”MoominCafe”, also called “Garden”
While we were in the cafe, I already began to think of the next time when I possibly could visit this place. And then I realized that it would happen when the bought meringue has finished. It’s incredibly soft and looks like a small cloud. I’m also eager to come back here when I read some stories about the moomins.
The moomins can be found all over the cafe
This cafeteria also has several shelves with wonderful handmade things which can be purchased. One of the posters hung in the cafe said “Trade fair”. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to visit this event, but I think that “MoominCafe
is the most suitable place for such kind of events”.
Tatiana Bronnikova
The photos by Evgeniya Kasinich and taken from the official web-page
