Every week we meet with different people and ask them about their favourite example of “gurmanization”: combination of a restaurant’s atmosphere and its cuisine quality.
Apart from performances and lectures there is a very nice cafeteria and a bookshop with rare editions in the former Moscow Dramatic Theatre of N.V. Gogol. Masha Kuzmima, the journalist and PR-specialist, has told us about ginger lemonade, delicious sandwiches and unusual atmosphere in the “Gogol-center”.
«One of my friends wrote me that “Gogol-center”, being what it was when it just opened, is some kind of an amusement park in theatre life. All the canons have been eliminated. And for me an amusement is old soviet theatres with babushkas in maroon-coloured suits, with brochures and sandwiches with salmon in the buffet as in my childhood I didn’t use to go to such theatres. For me it is something unexpected and even odd.
Maria Kuzmina, PR-specialist, journalist
My first visit to the renewed theatre of N.V. Gogol (now “Gogol-center”) was not so long ago, about a month ago. Taking into consideration that the theatre was opened in February, one month is rather significant time. I came to listen to the lecture about the destiny of Russian musicals and to see the presentation of the musical “The Wakening of Spring” that will appear in “Gogol-center” in the new season.
I came inside and realized at once that it’s very comfortable here. And it’s not an amusement park for me at all. I feel like at home! Literally, in my house unnecessary walls have been knocked down, and the load-bearing ones are just plastered bricks with writings and mirrors.
The interior of the cafe in “Gogol-center”: modern loft with brick walls
“Gogol-center” is a unique organism where one thing can’t be divided from the other one. First you come to the cafe to have a meal, then you go to the bookshop which has rare book editions (there is a whole shelf with the books by Somerset Maugham) and splendid diaries with Esenin on the cover, and after that you accidentally by a ticket to a performance.
I can’t say that I have tried many things in this cafe. But I like ginger lemonade here. It has much ginger which is a rare thing. I like it very much and buy and carry it home in big portions.
My friends recommended me seaberry tea (or “home-style tea”) and even ordered beer here! I don’t know a theatre where one can buy beer. These days I like ordering salty and spicy dishes, and, for instance, this sandwich with ham and cheese is a real enjoyment for me because of the pickles. These sandwiches can’t be compared with boring slices of bread with some unidentifiable ingredients that can be found in a usual theatre buffet. The price is the same but a sandwich is much tastier and the portion is four times bigger.
Sandwich with ham and cheese
It’s better to come here some time before the performance begins or just to meet your friends in order to have a snack in advance. Or you can just come with your laptop and work, there is free Wi-Fi.
“Cunning people”, who are not fare, are in charge of cuisine
There is a special kind of people mix here. Those who always go to such places as “Kofehouse” or “Shokoladnitsa” would never come here. They just wouldn’t know about this place. Almost every time there is “its own action” in the cafe of the “Gogol-center”: Serebrennikov himself or the actors may even sit at the next table. And if you come alone everyone here knows each other, you don’t feel lonely.
Everybody talks to you as if you’ve known each other for a long time, the passing by actors greet you, the guards are nice and witty. I even managed to exchange a couple of words with Masha Katz who was the first one to present Russia at Eurovision Song Contest and who is a vocal tutor now in the theatre, though we had never met before. It’s so easy that it’s breathtaking!
Somebody wrote in the Twitter: “Gogol-center” is like a sect. Once you come here, you’ll never want to leave”. Indeed, I never want to leave this place, it’s like being at home!»
Tatiana Bronnikova
Expat Women
