Café Pouchkine
More than 50 years ago the well-known French chansonnier Gilbert Bécaud wrote the song "Nathalie" and dedicated it to his Russian guide Natalia, whom he met while performing in Moscow. The song became astonishingly popular, and it is no wonder that both Moscow inhabitants and tourists tried to find "Café Pouchkine."
And yet, merely being a poetic fantasy of Gilbert Becaud, it did not exist! But it was this image that inspired Andrei Dellos to re-create "Café Pouchkine". And as a tribute to the memory of literary legend Alexander Pouchkine, he created a French-style café serving aristocratic Russian cuisine.
Our evening began in the library where we were served flutes of Billecart-Salmon rosé.
And it wouldnot be a Russian celebration without at least three different vodkas
Nasdrovia!
On the site of a former Orange (France Telecom) boutique has risen a Russian jewel.
Two flutes and we were ready to be escorted to the étage with its views of the Madeleine and the boulevard.
M and I were celebrating 8 years with my special visa-Friday eveing to sunday morning and the staff were appropriately attentive.
She started with a crab salad Kamchatka with spring vegetables in a dressing of coriander and dill that was crisp and tart.
Channeling my Brooklyn-Russo roots I opted for a mille-feuille of herring.
As a main course M selcted Cotelette de veau Pojarski with a tagliatelle of vegetables and pommes grenailles. So subtly delicious that one might have been eating veal-scented air.
In contrast I tucked into a meal fit for a Cossack-classic Beef Stroganoff served with mashed potatoes and cornichons. I polished off the third vodka before ordering glassses of Burgundy for both of us.
A taste of chocolate to end a sublime evening.
16 place de la Madeleine
75008 Paris
01 53 43 81 60
75008 Paris
01 53 43 81 60
