Varenichnaya No 1

Top choice in Arbat & Khamovniki


Retro Soviet is all the rage in Moscow, and this old-style restaurant does it right, with books lining the walls, old movies on the B&W TV, and Cold War–era prices. The menu features tasty, filling vareniki and pelmeni (Russian-style dumplings), with sweet and savoury fillings. Bonus: an excellent house-made pickled vegie plate to make you pucker.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Arbat & Khamovniki attractions

1. Tochka-G Museum of Erotic Art

0.15 MILES

The name means G spot, in case you didn’t already guess. Among this gigantic display of erotica, you’re bound to find something that will titillate yours…

2. Melnikov House

0.18 MILES

The only private house built during the Soviet period, the home of Konstantin Melnikov stands as testament to the innovation of the Russian avant-garde…

3. Bulat Okudzhava Statue

0.23 MILES

Bulat Okudzhava was a poet-turned-songwriter who lived and often performed on the Arbat in the 1960s. He inspired a whole movement of liberal-thinking…

4. Burganov House

0.25 MILES

Part studio, part museum, the Burganov House is a unique venue in Moscow, where the craft goes on around you, as you peruse the sculptures and other…

5. Pushkin House-Museum

0.29 MILES

After Alexander Pushkin married Natalia Goncharova at the nearby Church of the Grand Ascension, they moved to this charming blue house on the old Arbat…

6. Gogol House

0.41 MILES

The 19th-century writer Nikolai Gogol spent his final tortured months here. The rooms – now a small but captivating museum – are arranged as they were…

7. Foreign Affairs Ministry

0.41 MILES

One of the Stalinist skyscrapers known as the 'Seven Sisters', the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building is a 27-storey landmark that was completed in 1953.

8. Pushkin Literary Museum

0.45 MILES

Housed in a beautiful Empire-style mansion dating from 1816, this museum is devoted to the life and work of Russia’s favourite poet. Personal effects,…