There's no better time to travel than during a global financial meltdown. Price wars between airlines have led to plummeting ticket prices, and posh hotels are practically giving away their beds. Promotions on all kinds of products – ranging from hot chocolate to haute couture - make it possible for even unemployed bankers to get a taste of the good life. We asked our local bloggers to uncover the best deals, and to tell us about the simple and inexpensive pleasures that can always be found in their cities. With cheap tickets and insider advice, there's no reason why a shrinking economy should stop you from expanding your horizons.
Moscow
Sometimes good things come out of bad things. Take the financial crisis – they have in my opinion had a positive effect on parts of the restaurant-industry here in Moscow. Recently I was so happy to find out that an expensive but dull Italian restaurant has reincarnated into a cheap and yummy soviet-style café! Amen, there is justice in this world!
The new venue is called Sovetskaya Cheburechnaya and it serves 3 kinds of cheburek, one of the most popular Soviet-style fastfood. Cheburek is a pie made of thin paste, stuffed with minced juicy mutton with herbs or potato or cheese and then deep-fried
There is a special culture of eating at Cheburechnaya. It is self-service, so you have to wait in a line together with a rather diverse and flamboyant clientel consisting of drunk old men (cheburek goes great with vodka), students, homeless ladies, policemen sipping cheap beer…you never know who will turn up! Then you give your order to a bleak cheerless cashier (always a middle-aged lady!) and you better do it fast and clearly.
Finally you get your tray (take beer or vodka to look typical for the place) and you can find a free table (always stand-up!). Use only your hands to eat cheburek and if you are not full you can always order another two at the cashier. Don’t be surprised if another cheerless lady will clean your table while you are eating with a stinky wipe.
The funniest thing about Sovetskaya Cheburechnaya is that they haven't changed the interior of the former Italian restorant! The bathroom looks weird-glamorous, walls are decorated with Venetian lamps and on the main wall there is a drawing of Grand Canal with gondolas!
To make this even more absurd they have added a zeppelin with a USSR logo to the Venetian sky. Worth to see!
SOVETSKAYA CHEBURECHNAYA, Krasina str. 27/1. Metro Belorysskaya, Mayakovskaya or Krasnopresnenskaya
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