Photo: Ptitov

A popular expression here in Moscow goes: “Moscow has everything one can desire…except the sea!”. Nor do we have many shady parks, where one can escape from the heat on hot summer days, when this city of asphalt and concrete feels like a frying pan. The only green areas you can find in downtown Moscow are the narrow strips of dusty grass in the middle of the noisy boulevards and even here you should book a free spot in advance as every square meter normally is occupied by gothic teenagers drinking cheap beer or homeless guys working on their suntan.

Photo: Ariil Davidoff

Apart from the life on the boulevards, Moscow on hot weekends seems totally abandoned as every living creature has escaped to their dacha or to any muddy lake in the surrounding countryside. However there is one place in downtown Moscow where I seek refuge from the heat on those summer days when the outside temperatures reach body temperatures, and this place is called Lebedinoe Ozero.

Photo: Ariil Davidoff

This open-air café opened in the summer 2008 and has given new life to Gorky Park, which lost its appeal long ago and to a majority of Moscovites is less attractive than McDonald’s is to a left-wing vegan. The café is hidden in a far corner of the park on the banks of a small shallow pond with white swans (in Russian Lebedinoe Ozero means ‘Swan Lake’). Lebedinoe Ozero has two sections. There is a shady wooden balcony, which is furnished with tables and comfortable sofas that are perfect for chilling in while smoke a waterpipe in the early evening. However, my favourite part of the café is the sun deck with a swimming pool so tiny that one could confuse it with bathtub.

I love coming here early in the morning during the week when the café is nearly empty as everyone else is sweating in their offices. There is nothing better than to relax on one of the Thai cotton mattresses and daydreaming while licking the sun. To cool down I order lemonade with kaffir lime leaves and a big bowl of svekolnik, which is cold beetroot soup. And if I am really hungry I go for the chicken shashlyk, where the meat is so tender and light that I’m always tempted to order a double portion.

Evenings and nights at Lebedinoe Ozero are very buzy really lively, so it’s better to book a table in advance.

LEBEDINOE OZERO Krymsky Val, 9, bld 22 (Крымский Вал, 9, стр. 22). Metro Oktyabrskaya