Restaurants of Odessa cuisine. "Duke-Duke" on "Kitai-Gorod" Restaurant of Odessa cuisine

A new restaurant of Odessa cuisine by Mitya Borisov and Lara Katsova has opened on the site of “Jean-Jacques” in Lubyansky Proezd. At the entrance to the cafe there is a slate board with the inscription: “Duke-Duke is the most delicious and fun restaurant of Lara Katsova’s home cooking.” You really can’t take away the hilarity of the place: Katsova, known to the general public primarily for the TV show “Home Cooking,” won over viewers not only with her food and her grandmother’s recipes, but also with her sense of humor.
In "Duke-Duke" Lara is in charge everywhere - in the kitchen, in the hall, at the tables - and they call Katsova mom for a reason.

Odessa courtyard

The premises of the former “Jean-Jacques” have changed dramatically. All that remains from the previous cafe here are the restroom signs and some green paint on the doors, which only adds to the feeling of some kind of history and comfort that has already been lived through. The brick walls are painted white, the tables have snow-white tablecloths, the hall has Viennese chairs and a wooden ceiling. Even though the restaurant opened last week, the space feels lived-in and feels like it's been around for years.

The trump card of the place was, of course, the courtyard, when you get into it you completely disappear from the life of the metropolis: if there is a piece of Odessa in Moscow, it is here. There is a line with laundry hanging from wall to wall along the terrace, and for a second you can even believe that this is not just decoration. Behind the rope you can see a more than real iron fence with barbed wire and graffiti, all of which is diluted with flower beds and a sky-blue wooden wall. In the evening, the lights are turned on on the veranda, and “Duke-Duke” is finally transferred to Odessa, so while it’s warm, you should definitely take a little vacation. You just need to book a table in advance: you won’t be able to sit in the restaurant in the evenings.

Grandma's recipes

Odessa resident Katsova did not dream of becoming a chef, but her grandmother Esther Markovna Trakhtman taught her to cook, whose recipes became the basis of the Duke-Duc cuisine - her portrait now hangs in the restaurant in the most prominent place.

In addition to Lara, the kitchen is run by the young chef Ilya Romanov, who previously worked at Powehouse Moscow. The menu includes traditional Odessa dishes and Katsova’s family recipes: mackerel pate, pancakes with whipped pike caviar, red mullet, country salad, eggplant appetizer khatsilim and chocolate sausage. The bar menu is large and worthy of wide, friendly evening feasts that smoothly flow into the night.

You won’t be able to just have a bite to eat at Duke-Duke: the portions are generous and filling, just like at big family dinners. Here you need to try Katsova’s signature forshmak - the first portion is served free, and the next one will cost 350 rubles. It is also worth ordering nalistniki (pancakes with red fish and herbs), cutlets and, of course, dumplings with cherries and sour cream - thin elastic dough, sour berries inside and delicate sweet cherry sauce.

Like visiting

Despite the fact that “Duk-Duk” is a home-cooking restaurant, the dishes here look beautiful like a restaurant and are served in glazed blue dishes that just beg to be photographed. Prices are generally appropriate.
And yet, “Duk-Duk” is a place specifically about food, hearty, hearty, varied and homemade, with a combination of flavors. In general, “Duk-Duk” managed to do two important things for such an establishment: firstly, to provide delicious and authentic restaurant-quality cuisine, and secondly, to create a relaxed atmosphere of hospitality and family, as if you were expected here today.

Lara Katsova became famous thanks to a series of cheerful Odessa dinners in Moscow restaurants. Now she hosts her own show on the Domashny channel, the gastronomic blog Mama Rola, has published a cookbook and is already writing a second one, and now she has opened her own restaurant.

At the heart of the menu “ Longboat” family recipes of the Katsovs, mostly from Larina’s grandmother - an Odessa resident Esther Markovna Trakhtman. These are exactly the dishes that Lara ate as a child. And if in her family they never added apples to mincemeat and never cooked mussels, then you won’t find this in Barkas either. However, “if I ever want to cook mussels, I will do it, after all, I am also part of the family,” Lara clarifies. But so far she has not found shells of decent quality in Moscow. In general, Katsova is a very demanding cook. Why, say, is the famous blue caviar not on the menu? But because at the moment the eggplants in the capital’s markets are “not bad, but not yet what is needed.” Frozen food is not accepted in the Barkas kitchen, only refrigerated food. The only exception is red mullet, but, according to Lara, it is not transported chilled to Moscow at all.

What is Odessa cuisine? - I asked Lara.

This is a mixture of recipes from different countries and different peoples - recipes from exactly those people who lived in your yard next door. Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks. Therefore, every Odessa resident has his own kitchen.

And of course, every Odessa housewife has her own most correct recipe for mincemeat, gefilte fish, latkes, cutlets and balls. Therefore, Lara strictly follows grandmother’s recipe, “after all, if I do something wrong, she will send it to me,” the granddaughter is sure. The mackerel for the pate is smoked using a special technology, crumpled potatoes are added to the stuffed fish, locally salted salmon is added to the latkes, transparent wheat flaps are stuffed with homemade cottage cheese or stew, and pike caviar is ground with cream.

However, you can ask for a recipe for any dish and no one will be greedy - Katsova, businesslike and wearing glasses, will come from the kitchen, dictate the recipe from a dirty notebook and wish you not to cough, and if something goes wrong, then by all means call.

They are not greedy here with the amount of food, the portion sizes are like any good grandmother’s, so that no one even thinks about going hungry. And what they didn’t pick up, they took with them. In “Barkas” they treat you to forshmak for free, but with one condition - don’t start talking about how to cook it correctly. And those who are unable to resist arguing pay for the dish and criticism. 500 rubles.

The interior of “Barkas” is reminiscent of a cozy Odessa courtyard - lots of greenery, lanterns hanging overhead, wooden tables and chairs that neighbors took out of their apartments to have dinner together.

And how much is planned for the future! A vegetable market and grocery store, where you can buy Larina’s pates and semi-finished products, fresh vegetables and fruits, from which you can immediately ask to assemble your favorite vegetable salad. Tastings of herbal teas from tea master Kazim, gastronomic master classes, tours of chefs from Odessa and Israel, dishes for large groups (baskets of fried fish with wine, heads of homemade cheese with tomatoes and warm bread, grilled meat and vegetables), children's parties on weekends , gramophones, orchestra festivals. In general, everyone will be happy!

Visiting a restaurant of Odessa cuisine in Moscow is a real success for residents of the capital. The cuisine, named after one of the most famous Ukrainian cities, has its own differences. Finding an Odessa restaurant in Moscow, although difficult, is possible - there are about a dozen similar establishments in the capital. All of them are united by the unique flavor of the sunny city on the Black Sea coast.

Odessa restaurants in Moscow

Peculiarities

Recipes for Odessa cuisine have been formed over centuries and have incorporated elements of not only Ukrainian, but also Russian, Georgian, Jewish, Bulgarian, Moldavian, Armenian, Greek and Uzbek cooking features. At the same time, most dishes surprise with their originality. Despite borrowing ingredients from the national cuisines of other countries, the residents of Odessa have truly created their own recipes, different from everyone else.

The most traditional dishes of Odessa cuisine are:

• forshmak - herring baked with potatoes, onions, sour cream and pepper, served as an appetizer;
• stuffed necks, zucchini, peppers and eggplants;
• seafood dishes: stuffed fish, fried bulls, pilaf with mussels, baked rapana, caviar cutlets;
• many types of dumplings.

Every guest who visits a restaurant serving Odessa cuisine in Moscow will note the abundance of seafood on the menu and the way the dishes are served. Among Odessa residents it is customary to prepare large portions, while the sizes of cutlets, dumplings and cabbage rolls are made as small as possible. Food cooked over an open fire has a special taste. An invariable attribute of every Odessa restaurant in Moscow is an impressive interior and hospitable service.

In any restaurant of Odessa cuisine in Moscow, guests feel comfortable and at ease. And traditional dishes from the Odessa menu, coupled with original recipes for cocktails and lemonades, turn the establishments into a favorite place for visitors.

Among Odessa restaurants in Moscow we can note:

• “Odessa-Mama” on Ukrainian Boulevard - a restaurant with a modern interior with elements in the spirit of the sea coast and traditional Odessa dishes;
• “Aunt Motya” - a cozy homely atmosphere and a menu of Odessa and European cuisine;
• “Odessa-Mama” on Chistye Prudy is a two-tier restaurant of Odessa cuisine in Moscow with huge portions and interesting interior elements;
• “Duke-Duke” is a cozy Odessa restaurant in Moscow with a courtyard and recipes from grandmother Lara Katsova;
• “Babel” is a three-story restaurant of Odessa cuisine in Moscow with a voluminous menu of Jewish and Ukrainian dishes;
• “Rybachka Sonya” is an original Odessa restaurant in Moscow, surprising guests with simple and tasty dishes of Ukrainian and European cuisine.

Whatever restaurant of Odessa cuisine in Moscow visitors choose, everywhere they will find an invariable Black Sea theme: both in the setting of the establishment and in the menu. When going to an Odessa restaurant in Moscow, every guest can be sure that he will be able to eat “from the heart.”