Mama na dache | Sankt Petersburg

Petersburg’s culinary world surprised us. None of us expected such a diversity of flavours, cuisine and such numerous restaurants. I definitely did not expect that Russian cuisine will taste as good and that as a pescetarian, I will find so much for myself.
Mama na dache is the first restaurant we visited on arrival in St. Petersburg. We searched it online and decided on it because it had very positive ratings and was located near our accommodation and on a very famous street in St. Petersburg – Nevsky Prospect.

I must say that this was the perfect beginning of our time in this beautiful city. Mama na dache has a very warm and family atmosphere. On the one hand, the interior looks like a mum’s or grandmother’s home, on the other, thanks to the tree placed in the centre, it feels a bit like sitting on a veranda. The atmosphere of the evening was surely uplifted by a live concert of a jazz band, with which members Przemek later talked for a bit. He even managed to persuade them to play a short song to our vlog (which you can watch below).

The dishes served in the restaurant are mainly traditional Russian, but you will also find here dishes of European or Eastern European cuisine. Menu is translated into English and additionally enhanced with pictures of the dishes, which makes it easier to choose one. Firstly, we ordered homemade tinctures – from sea-buckthorn, blackcurrant, lemon and cherry. They were perfect, not too strong and not too sweet. As for the dishes, Przemek ordered a chicken broth with a shashlik and a pork steak with fried potatoes. I chose a spring salad with vegetables and pike cutlets with mashed potatoes. The cutlets were so good that when we returned to Mama na dache at the end of the trip, I ordered them for the second time. Przemek had to enjoy the broth exceptionally because it appeared on our table again.

At the second visit, we also ate homemade pickles – delicious and great as a side dish for tinctures or vodka. We also tried their version of khachapuri, a yeast dough in the shape of a teardrop with cheese and a soft-fried egg. The bonus at Mama na dache is that the service speaks English very well, which is quite important for people who do not know Russian 🙂 We definitely recommend it!