St Petersburg seems to be Russia’s most vegetarian-friendly city. There are just about enough options for vegans to survive, and apart from restaurants and general-purpose food stores such survival requires some shops specifically catering to our specific needs. Of the relatively meagre strictly vegan-shop offerings, Bunker is the most centrally located.

Despite the name, it is above ground, although fairly deep inside a courtyard in a tiny lane. It is a comparatively small place, although tightly crammed with anything from tofu (some of the cheapest in the city outside some Chinese shops at the Apraksin Dvor market) and soy milk to multivitamins and menstruation cups. The vegan sandwiches are a bit of hit and miss if you ask me, and vegan ice-cream ranges from horrid to good enough on a very hot day, but the Bifidonik is essential (if they have it in stock; it’s vegan kefir), and the tempeh is good (and very rare in Russian shops). To add to the variety, there are also some fundraising items benefiting animal-rights initiatives, and good abstract art on the walls.

As far as I know, they keep a pretty strict watch on what they sell, and have sent some products to lab for testing lest some milk protein turns up (that was done by Bunker in co-operation with Vasilyevsky Island’s B12 vegan shop). Price labels are bilingual, which I presume means they welcome fellow members of the vegan international.