Bjorn Moscow – Scandinavian

Strolling around Moscow streets near my office, I passed by the Bjorn restaurant many times, never feeling that I needed to dive in and have a lunch there. How can a Scandinavian dish ever surprise you?

And it's a great shame for me that I had missed it before: it can and indeed it did surprise me. I would call this place and its cuisine "wild". They take wild-sourced ingredients, like northern berries, wild salmon or venison (deer's meat), and cook it wild. That is: serve it uncooked, or burn it, or cook it in ashes, or process it any other wild way you imagine. From starters to desserts. Pure wildness.

Don't be confused by the Nordic titles and strange descriptions in the menu: their waiters will passionately suggest their best dishes to you and explain the details (and, what I appreciate the most, the philosophy) behind every single item.

What I personally like in Bjorn are their Smorrebrods and soups. Their exotic "Mushroom lemonade" is also worth trying.

This place is middle-class price range, andthe  plates are not so big, so I usually take one or two starters, a soup, and one or two main courses to be completely satisfied.