The Soviets were always gung-ho over building the very biggest of things.
Their predecessors, the Capitalist Russians, share the same passion.
Consider for a moment, Turandot. This Moscow restaurant, which opened earlier this year, spreads across 65,000 square feet, seats 500 people, and cost over $50 million to build.
If it weren’t serving food, it could double as a museum.
According to wine writer Jancis Robinson, over 100 artists toiled on the mammoth construction, marvelously recreating an 18th century aristocratic residence bathed in resplendent opulence and gilded gold.
The New York Times also wrote about this extravagance last May. Having not yet visited myself, I’ll quote briefly from just one of the Times’ many descriptive passages.
“A marble Venetian courtyard – with statues of Neptune and other ancient gods and live mandarin trees, and bookended by two Gianmaria Buccellati boutiques – opens onto the palace, which is crowned by a sky-blue dome and a 1.5-ton crystal chandelier.”
The food seems almost secondary to every article I’ve run across. But once diners get over the striking interior and finally settle down to eat, the reviews of the “imperial Asian” cuisine have been pretty decent, and very pricey.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to visit my next time in Moscow.