While exploring the Dresden Neustadt neighborhood around our Airbnb, we happened upon this cute…read morelittle "restaurant" advertising vodka and blini/bliny pancakes. We walked in and were presented with a sort-of tight entry area, with a big menu overhead, and counter where you could see into the kitchen. It seemed like this was where you could order take out, or pick up your to-go orders. To the left of that was a small room with maybe 3 or 4 tables (one of which was already taken with a group of 7 people), and behind that another small room with a few more tables.
Since we don't speak German, we had to do a bit of hand signaling to let the hostess know we wanted a table, and to order. We knew we wanted bliny pancakes with caviar, and vodka, but not too much food because we were on our way to dinner. We sat and went through the menu, which was filled with vintage ads for various vodkas and Russian beverages as well as descriptions of the various snacks, plates and drinks on offer. The décor of the place was cute and felt comfortable and homey - lots of small statues of past Russian leaders, framed photos of the vintage vodka ads, flags, some wall murals, and heavy wooden furniture. And the menu was extensive!
Using our translator app, we figured out that we wanted an order of bliny with salmon roe, plus a soft drink (Wostok with tarragon and ginger) and one shot of vodka that we would share. I realize this is silly when there are two people: why not two shots of vodka, but we didn't want to drink too much and weren't sure how big the pour would be, so we committed to just getting one that we would both sip. I think that when it came time to order the hostess was also confused, and she said a few things to us over and over that we could not understand, but which seemed to convey her confusion.
Either way, our order came out correctly, with a neat shot of vodka, the desired bliny and soft drink, and all of it was lovely together as a small snack. If we hadn't had to rush off to dinner, we could have easily stayed there longer, having more food (which looked awesome being served to other diners) and more vodka!
Couple of notes - our visit was during covid, and the windows and doors were all open for air flow; the hostess was wearing a mask but other diners were not. The time it took from seated to ordering was maybe 15 min, but it appeared there was only one person working (the hostess was also pouring the shots and preparing the plates) and there were at least 3 other tables seated before us. The time it took from ordering to receiving our food was maybe 20 min. And then waiting for the check was another 20 min. We weren't too bothered since we had the time and knew the proprietress was busy, but something to take note of if you are short on time.
Overall we enjoyed our brief experience and would love to go back next time we are in town!
