
4

"The formal upstairs restaurant at Spa 88, Matryoshka, also services the lower-level banya cafeteria, but I get better results dining in the cafeteria: you seat yourself on a plastic nautical high-back chair at a backyard-style glass table, order at the counter, take a few runs into the hot rooms, and your meal is ready in about 10–15 minutes. The menu reinforces the banya’s ethos of sturdy, restorative food—think sweet blini with salty salmon roe, pelmeni drenched in sour cream, and Georgian chicken tabaka crisped under a brick—after which it's perfectly normal to take a nap at your table and then return to the sauna refreshed." - Ryan Sutton