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Piers Gladstone moved to Moscow three years ago and recently spent several months travelling the length of the country for his book Russia From The Train Window MOSCOW WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED in Moscow, I remember that every so often I would breathe in a waft of something deliciously sweet – something that would make [...]
Piers Gladstone moved to Moscow three years ago and recently spent several months travelling the length of the country for his book Russia From The Train Window
MOSCOW
WHEN I FIRST ARRIVED in Moscow, I remember that every
so often I would breathe in a waft of something deliciously
sweet – something that would make me salivate and wonder.
I asked my Russian friend Tanya about it, and a misty look
came into her eyes. “That will be the Red October Chocolate
Factory,” she said. “It’s the smell of them making chocolate.”
Generations have been brought up on its chocolates. “It’s
something that’s so connected to Russia”, explains Masha
Bannova, a 25-year old model from Moscow. “It’s something
old, with that quality that will never leave you indifferent.”
The factory was founded in 1867 by a German, Theodore
von Einem. His chocolate soon won awards, and a contract
to supply the court of the Tsar. Success meant a move from
von Einem’s humble shop to a purpose-built red brick factory
on a peninsula on the Moscow River. After the October
Revolution the factory was nationalised – hence its current
name. And it wasn’t long before the chocolate had become a
national favourite, making its factory a Muscovite icon.
alt="Moscow’s old Red October Factory is being redeveloped as luxury housing">
Now, however, the smell of chocolate no longer drifts
down the river. The factory, along with many others, has
been relocated as part of the authorities’ push for a less
industrialised centre. Around 1,000 historic buildings – many
of which had previously been declared protected – have
been lost over the last five years to Moscow’s property
developers. The fear was that the five hectares occupied by
the Red October Factory would go the same way.
But instead of tearing it down, the industrial complex
is being redeveloped, and the building will soon be home
to luxury lofts and office space. “The historical context
of the factory and its environment is being preserved
with this project,” explains Michael Grigoriev, a Muscovite
architect working on the redevelopment together with a
number of international architectural teams (the British
contingent includes Sir Norman Foster).
alt="Traditional fare like Russian borscht is now hard to find on the city’s menus">
There is good news for one of my favourite restaurants,
Stanislavskogo 2 [2 Leontievsky Pereulok, + 7 (495) 291
8689], too. The building had been declared uninhabitable
– and its plot earmarked for a block of luxury flats – but it
has finally been re-added to the list of protected buildings
in the capital. A little-known gem, it serves something
difficult to find in modern-day Moscow – traditional Russian
home cooking. Here, Emilie Souptel explains what is on
the menu and chats with customers (her English is perfect)
while her mother cooks in the back. The walls are crammed
with art, and sometimes a friend from the nearby Moscow
Conservatory comes and tickles the ivories of their piano.
There are only a handful of tables – it is, essentially, the
Souptels’ front room – but it’s an authentic taste of old
Russia; something to be savoured in modern Moscow.
