Top 5 Russian foods and Recipes

1. Borsch / Borscht

This beet and cabbage red soup is a delicious belly warmer on Moscow's colder days, served with or without meat, potato, herbs (usually dill) and a dollop of smetana, Russian sour cream. Accompanied with a piece of rye bread or garlic bread topped with melted cheese, this dish is hearty enough to serve as a meal, although it is usually eaten as a starter. A staple of Russia cuisine, it would be an offense to leave Moscow without trying this soup at least once– although its surprisingly tasty flavour will certainly leave you wishing you had tried more local variations. Other common Russian soups to try are ukha, a seasoned fish and vegetable broth, and schi, a cabbage-based broth.

2. Russian pancakes

Blini are Russia's version of the thin French crêpe and a staple on most Moscovian menus, typically made with buckwheat for savoury fillings or white flour for sweet toppings. You'll see accompaniments of smoked salmon, creamy mushrooms, sour cream, jams and condensed milk– to name a few–but the high-end, revered combination is a spoonful of red salmon or black sturgeon caviar. Another tasty Russian pancake is the cottage cheese version called syrniki, a denser form of ricotta-pancakes, which are eaten for breakfast or dessert. They're best served with homemade jams made from Russia's large array of berries, although condensed milk, honey and sour cream are also served as condiments.

3. Russian salad

This hardly needs mentioning seeing as ‘Russian salad' is one such dish that has spread internationally, and chances are you've tried a version in your home country. However, the Russian version is fresher and crispier with a light smattering of mayonnaise– quite the opposite to the ratio of the soft-boiled, mayonnaise-heavy international versions. This could be due to the use of fresh cucumber or crunchy Russian pickles, although the base of diced potato, peas, egg and mayonnaise/sour cream remains ubiquitous. In Moscow, however, it's known as Olivier salad, named after the chef Lucien Olivier who created the ‘secret' recipe there around the mid-1800s, although the original ingredients have been swapped for cheaper, more available foods. You'll also find a variation of similar cold Russian salads that will equally vie for your attention.

4. Smoked salmon or salted herring

Smoked, salted and marinated river and saltwater fish feature widely in Russian cuisine, and are expertly prepared to have a delicate and fresh flavour. On menus you'll typically find marinated or smoked salmon served alone as a dish or with pancakes, and salted herring served in salads, a typical one colloquially named ‘herring under a fur coat' or shuba, which covers salted herring with layers of grated boiled vegetables, beets, onions and mayonnaise. Tartareis is also commonly found on menus in Moscow. Other common fish served in Moscow include trout, carp, zander, sturgeon and sterlet, also know as the Tsar fish.

5. Shashlik /Shashlyik

If semi-raw marinated fish doesn't suit your tastes, these roasted meats and fish on skewers are hard not to like. As the name suggests, this dish is a form of shish kebab, although the Russian version is served with chunkier portions of lamb, beef, chicken or salmon, and served with an unleavened bread, Russian pickles and a sometimes spicy tomato sauce. If your travels take you to Moscow's Izmailovsky flea market (and it's certainly a top 10 thing to see), you'll find a range of market stalls serving shashlik sticks right off the grill.