Vodka, beer and sing-alongs: Russian disco with bandidos

Moscow is a mystery for every foreigner. We traveled Moscow for a few days and explored the great unknown among the world cities.

Proud and stubborn to this day, indomitable even if all the other large western states continue to criticize. Russia is different, as is its capital Moscow. You must have seen that. Read part 1 of the story here, part 2 is here, the 3 part here, part 4 here, part 5 here, six here

Under the sign of the kalashnikovs

The Russians and alcohol, they have always been a loving couple. When Ivan the Terrible's troops advanced to the decisive battle, the Russian tsar was still on guard because he knew that. Only after his soldiers had taken Kazan, the capital of theTatar empire, on October 2, 1552, did the tsar release the vodka barrels. This was followed by three days of boozing with headaches, but at least without any deaths.

An unmanageable amount of strange beers

Unlike in 1377, when the Russians, believing that the Tartar prince Arapshanoch should be still far away, decided to get a little drunk before the battle. The Tartars surrounded the stronger Russian forces and slaughtered the entire army. Those who survived were driven by the Tartars into the nearby river, which has since been known as Reka Pyannaya, "Drunken River".

Russian gold: Caviar

A country as drunken river

Since then, Russians have not become more teetotal, but a little more cautious. However, anyone who goes to the Moscow bar "Los Bandidos" quickly notices that little has changed since 1377. If alcohol is on the menu, you can't order enough. The Russian soul opens up over beer, and table neighbors suddenly realize what a big role vodka plays in the lives of Russians.

Yet "Los Bandidos" is not Russian at all. Global bar culture reigns here, there are T-shirts for sale, Kalashnikovs hang on the wall, American gangsters decorate the walls and the toilet bowl is decorated with gold mosaics.

"Los Bandidos" embodies Moscow pub style of the modern capitalist age: The young staff of the cellar store sells only local beer from small breweries, there are the strangest flavors and hardly a single one of them has less than six percent. Plus burgers on black Russian bread, organic cola and live music - this cellar could also be in Berlin or Taipei.

Golden shower

Metropolis with many sides

Russia's dazzling metropolis also has other sides. The Russian capital recently ascended to the Olympus of top gastronomy. For the first time, restaurant experts from the French gourmet bible Michelin awarded stars in Europe's largest city. However, only the nouveau riche and tourists frequent here, just like the students who populate the new branches of the countless coffee chains. They are all looking like starbuck clones, but the dishes are better.

Global bar culuture @Los_bandidos_bar

_barOtherwise, the saying of the Venetian ambassador Contarini, who wrote home in 1476 that the Russians are "great drinkers and are very proud of it," holds true. After two beers and a vodka, everyone is in each other's arms, even those who don't speak Russian are engaged in conversation. Contarini believed 500 years ago that Russians were good for nothing after lunch, but today it is shortly after ten o'clock in the evening when the lights of reason go out. There is singing and drinking and singing and so on.

Meet me under the table

American gangsters in Moscow

It's not just Russian men who have been consistently drinking each other under the table for a millennium; women join in, too. Irina, sitting at our table one evening with her friend Nadja, orders refills faster than any foreigner can swallow. No wonder: just a few years ago, the average Russian downed 180 bottles of vodka a year. 180! This is accompanied by the famous soup borscht, pelmeni and boeuf stroganoff, and in better circles also Kamchatka crabs, caviar and sturgeon. It's alife style.

Are you brave enough?

But those who keep up with the times eat pizza and burgers, because the end of communism has opened up to Russians a whole variety of national and international cuisine. In Moscow, everything is available, in any quality and at any price. You just have to be able to pay. "Drinking it's expensive," says Sergei, a young Russian who invited us for beer, "but somehow everyone always manages to pay for everything."

One of the pubs

And when the band plays, it doesn't matter. What was unheard of in Soviet times - Western rock music! - today immediately breaks out of the strictly regulated norms of post-communist society after five beers and four vodkas. The band Free Ride plays "Don't let me be misunderstood" by the American Nina Simone and everyone sings along.

A american burger on russian black bread

Sing along with Nina Simone

Good mood in a country that should actually suffer heavily from sanctions. In retaliation for import bans on Russian goods, Russian President Vladimir Putin years ago banned imports of meat, dairy products, fruit and vegetables, for example. As a result, many Russian farmers learned to make cheese like in Italy or France, and others began brewing better beer and growing wine.

One of the "better" restaurants

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin sees good Russian cuisine, along with sights like Red Square with the Kremlin, as a magnet to attract visitors from around the world. Now that the city can boast stars from the Michelin Guide, the city will be even better received by tourists, the city leader hopes. After temporary closures due to the Corona pandemic, however, eateries in the metropolis of more than 12 million people are according to press reports, it is already packed again.

Down in the underground

There are probably ten times as many restaurants and pubs today as there were ten years ago. Since then, several food courts have opened in the capital in huge market halls like those in Lisbon, offering everything from sushi to Uzbek and Caucasian cuisine to pizza.

No one cares about the money

Do you remember the movie Coyote Ugly?

The fact that many Russians can hardly afford food in the new restaurants and pubs, because monthly wages are still a few hundred euros and pensions around 200 euros. No one cares, there remain enough people to whom it is worth the money and for visitors Moscow offers a good price-performance ratio in international comparison.

To be able to read a little Russian - cyrillic letters - does not hurt: advertising, which has Moscow flooded at the same time as Western goods, may contain only Cyrillic letters, according to the order of the mayor. Without this rule, the mayor says, there is a risk of "too much Americanization" of the Russian capital.