skip to main skip to sidebar Moscow Rules An Englishman in Moscow, whose life is a slalom between the attitudes, aspirations and realities of modern Russia and the prejudices and politics of the West Sunday, 3 February 2008 Expat postcard: moody crustacea, bootboy rebels and guns I am in a strop with Arkady Novikov ecologically -PC, was damned fine. Life in Moscow without Novikov restaurants would be much less onctueuse Nedal'nij Vostok is cuisine- butch . Go for one of the tables near the central, open-plan kitchen and watch the kitchen floor-show. Watching a live lobster being sashimied is a curious experience. The chef took one lobster after another, lovingly stroked each down the back of its shell with the blunt side of the knife, before dispatching it, Roman-style So why the strop with Novikov? My favourite deli in town, Globus Gourmet essential . The phrase being originally American, I am uncertain as to its proper etymology. But, anyway, bootblack is the phrase I use: shoe-shine boy sounds ridiculous after-all. My capitalist-but-liberal sensitivity is enhanced by the fact that, in Kyiv, the rather ancient bootblack I prefer is, actually, black (remember seeing a non-white face in Kyiv is rare indeed). And fascinating. | |
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