meeting in the garden
element club reviewer Evan True recently visited Sobraniye, one of the newest nightlife venues in the popular Hermitage Garden, and found that it redefines the word ‘club’ — aiming for the high-society cigar toting and smoking jacket crowd.
PHOTO GEORGY IVANOV / TEXT EVAN TRUE feedback
SCENE: Sobraniye is located in the beautiful Hermitage Garden in central Moscow, which means it is a place to remember now that spring has finally arrived. Don’t expect a wild night in Moscow, however, when you visit; the restaurant calls itself a “Moscow Business Club” and the title fits perfectly. Think ‘club’ in the oldschool sense, where you can sit on a leather sofa, smoke Cohibas and talk about mergers, acquisitions and company outsourcing. Sobraniye is primarily a classy restaurant, offering live music a couple times per week, usually on Friday and Saturday nights. If you’re looking for a laid back evening to take in good music while enjoying mildly-expensive drinks or cigars, Sobraniye is your place. LAYOUT: Walking into the club from the Hermitage Garden, I was greeted by tuxedoed staff and led through a hallway into the small dining and concert hall. The decor is oak and stone tile: conservative, classy and simple. Large reproductions of photos from the late 1800s hanging on the wall depict important looking people eating important looking meals. The dining room is elegant and comfortable, without being kitschy or pretentious. The floor plan for the dining hall is simple and well thought out and the stage is clearly visible from all tables. Next to the dining hall is a slightly smaller lounge with a bold black and white tiled floor. Here, the tables are more comfortable, devoted to drinks, smoking, and hanging out. There is a large projector screen to play movies, and the lounge also boasts seven very comfortable leather sofas. Next time I go, I’m bringing a pipe and a book, to enjoy the room properly. GROOVE: I visited Sobraniye for the first time at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night, and the band playing was one of the most entertaining that I’ve seen yet in Moscow. The “Svet Boogie Band,” led by a skinny dentistturned- blues man, rocked the audience with old school American blues. The atmosphere was light, happy and relaxed, and the band had a great rapport with the audience. Unfortunately, the audience consisted of a single family dining with a small child in the corner, and a large table full of friendly 30-something professionals getting drunk, who decided I was a harmonica player and tried to get me to go on stage. COSTS: Entry on a Saturday night cost 200 rubles. Alcohol prices are average for the center; cocktails range from 140 to 380 rubles, and vodka starts at 90 rubles. The bar also has a wide selection of top-quality liquors to satisfy anyone itching to spend 1,500 rubles on a glass of cognac. For the rest of us, it’s a glass of Johnny Walker Red Label for 160 rubles. Sobraniye also offers cigars: A Romeo y Julieta Churchill costs 900 rubles. Food-wise there’s a wide range of dishes, with main courses in the 400- to 600-ruble range. BATHROOMS: They’re simple and modern, done up in blue with two stalls in each bathroom. HOURS: Sobraniye is open from noon until 3 a.m. Officially the kitchen closes at midnight, but it stays open when music is playing, often right up to closing time. |
