What menu do restaurants offer during Lent?
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Burgers with soy patties, vegan cheese and borscht with cherries—diners in the capital’s restaurants are getting used to meat-free menus. This year Lent will last until May 4th. According to VTsIOM, 18% of Russians plan to comply with it. Even for the sake of such a share of visitors, establishments are ready to introduce a special menu, and, as Kommersant FM found out, the capital’s catering industry does not need to significantly change its assortment. Due to the general trend towards a healthy lifestyle and avoidance of animal products, hummus and sweet potatoes are almost always available.
However, in the premium segment, unique recipes are invented every year, said Yana Rurikova, brand manager of the Rappoport Restaurants chain: “Traditional dishes come in an original presentation, for example, vinaigrette with porcini mushrooms and smoked cherries is offered to try with smoked beets, salted mushrooms and edamame beans , and traditional squash caviar with tapioca chips. For dessert, airy meringue with prunes and walnuts. At the “Chinese Letter” restaurant, a constant hit is steamed eggplant or pickled lotus root. The guests’ favorites are mushroom solyanka and borscht with cherries.”
Traditionally, the first and last weeks of Lent are considered the strictest. It is during these periods that the special menu is especially popular, noted Daria Belyaeva, manager of the White Rabbit restaurant: “At this time, people mostly adhere to all the rules. Now, according to the dynamics, clients are interested in the Lenten menu in approximately a ratio of 60:40. In any case, it is developed fully, from many products.
Traditionally, we create menus so that the guest receives the required amount of calories. Of course, vegetables are in demand. This has already become such a culture.”
Today, restaurants create Lenten menus in such a way that customers often don’t even notice the difference, for example, serving chops made from soy meat, coffee with alternative milk, or cheese made from vegetable oil. At the same time, customers are primarily interested in such dishes as new items on the menu, says Sergei Mironov, founder of the Myaso&Fish restaurant chain:
“The Lenten menu is traditionally in demand in Moscow. Of course, it is chosen primarily by those who fast, but orders also come from guests who do not observe asceticism.
That is, they come to their favorite restaurant and see a dozen new dishes there, which they try with pleasure. The trends are about the same: guests enjoy eating burgers made from lean meat, all kinds of cabbage rolls stuffed with vegetables, cabbage steaks, mushrooms, and potatoes. Moreover, in the first week the demand is always more intense, because ordinary customers who are not fasting try this menu. After a week, they’ve already tasted everything, and interest in it is slowly waning.”
As restaurateurs note, during Lent, alcohol sales are usually reduced by 5-10%.
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