Svarnya (Otradnoye)

Located well out of the center of the city, but right at a metro stop, this branch of the Svarnya chain sits on the second floor of a pretty large and fancy shopping mall. The place is in the shape of a soup pot's profile (U with handles at either top). A bar occupies each handle. One handle is a non-smoking area (a rarity in Russia). The bowl of the soup pot features three booths in the center, each with one beer tap. The rest of the room is filled with tables, with a total seating of about 150. The decor is modern industrial, with wood and metal tables and chairs, gray linoleum floor, gray wooden walls, unfinished ceiling and industrial lamps. The non-smoking room has a big screen. Each bar has about 12 stools. The only windows in the place are in the pot's bowl, and face out to the mall. Waitstaff was dressed in tan slacks and dark plain t-shirts. My waitress was attentive and responsive. The place was pretty empty on a Thursday at about 1:00. The music was loud U.S. 70s-80s genre.

Twenty taps, including three of their own (contract brewed): pale filtered, pale unfiltered and dark. The others were the usual suspects (Hofbräu, Spaten, Krombacher, Budvar, Kruscovice pale and dark, Grolsch, Kozel, Velvet, Hoegaarden, Paulaner, Franziskaner, Caffrey's) and a couple of rarities (Grotwerg, Bourgogne de Flanders, Blanche de Brussel). They had lots of the appropriate glassware, but without logos. Coasters were all logo. The beers came out a bit too warm. The menu was unimaginative, but the product very good - vinegar to go with the oil on the salad is an unknown luxury in this country, except here. The garnish with my pork was also very nicely arranged. Tasty stuff, too.

Overall, the place feels like a restaurant in a mall, but it's a pretty darn good one. A bit on the expensive side, but not utterly unreasonable. I doubt I'll ever be back in this part of town, but it's definitely worth a visit if fate ever brings one near.