Tyemnoye I Svetloye

The name alone is promising - "Dark and Pale." This is a small corner bar in the fancy "Chistiye Prudi" section of Moscow. Despite the schnazzy address, the place is really not all that fancy. One small room seats about 40 people at nine tables. The bar is small and cramped, with two bar stools and a TV sitting on what should be the serving surface. The furniture was all wood, the ceiling half-timber, the floor tile and the walls bare white faux brick. Lots of windows on two sides.

The menu offered twelve beers: Sibirskaya Korona, Staropramen, Hacker-Pschorr, Paulaner Hefeweizen and Dunkelhefeweizen, Krusovice pale and dark, Velvet, Kilkenny and Guiness). The Staropramen came in a logo mug and was well kept. The menu looked pretty sparse. I asked for pistachios (the standard Russian munchie with beer), but they had none.

Two things about the website: they mention that they serve their own microbrewed beer ("Fyoderoff"), but there was no sign of that at the bar. And the website claims to have the "prettiest waitresses in Moscow." No sign of them, either, at least not at 4:00 p.m. on a Thursday. I had the place to myself.