Budget places to eat in St Petersburg

In spite of the fact that St Petersburg is a rather expensive city, its’ s possible to find budget places to eat even in the center. Of course, like any other big  city, Saint-Petersburg has global fast food chains like Mc Donald’s, Sbarro, KFC or Subway. But what if you want to try local food without spending a fortune on restaurants? You can find several options below:

Teremok (Теремок)

A very popular  chain in St Petersburg that offers Russian pancakes, soups, salads, meat dumplings (pelmeni)  and different types of  cooked cereal (kasha).  The place is the most famous for pancakes and is a type of Russian Mc Donald’s.  Several cafes are situated in the center of Saint-Petersburg, for example, on Nevsky Prospekt 60 and Bolshaya Morskaya street 11. English menu is not on display, but people at the counter always have it. Average meal is about 300-450 rub (10-15$ per person), so if you are on budget and have little time, it’s a really good place to eat!

Chaynaya lojka (Чайная ложка)

It’s a   budget  fastfood chain in St Petersburg specializing in  Russian pancakes , but you can also find some salads and soups there or have a combo meal. Prices for pancakes start from about 1$ and you can easily  have a meal for about  10$ per person or less, so it’s quite a budget place to eat.  You can find Chaynaya Lojka in many places in the city center, for example, on Nevsky avenue 44 and Nevsky prospekt 136 or Sadovoya street 42. Usually people at the couner speak some English, but I am not sure if they have English  menu.

Price range:

pancakes with fillings – from 29 to 85 rubles
salads – from 29 to 59 rubles for 100 gr
soups – about 55-60 rubles per portion

Stolle

A famous chain of cafes that are mainly popular because of very tasty fresh pies. Russian pies come in different tastes and you can easily find meat, fish, vegetable ( I like cabbage and egg) or sweet pies. Also you can try some other typical dishes like borsh soup. The only serious disadvantage of this chain I can think of is that service can be slow. There are several Stolle places in the city, my favorite is on the Nevsky prospekt, 11, a short walk from the Hermitage museum. Ask for English menu from the waiter.

Brynza

A chain that specializes in chebureky – a type of thin fried pie, usually with meat, that is very popular in the Caucasus region. Besides that, they have a fair selection of dishes of European and Russian cuisine. They have English menu, so just ask for it. It’s a budget and very polular cafe that is more cozy than “fastfood-type” pancake chains.