I have been writing my reviews for over 2 years now. I asked for your help in reviewing restaurants and adding new ones to my blog. There are, however, a few questions that I have not asked you yet:
Is there anything that I can do, in your opinion, to improve my reviews and help you in choosing a restaurant or a store to visit?
Is there any information that you would find helpful that I could add?
Do you like the way my website is organized? Could you suggest any improvements?
Do you have any information needs related to Russian food that are not yet fulfilled?
Please leave your feedback in comments to this post, or send me an email. Your help will be greatly appreciated and will help me to serve you better.
Not too long ago I was notified of a new internet Russian food store russianfooddirect.com
It has a great selection of all the necessities and more. The prices are reasonable, shipping is almost free or very discounted across the US. The categorization is great, it even features kosher and diet selections.
One of the readers has recommended me Moscow2 - Russian cafe and grocery store. It is located in Spring, TX, only a few miles from Houston. Here is a quote from their website: “Moscow2 is located at the corner of Sawdust and Borough Park. We offer 100% authentic Russian food in a comfortable home-style setting. One need only try our famous Chicken “Kiev” or Borsch and one of our elite Georgian wines, all of which are affordable, to escape to Russia and enjoy its food.”
Moscow2 also has a good selection of Russian books and movies.
I found a Russian general store in Houston with two locations: 5406 Birdwood (713-665-1177) and 9629 Hillcroft St (713-665-1177). I found a couple of reviews about these stores - generally positive, but dated beginning of 2006. I couldn’t check if these stores are still around and open, so if someone had any information about them - please let me know and I will update this post.
Russian General Store
9629 Hillcroft St
Houston, TX 77096
(713) 665-1177 Directions
Cafe Europe is a cozy Russian restaurant in Houston that has a friendly atmosphere and a good menu selection. It’s the place to be for people nostalgic of Russian traditional dishes and a good tea. Cafe Europe located in the heart of Houston is my friend’s favorite place to relax after a hard day of work.
Cafe Europe
2711 Fountain View Dr # C
Houston, TX 77057
(713) 532-2220 Directions
It is very essential for Russian people to be able to go to the restaurant and completely relax and have a good time there. It has to be all in one spot - good food, music, bar, and dancing. At the same time the atmosphere needs to be calming and warm. Russian Bear restaurant in Houston has all that. People who go there say that it not only features a great selection of Slavic foods but also has dance and music performances, and a full bar. Around 10 pm belly dancing starts - although it is not Russian art, it is something considered exotic in Russia and is lately becoming a popular form of entertainment. One of the reviews I found said that it is THE restaurant you need to visit if you want to feel like in Russia.
Russian Bear
1801 S Dairy Ashford St
Houston, TX 77077
(281) 496-4148 Directions
“Welcome to The St Petersburger. A place where you will find a vast collection of Russian gifts such as matryoshkas, watches with the Soviet and Russian symbols, porcelain, linen, fascinating stone decor, Faberge eggs, Khokhloma, Gzhel - and the best of Russian souvenirs and handicrafts.” - This is an excerpt from the home page of The St Petersburger - Russian memorabilia, food, and souvenirs store. Although this is not a specialized groceries online store there is still a wide selection of various Russian delicacies. What I found to be the most interesting detail about The St Petersburger is that among food and souvenirs they offer Faberge eggs.
The website description says “Russian Food Online, Affordable Prices, Huge Selection”. It reflects the content pretty well, I must say. I like the design of this store - everything has a Russian spirit in it: the fonts, the images, even the layout. This store would be more convenient for people on the East coast, because shipping to the West coast states is extra $10.
This internet store of Russian foods features a great selection of authentic Russian dishes and drinks. This website is very well organized into sections and categories that allows for easy browsing and finding what the consumer is looking for. My personal favorite is the Cosmetics section. It features the Dead Sea line of cosmetics that makes me nostalgic and brings back memories of my hometown stores.
Here is another online Russian food shop. It is specialized in canned and other long-term storage food items such as dills, candy, canned fish, etc. They even have borsch soup for sale. This store has a flat rate for shipping to anywhere in the world. The website adress looks a bit suspicious I thought, but I double checked - it is http://www.eroticuniverse.co.uk/
Why limit my site to physical stores and restaurants? There is a great deal of Russian food portals online, which are not worse, and even better sometimes that the walk-in-able ones. Here is a great example: http://www.russianfoods.com/ . It has all the necessities like groceries, pharmacy, Georgian wine, flowers and souvenirs, books, videos, and other very useful Russian things. The only inconvenience about this type of store is you’d have to pay for shipping and wait for your food for a couple of days.