Restaurant Champagne Charlie's Bistro

Champagne & fish bistro Charlie's near Patriarch's Ponds is the third Russian project by renowned Australian restaurateur and chef Glen Ballis. After finishing culinary college, the young chef worked in his home country for a while, but at 27 left and spent more than two decades working across Southeast Asia (Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia), then moved to London. In 2002, the maestro came to Moscow ahead of the opening of his first restaurant, Sangre Fresca. 

Before that, he'd visited the Russian capital several times at the invitation of restaurateur Arkady Novikov, working under contract as a consultant during the "Neidealny Vostok" ("Imperfect East") culinary project. Later, Novikov and Ballis opened several joint restaurants: Roni, Lucky Noodles, Mendeleev.

But then the entrepreneurs' paths diverged, and in 2014, Glen began working with another well-known Russian restaurateur, Alexander Oganezov. The result of their collaboration: restaurant Glenuill, café Zupperia.

Restaurants Claudia and Gutta Gutta are maestro Ballis's own Moscow projects. Gutta Gutta opened last year, and this year, 2024, Champagne & fish bistro Charlie's opened its doors near Patriarch's Ponds.

The bistro took over the space that, until 2022, held restaurant "Khleb i Vino" ("Bread and Wine"). The menu is built from fish and various kinds of seafood, brought to life by chefs N. Rendino and A. Tsykov-Bolshakov. The bistro serves four types of crudo (scallop with grape, salmon, sea bass, tuna), tartare, grilled dishes of tuna, sea bass, and trout, pelmeni with red shrimp, a Danish pastry with crab, as well as filet mignon with shrimp, and dishes of octopus, crab, sea urchin, and oysters. 

Pastry chef Yuri Volkov handles the desserts. His signature treats: "Champagne" sorbet, crème brûlée, strawberry "Pavlova" cake, pineapple carpaccio.

The wine list was put together by sommelier Sarmat Gabaraev. In it he's gathered the finest examples of Champagne winemaking, including rare bottles from the oldest wine houses in the French province.

The cocktail list was put together by bar manager Evgeny Neznanov-Rubtsov. It has plenty of light, everyday cocktails made from simple ingredients — "Phantom," for instance, is made on vodka with added cherry, "Myrtle" from peach and homemade limoncello, and "Perfume" is a mix of pink gin and violet liqueur.

Design agency Arch(e)type, run by Darya Belyakova, handled the room's fit-out and decoration. The overall idea: recreating the image and spirit of a sea coast. The designers were tasked with creating an interior that would fully match the maritime theme and give guests the sense of being fully immersed in the atmosphere of a respectable Mediterranean fine-dining restaurant. 

The design emphasizes natural materials: stone, wood, metal. The sense of the sea's closeness comes through in the wave-like shapes of the wall, the bar counter, and designer lampshades styled after the shells of marine animals. The color palette leans on neutral beige, white, and dark brown tones.

The tableware deserves special mention. Dishes are served on porcelain with faux-chipped edges, meant to evoke fragments of old tableware found on the seabed at shipwreck sites and sunken settlements. The tableware is custom-made at a small workshop in Ramenskoye, outside Moscow — La Palme Artisan Ceramica. Small tables covered in perfectly white tablecloths complete the picture.

Champagne & fish bistro Charlie's is yet another exclusive leisure spot created by maestro Glen Ballis, where you can relax and enjoy a light, easygoing atmosphere, sample astonishing culinary masterpieces, and wash them down, unhurriedly, with ice-cold Champagne.