Café MAY Opens Near Mayakovskaya Metro Station.

New café MAY has opened in the center of Moscow, near Mayakovskaya metro station. The space was designed to transform: convenient for a coffee or a business meeting in the morning, and for a glass of wine or dinner in the evening. The bright interior with panoramic windows gives way to warm light, candles, and unobtrusive music by night. Starting in June, the café will serve breakfast daily from nine in the morning, with a menu promised to be substantial, not limited to a croissant and a cappuccino.

Chef Anastas Meloyan runs the kitchen. He's put together a menu of straightforward but not banal dishes: Piedmontese tartare, spaghetti puttanesca, a tartine with anchovy and tomato salsa, filet mignon with pepper sauce, chicken rillette. Importantly, the café's team ferments its own vegetables and serves them as a small complimentary bite with every order — part of their approach to hospitality. The format isn't about formality — it's about care.

The bar list was rounded out with several classic cocktails, including a mini Negroni, served as a light aperitif. Misha Lenger is in charge of the wine, having selected bottles from small European producers alongside proven classics. Wines can be tried by the glass or during tastings, launching this summer. Wine dinners are planned too — a format built on dishes from the chef paired with a wine to match each one.

Nastya Lenger, MAY's co-founder, curates the atmosphere and shapes the venue's philosophy. She explains the idea was to create a café you want to keep coming back to: for coffee in the morning, lunch, or an evening with a glass of wine — no formality, with attentive, friendly service and no attempt to push anything on the guest. The focus here is on good ingredients, simple presentation, and a coziness that rests not on decor, but on how guests are treated.