Spring Seasonal Morel Menu at Restaurant Lesnoy.

Since the start of April, restaurant Lesnoy has had a seasonal menu that puts morels at the center — fragrant forest mushrooms with a dense texture. These mushrooms are gathered in southern Russia and used to give dishes a vivid forest note. The new special will run throughout the whole spring season.

Lesnoy's brand chef Sergey Kondakov pairs morels with a range of ingredients to bring out their complex flavor. In the green salad, for instance, morels are served together with roast venison. That combination plays with texture and flavor, where the dense morels support the meat's tenderness and add a forest freshness to the dish.

In the risotto, morels join wild garlic, another spring ingredient. The wild garlic gives the dish a distinctive spicy note, while the mushrooms handle the richness. In the potato gratin, morels create an interesting accent, giving the classic French dish a touch of rustic looseness and new flavor shades.

The restaurant's take on paccheri pasta is served in an unusual way: the morels hide neatly beneath a thin sheet of taleggio cheese. Thanks to that presentation, the pasta looks interesting and appetizing, and the mushrooms stay delicate and fragrant.

Morels are also paired with fish. In the dish with halibut, young peas, and spinach, the mushrooms balance out the vegetables' light chlorophyll notes, making the composition deeper and richer. In the Savoy cabbage rolls with seafood, morels add creaminess and a vivid forest aroma, rounding out the dish's flavor.

Meat dishes are represented too: chicken with spring sorrel gets extra depth from morels. The sorrel's freshness plays up the mushrooms' forest character, and their texture makes the meat more expressive.

The new spring menu at Lesnoy is a vivid example of how seasonal ingredients can change the way familiar dishes are perceived. Morels here aren't just an ingredient — they're the full-fledged star, unfolding the spring theme in all its glory.