Aaark

AARK is located on Chaplygina Street, a couple of steps from Chistye Prudy and the walking route along Pokrovka. The café-bakery's name references the three arched windows on its façade, which form a recognizable visual image and are literally built into the streetscape. The interior was designed by studio KIDZ, built around contrast: white walls and milky tile sit alongside dark wood, metal and veneer tinted in several shades. At the center of the room is a glossy red table that carries all the color energy of the space. The red grout lines between the panels nod to the tomato juice from baked focaccia; the mid-20th-century Italian aesthetic isn't announced here, it's stitched into the details.

Our restaurant guide's team finds AARK a great example of a city café: great pastries, good coffee, an easygoing atmosphere.

The pastries come from an in-house bakery led by chef Gayane Alexandrova. The menu includes focaccia with mortadella and pesto, with pastrami and cucumber, and with salmon and avocado — all of it working equally well as an early breakfast or a midday break between errands.

The coffee menu is curated by Sasha Yuganson. There are classics, alternative brewing methods, matcha, cocoa and tea. Our secret guests gave the coffee 8 out of 10 — for the balance between a specialty-coffee approach and accessibility: no snobbery, no compromise on quality.

AARK follows a dog-friendly concept — dogs are welcomed here just like their owners. The spot fits naturally into the walking route around Chistye Prudy and Pokrovka: convenient to duck into along the way, or to settle into for longer. 

The place made The Taste's list of the top openings of 2024, and no aspiration to seem bigger or more important than it is. That's exactly where its precision works: people come here not for noise but for straightforward city comfort, where every detail has a purpose and the coffee has character. For the neighborhood, it's not just another café, but an address with its own voice.