Brera

Brera on Bolshaya Nikitskaya works as an Italian restaurant where the bet isn't on a literal reconstruction of Italy but on the feeling of an old palazzo, assembled from art, craft and good taste. This is a project by Alexander Oganezov, and its ambition reads immediately: not just to make the place elegant, but coherent — food, light, texture and the way a guest reads the space from the first minutes all matter here.

Our guide's team finds that Brera wins first and foremost through its interior: it's a place you want to take in visually before you start working through the dishes.

The interior genuinely functions as a statement of its own. The space is styled after Italian palazzos: a domed ceiling with frescoes, a mosaic triptych with folk motifs, handmade tile, collectible lamps and notable art objects. Yet the restaurant never turns into pure decoration. There's air inside, movement and the right measure, which keeps all that beauty from becoming heavy — instead it builds the mood of the evening.

At the center of the kitchen stands a wood-fired oven, and it's not just a striking detail but a core part of Brera's character. The menu is extensive, built on an Italian foundation that the team develops broadly, without turning it into a museum piece. The kitchen is led by Ruslan Polyakov, Luigi Magni and Nicanor Vieira, and the trio clearly wants the restaurant to be about more than one signature genre — it aims for a full dinner arc, with pasta, the oven, wine and cocktails all playing a part.

Our guide's team finds that what works strongest at Brera is the combination of visual impression and the place's overall rhythm. First the room grabs your attention, then the kitchen comes into focus, and from there the restaurant opens up as a space for a long, beautiful evening. No single dish carries the weight here — it's how everything comes together: the interior, the oven, the wine list, the density of the menu, and the overall level of staging.

Our undercover guests rated it 7 out of 10 for dinner, for a striking interior, an expressive atmosphere, and the ambition behind the whole experience. Brera works best when taken in as a whole — not as a collection of pretty details, but as a restaurant where the visual power is genuinely backed by the kitchen and the overall mood.