Kaifuso

Kaifuso occupies the basement level at Kuznetsky Most, 6, in the same building as the French brasserie one floor up. Arkady Novikov deliberately sought a different language for this space — not European, but Eastern. The reference point was London's Park Chinois, with its nods to Shanghai's nightclub culture — an atmosphere both sensual and slightly closed off, where dinner always carries a sense of night. The name itself references an ancient Japanese poetry collection that became a bridge between Chinese and Japanese tradition. That same idea of a dialogue between two cultures was translated here into gastronomy.

"The space itself set the right mood — the proportions, the brick, something elusively Eastern in the air. I've always loved that aesthetic: sensual, with a hint of mystery." — Arkady Novikov, restaurateur.

Two independent directions handle the kitchen. The Chinese side is in the hands of a family of cooks from Shenyang: chef Liu Xueyan, together with his wife and relatives, work the way it's done at home — by hand, with no compromise on tradition. Dim sum is folded right there, and Peking duck and black-pepper beef come from that same home-cooking arsenal. The Japanese side runs on a different logic: minimal intervention, maximum attention to the fish. A sushi bar, sashimi, and among the hot dishes, black cod aged in miso and marbled wagyu beef. Brand chef Mark Shah Akbari keeps both lines in the same register, without letting them collapse into eclecticism.

The interior is the work of Evgenia Uzhegova's bureau, known for Aist and the brasserie on Kuznetsky. Here she built the space like a jewelry box: the walls and ceiling are covered in hand-painted murals — birds, flowers, ornaments taken from Chinese silk panels. Sofas, walnut screens — everything down to the last detail is custom-made. The sense of enclosure and density is deliberate.

Our secret guests gave the cocktails 8 out of 10 — for precision of flavor and how the bar list rhymes with the venue's overall Eastern mood.

As night falls, the restaurant shifts rhythm: the lights dim, the music deepens, and the line between dinner and club gradually dissolves. That's the central idea — not just to eat, but to step into a space that runs on its own time.