Leveldva

The interior here is a dense collage of flea-market finds: surreal details sit alongside eclectic furniture, all coming together into a retro-chic atmosphere that's hard to describe but easy to feel.

Our guide's team finds that if you're torn between going out for a drink or to dance, Leveldva settles the question on its own.

On Wednesdays people come for jazz, on weekends for parties. The rest of the time the bar runs at a calmer pace, and that's when the bar menu takes center stage. Behind the counter is Ilya Markov, who builds cocktails on various kinds of vodka and vintage liqueurs, adding herbs and berries. Our undercover guests rated the cocktails 8 out of 10, for a precise balance between decadence and drinkability.

The space was shaped by the electronic duo Geju (Denis Kurchenko) and Sergey Pushkin — Betelgeize. Together they pioneered the chillrave genre and grew it into a label now known well beyond Moscow, named, in fact, after this very bar.

The kitchen changes along with the guest chefs: the menu has included artichoke hummus with shiitake mushrooms, gazpacho with shrimp and cherry, and pasta with black caviar. Every combination is original, with no attempt to please everyone at once.