Da Manu

Da Manu occupies a small space in the historic center of Saint Petersburg, a few steps from Saint Isaac's Square. The project came out of Probka Family, Aram Mnatsakanov's restaurant group, and is built around the concept of Pizza & Aperitivo: the menu works equally well as a quick lunch format and as a full evening of wine, pasta and conversation.

Our guide's team finds this a nice place to meet friends — for lunch or in the evening, in good company.

The menu is led by brand chef Manuel Suraci, a native of Reggio Calabria from a family of hereditary pizzaioli: his grandfather is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest pizzaiolo. Manuel began his career at 15, then honed his craft in London under his uncle Giorgio Riggio, a two-time world champion in classic pizza. He's worked with Aram Mnatsakanov for a long time and oversees pizza and bread across all the group's restaurants. The name Da Manu — literally "At Manu's," a diminutive of Manuel — sets the tone right away: the place rests on the personality of its chef.

Pizza is the main draw here. The dough is crisp and airy at once, the paper-thin base recalling the Sardinian flatbread Pane Carasau. There are twelve varieties on the menu: mortadella with pistachio, black truffle, salmon with black caviar, ham with truffle cream — alongside classics like Margherita, four cheese, and Parma ham with arugula. Chef Alexander Sabitov handles the rest of the menu: vitello tonnato, marbled beef tartare, fried artichokes, carpaccio and 5J jamón form the backbone of the starters. The pasta — macaroncini with crab, tortelli with burrata and truffle, strozzapreti with wild boar ragù and 'nduja — carries over some of the hits from Probka. Sicilian-style octopus and turkey cotoletta alla milanese round out the mains.

The room seats just 26: marble tables line a long sofa, above which hangs a reproduction of Luca Giordano's "Creation of Man," a fragment from the fresco of the Medici Palace. The walls are faced with lacquered Karelian birch panels, and the ceiling is papered in Cole & Son wallpaper mimicking antique tile. By the window stands an oval table for six beneath a crystal chandelier. At the center of the room is an open kitchen with a bar counter — this is where chef's-table dinners occasionally take place with visiting Italian chefs. In summer, a terrace is added to the room — one of the most picturesque in this part of the city.

Our undercover guests rated it 8 out of 10 for dinner, for a precise balance in the food, clear wine recommendations, and the overall atmosphere of an intimate Italian spot where everything is done without unnecessary noise.

The wine list was put together by sommelier Igor Vozzhaev: Italian and French classics, a house-label prosecco AM, with temperature control strictly maintained. The glasses are handmade, and the tableware is Florentine BITOSSI porcelain.