Ryba na Dache

"Fish at the Dacha" stands on the bank of the Sestra River in Sestroretsk — a wooden house from the Finnish company Honka, on grounds spanning nearly six hectares, with its own smokehouse, a vegetable garden and a water view. The Probka Family restaurant group built here not just a countryside venue, but a place where people come in large groups, families with children, or just as a couple — like visiting a real dacha.

This is our restaurant guide team's favorite countryside restaurant, good at any time of year.

The interior was designed by Albina Nazimova: in winter the restaurant seats 200 guests, and in summer the terrace expands that to 600. In the cold months, a fireplace burns in the library, an ice slide is set up in the yard, mulled wine is served, and there are rides on Finnish sleds. As the weather warms, hammocks are hung under the trees, a playground and a table-tennis table come into use, and on weekends chef Oleg Babaytsev roasts a lamb on a spit. At the end of the winter season, there's Maslenitsa with pancakes, sbiten and an accordion.

The menu rests on two axes: Italian cuisine and dacha classics. Borscht, Fergana-style plov with achichuk salad, a chebureki with fragrant broth, and lamb lyulya-kebab grilled over real wood all sit alongside pasta and pizza. But the centerpiece is fish: trout and other varieties are smoked over alder chips in the house smokehouse, and Murmansk flounder is served in a pan with clarified butter. On weekends, a "fisherman's pot" is made for groups — a signature dish people order specifically to try.

The menu changes with the season. In summer, chanterelles and porcini from the garden come into play — a fried pizza with chanterelles, pasta and risotto. In autumn, pumpkin appears in a cream soup, a salad and manti. During fig season: a fig pizza and a fig pie to Babaytsev's recipe. The smokehouse also turns out a beef brisket and a pork knuckle. For dessert: a bird-cherry-flour medovik, a hot apple tart with vanilla ice cream, or a blueberry treat in a signature jar: panna cotta, a walnut cookie and a blueberry mousse.

Our secret guests gave the dinner 7 out of 10 — a solid kitchen with character, but it's the atmosphere of a countryside dacha that makes this restaurant a special place among St. Petersburg's out-of-town addresses.