THE DISH: Mamma Mia
Mamma Mia//16 Prospekt Dobrolyubova//Tel. 635 8838//www.mammamiaspb.ru//Open 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.//Menu in Russian only//Dinner for dual with alcohol: 1,710 rubles ($53)
Published: Jul 4, 2012 (Issue # 1716)
Culinary crossroads
Can’t confirm on where to go for dinner? Does everybody feel like eating something different? If so, afterwards Mamma Mia competence be a place for you. This family-friendly grill offers a far-reaching accumulation of dishes and specializes in Italian, Russian and Japanese (in sold sushi and stir fry) cuisine.
The grill itself, like a double-sided placemat menu, has a lot going on and this is reflected in a decoration. The vast dining area is sincerely open, with one dividing wall that helps to detached a simpler, classical black and white “Asian-style” area from a some-more brightly-colored Italian patio dominated by reds, yellows and blues. The thought of wanting to interpret a balmy Italian atmosphere to a grill was clear, though done a differing contrariety with a restaurant’s athletic Asian section. The flower boxes positioned along a divider that distant a tables were, however, a good touch, along with a gratifying ceramic dishes perched above a bar.
The restaurant’s efforts toward being a family venue are clear, with shelves of several pressed animals backing partial of a behind wall. There are also bookcases with reading element for decoration, and giveaway newspapers and magazines for diners to take with them if so desired.
More media was accessible on a walls, with several prosaic shade TVs display bad cocktail song videos that we competence design to see somewhere in a club, though really not while dining on a patio in Italy.
Despite a endless and sundry menu, a kitchen had bizarrely run out of a sincerely simple part of chicken. Therefore a Caesar salad with duck had to be traded out for a Mamma Mia salad (360 rubles, $11). The healthy brew of greens and chunks of roasted Camembert cheese rolled in almond flakes with luscious red raspberries on tip and drizzled in a balsamic cream salsa was some-more than satisfying. The acidity of a berries worked wonders with a sourness of a greens and saltiness of a cheese. The plate should not, however, have been labeled a “starter,” as a brew of lettuces somehow took longer to prepared and broach than a baked entrée. As prolonged as there was something to break on, a celebration had no complaints however, as a waitress had asked previously if it would be OK to move out a dishes as they were ready.
The other appetizer, beef solyanka (260 rubles, $8) further perceived a good review. Looking past a vast chip in a mop in that it was served, a crater hold a hearty, tainted apportionment of several meats and sausages, pickles and olives and was fast gobbled up.
The categorical courses were positively overshadowed by their predecessors. The thin-crust 4 seasons pizza (320 rubles, $9.80) with ham, Mozzarella, mushrooms, red peppers, eggplant and oregano was slimy some-more than anything else. Although a flavors were good, being forced to eat a droopy pizza with a blade and flare valid a caricature for this American diner.
The Japanese menu was also a bit of a flop, with a Alaska hurl (salmon, avocado, cucumber and tobiko) for 250 rubles ($7.70) not holding adult to standards. The tobiko (fish roe) was clumped unevenly around a hurl and was overpowering. The hurl itself fell detached soon when picked adult and dipped in a soy sauce, creation eating with chopsticks a incomparable plea than usual. The baked crab sushi (110 rubles, $3.40) won some-more favor, though a restaurant’s sushi menu altogether didn’t mount adult good to rolls served during obvious sushi bondage around a city.
While a food competence be strike or miss, Mamma Mia does a best to attract business with a sundry menu and offers. Unlike many internal eateries, it opens early to offer breakfast from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday by Friday and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends. It also has a business lunch during a workweek from noon to 3 p.m. for 250 rubles ($7.70).