Russian street food bar Zima to open in London's Soho
Zima, a Russian street food bar and kitchen, is to open in London's Soho at the end of March.
Created by Russian chef, cookery school tutor, cookbook author and TV food presenter Alexei Zimin, the basement space will launch on 31 March in a Soho townhouse, at 45 Frith Street, next to well-known jazz club and restaurant Ronnie Scott's. It is named for the Russian word for winter, and Zimin's own nickname.
The site was formerly a tapas bar named El Cantara, and was bought by Russian hospitality group Table Talk for £600,000 in February 2015. It opened the ground floor and upper floors under its Jean-Jacques brand, which it already runs across Moscow and St Petersburg. Zima will operate in the basement only and have its own separate entrance.
The site will be the first venture for Zimin outside Russia, and will offer a variety of tapas-style plates inspired by the cuisine of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Dishes will be prepared around sturgeon, herring, scallops, crab, venison and caviar.
Specific examples will include crab claw with bread crisps and red caviar; black caviar with traditional sides from Yaroslavl, or honey and sour cream cake ‘Medovik'.
Well-known in Russia, Zimin runs his own restaurant and cookery school, Ragout, in Moscow.
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