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allcafe.info / English version / The reading room / History / PALKIN

PALKIN

The dynasty of its owners appeared in St.Petersburg in the end of the 18th century. Anisim Stepanovich Palkin, who had originated from Yaroslavl, opened his first Restaurant in 1785, which was situated on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Sadovaya Street opposite the Imperial Public Library. After that some of Palkin's taverns appeared in St.Petersburg on the corner of Razyezhaya St. and Nikolayevskaya St., on Furshtadskaya St., on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Lyteyny Prospekt, and when Nikolayevsky (Moskovsky) railway station was built a new Palkin's Restaurant opened next to it. The most popular restaurant appeared to be the restaurant of Konstantin Palkin on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Vladimirsky Prospekt. K.Palkin bought this building in 1871. There had already been a chain of small shops and boutiques, selling flowers, fruits, wines, haberdashery, clothes and silver jewelry.

The new proprietor placed the order for a complete reconstruction of the building to A. K. Keizer, the academician of architecture, providing that he would construct a large restaurant in the building. So on 27 August 1873 the City Council of St. Peter-sburg confirmed the project of the new house that was to build two additional storeys, to change the fronts and refurbish the premises. A year later on 8 September 1874 the new restaurant was solemnly inaugurated. It included 25 halls, the main marble staircase with a fountain and exotic plants, billiard rooms. In the middle of the main hall there was a big pool with live sterlet. A visitor could choose any live fish and it was immediately fished out, cooked in the kitchen and served to the visitor's table. There were about 100 employees. The orchestra of Household Cavalry Regiment performed in one of the halls.

At once the restaurant became very popular. Actors (A. E. Martynov, V. A. Karatygin), writers (N. S. Leskov, A. P. Chekhov), and lawyers (A. F. Koni) often visited this place. On 13 December 1877, during the festive literary dinner, there were not only writers with F.M.Dostoyevsky as the head, for he was a big admirer of Palkin's restaurant, but also D.L.Mordovtsev as well as the historian M.M.Stasulevitch, attorney I.E.Andreyevsky, and the poet and translator A.M.Butlerov. Also, M. E. Saltykov-Shedrin was a great connoisseur of the Palkin's cuisine.

The 100 year anniversary of Palkin's company was solemnly celebrated in the restaurant on 27 November 1885. Let's try to imagine how it was. The director of the company K. P. Palkin took the head of the table. Many people, such as ministers, bankers, members of Municipal Duma and City Council, factory owners, merchants, eminent writers, artists and actors, were invited for the event. Devotional speeches were exchanged with luxurious bouquets and presents. More than a pood (16.38 kg) of silver goblets, vases, plates and table sets were given as a present. Tables groaned with good things. By the way, Palkin's cuisine was well known for its unique Russian dishes, and Palkin was named a tsar of Russian cuisine.

The popularity of Palkin's restaurants was unusually enormous. Even witty satirical poets could not avoid their charming atmosphere. Palkin managed to create the atmosphere of comfort for his regular customers. Many people visited Palkin's restaurants in order to look at the celebrities. According to Koni's recollections, "many people came there to look at H. F. Sherbina whose wit and venom of speeches made up one of the tempting phenomenon of the restaurants".

After Palkin's death in 1889 V. I. Solovyev, the owner of the chain of hotels, restaurants and groceries, redeemed the restaurant. The new owner decided to keep this popular restaurant and its trademark "K. P. Palkin". In 1904 public engineer B. I. Konetsky carried out a new interior trim of "K. P. Palkin's" restaurant and Solovyev's shops on the ground floor. Some time later between 1904 and 1906 a superstructure was built to the building again under the project of A. S. Hrenov, a very famous architect.

As a result of reconstruction the concert hall of the restaurant was considerably improved. Before that a mechanical organ magnificently performed big repertoire of dancing and opera opuses in the concert hall. After the reconstruction of the concert hall they invited famous soloists from Milan Theatre La Scala, an orchestra of harp-players and others.

The restaurant worked according to strict scheduled hours. They served breakfast from 12 p.m. until 2 p.m. and lunches from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. Later the evening meal "on special menu" was served. V. I. Solovyev deliberately stressed in different ads that "Palkin's Restaurant was the only place where you could order oysters even in winter time. Oysters were received daily from Ostend and Flenburg. "Dinner" with live music, vodka and snack, cost 2 rubles, 50 kopecks per person.

The plat du jour of the menu included: soup "Rhine", various pies, sevruga in Rhine wine, "de beof Richellieu" fillet, truffle sauce, game, salads, "Colberg" artichokes and other vegetables.
Menu decades "K. P. Palkin" Restaurant was one of the most popular restaurants in St.Petersburg of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Reminiscences about the restaurant can be read in numerous memoirs, letters of officials, artists, writers and officers.
In 1924 "Titan" cinema was opened in the building. Solovyev's shops were turned into common soviet groceries.

Only in 1990 they remembered about the eminent "Palkin's" Restaurant. At the moment some traditions of Petersburg's restaurant business is being revived at that place.