In the Soviet Union, as well as now, there were restaurants. Visitors were offered a variety of dishes, including delicious ones. Citizens could taste sturgeon on a spit, cocotte crabs, desserts made by the author. But these dishes, as it turns out, were not the most expensive, or rather, they did not have to pay the highest price.
Along with catering establishments, of which there were a huge number in the USSR (the same cafes, factory canteens), there were also restaurants of the elite class. Their front doors invariably bore a sign that said there were no seats. Sometimes people wishing to dine in a restaurant would queue up half the street. But even an ordinary person could get into the restaurant.
1. Entrance ticket costing half the salary
If you compare the menus and prices of restaurants in the Soviet Union, you get the feeling that then everything was much cheaper than in modern similar establishments. For example, in Leningrad in one of the most prestigious institutions called "Astoria" in 1970-1980. shashlik, beef stroganoff and other hot meat dishes cost visitors one or two rubles, and coffee and various desserts cost from twenty to thirty kopecks. And this is with an average salary of 150 rubles. (plus or minus).
In Moscow, in the Aragvi restaurant located on Tverskaya, or in Prague, the Arbat restaurant, an excellent dinner for two cost about ten to fifteen rubles. But not all townspeople and guests could visit restaurants. Getting inside was not always free. Sometimes it was more expensive than the dinner itself. In the daytime, one could easily take a delicious set lunch for two rubles without having to stand in line, then in the evening, to get to the restaurant, the doorman had to tip at the entrance.
Unspoken prices were different everywhere. It was possible to enter an ordinary restaurant for one or three rubles, in an institution of a slightly higher class at the entrance you had to pay already ten rubles. Well, in such restaurants as "Prague" for this amount it was unrealistic to get. The entrance cost on weekends up to fifty rubles.
2. "Seventh Heaven"
There was also a restaurant in the capital of the USSR, which could only be accessed with entrance tickets. There were also time limits. It was called "The Seventh Heaven" and was located on the Ostankino tower. Its height above the ground was 330 m. It was the highest in the country, moreover, it rotated - in forty minutes it made one revolution. Since no more than eighty people could be in the halls of the restaurant at the same time, the ticket system was in effect. The cost of one ticket, the cheapest, was seven rubles per person.
The menu here was not fancy. Breaded cutlets, sandwiches, salads dressed with mayonnaise. The dishes were not cooked here, they were just warmed up. In the TV tower, cooking was prohibited for security reasons. Prices were high: a set meal could cost seven rubles, and if a snack was supplemented with alcoholic drinks, then all twenty could be laid out.
3. Seafood in times of scarcity
Everything related to fish dishes in the restaurant has always been expensive. For example, in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), in the mid-seventies of the last century, the “Ocean” establishment appeared, a fish restaurant that quickly gained popularity. While in the shops of the city almost everything was in short supply, you could taste absolutely everything in it.
Visitors were offered inexpensive baked salmon, dietary salads with squid, stellate sturgeon broth. Lunch cost about two rubles and consisted of a tartlet with butter and caviar and two pies with broth. As for prices, a portion of almost any dish cost no more than three rubles. Sevruga caviar was much more expensive - the price for it was as much as sixteen rubles.
4. For foreign tourists only
A number of restaurants had special rooms for special guests and foreign tourists. For example, in "Prague", along with the standard menu, there was also a menu of the so-called "first category". According to him, a Slovak pork cutlet cost 20 rubles, veal fillet with mushrooms - 30 rubles, caviar with croutons and butter - 54 rubles.
In Intourist (hotel), only foreign citizens or those who had a special invitation could come to the restaurant. The fact is that it was only possible to pay for the dishes here in foreign currency. But the menu was also different from other restaurants. Visitors were offered to taste a variety of appetizers with caviar and sturgeon cooked on a spit.
Continuing the topic read, what 10 dishes are better not to order in a restaurant so that you do not have to regret.