Moscow Restaurant trades on nostalgia

Even though it was already half past one on a Sunday afternoon, well past the noontime rush, Zhu Jianguo and his wife still had to queue for 20 minutes to get in the Moscow Restaurant in Beijing.

The 600-seat restaurant serves Russian cuisine and is located in the western part of central Beijing, adjacent to Beijing Exhibition Center.

The wait did not bother the couple, they'd already driven an hour from a southern suburb of Beijing. They consider the taste of cold sour fish, which remains unchanged over thirty years, well worth the trouble.

"Sitting in the same grand ballroom and eating the same food as three decades before brings the old days back," Zhu said.

"The restaurant has the magic to attract me back time and again," he added.

Zhu's sentiments about the Moscow Restaurant are shared by many citizens in Beijing, who nickname it "Lao Mo", a term people commonly use for their big brothers.

The Moscow Restaurant opened in 1954 and was Beijing's first foreign restaurant. It was constructed as a part of Beijing Exhibition Hall, which was designed in a Russian style, owing to the Soviet Union's considerable influence on China at the time.

The restaurant initially served only top Chinese leaders and foreign guests. Years later, it still required special tickets, which were only available to government officials, to eat in the restaurant.

So when the restrictions were removed in the 1960s, dining at Lao Mo carried a sense of being privileged and attracted many young people, said Zhu.

And people had reason to feel privileged dining there; ash trays, silver cutlery, alcohol, some of the ingredients and even the waitresses were all imported from the former Soviet Union. "All these were unimaginable elsewhere at that time, when China was not as open as it is now," said Zhu.

In his twenties at the time, Zhu and his friends would blow their whole month's savings on a meal at Lao Mo. Cold sour fish, borsch, and mixed meat au gratin were their favorite dishes.

The three dishes still top Zhu's order these days and he is glad the taste remains the same, even though the chefs have changed and the restaurant underwent a major renovation in 2000.

"The food and atmosphere evoke nostalgia, especially for people my age," said Zhu.

"That's the reason I keep coming back," he added.

Such sentiments have helped the Moscow Restaurant maintain a strong customer base, mostly middle-aged people, according to a deputy director at the restaurant, who declined to be named.

"Queuing for meals is normal here, especially on Friday nights and weekends," the deputy director said.

"The restaurant gets extremely busy on holidays and festivals," he said.

On this year's Valentine's Day, for instance, more than 2,000 people were served at the Moscow Restaurant, which registered a record single-day revenue of 304,200 yuan, an 100,000 yuan increase from Valentine's Day last year.

Its reputation makes advertising unnecessary, said the vice director.

"Lao Mo can be found in almost every tourist guide about Beijing, as well as on all the online top restaurants lists," he said.

Middle-aged people in Beijing find Lao Mo more approachable than other Western restaurants, said Zhu.

"Sometimes I feel awkward when ordering in other Western restaurants. It is difficult to figure out what the menu is all about, even if it is in Chinese," he said.

"But the atmosphere in Lao Mo makes me feel at home. The restaurant is always the first to come to my mind when thinking about Western cuisines," said Zhu.

But the Moscow Restaurant is not as attractive to young people, who prefer more fashionable and fancy Western restaurants.

Li Wei, a 30-year-old documentary film maker, who spends most of her spare time trying different Western restaurants in Beijing, said she will not return to the Moscow Restaurant.

"It's not because of the food. It's the atmosphere. Lao Mo must be one of the few Western restaurants in Beijing that does not have regular foreign customers," said Li.

(China Daily 04/06/2009 page8)