Barin Russian Restaurant @ Elliniko

Do you buy discount coupons?

I do. In my head, there is a long list of restaurants where I want to go, and when I find any of these offering discount, I buy it.

That was how we had a chance to try this new Russian restaurant Barin in Elliniko.

To be honest, without coupon, I would not have visited it, because 1) Russian and East European food is not one of my favorites, 2) it is too expensive just for an experiment to see if I like their version of Russian cooking.

And Glad I tried.

It is located very close to Elliniko Metro Station, maybe 3 min walk from it, just a couple of streets behind Vouliagoumeni Avenue.

The building is impressive. This whole building is restaurant & its accessories. With a bit of mind exercise, you might be able to feel like a Russian oligarch when you enter. Or, you should feel like a baron, which evidently what it means Barin in Russian.

It seems like a place built and run by a Russian tycoon who had more money than he could spend and decided to open a restaurant as a hobby.

This is the dining area. It is beautiful by Athenian standard (which is, sorry to say but, not very high by Western European standard).

There is live music Friday and Saturday. When we entered at 8 there was a female singer and a pianist, and then the singer disappeared and a saxophonist appeared. I am not particularly fond of this sort of music, but it was well in tune with the restaurant itself.

The waiters were professional. One of them looked like a Russian villain in James Bond movies and I was pleased (this meant to be a compliment).

The menu is long, but not too long. You can find it on their website (see at the bottom of this post). There are cold and warm appetizers, fish and meat main courses, soups, salads and desserts. The drink menu was provided separately. As the establishment has a bar of its own, except for usual range of wine, you can find almost anything you like. Particularly of note is Barin beers (dark and red) from its own brewery. GH tried a glass of red beer and liked it.

Bread was served cold, but both very good. I found the black one particularly interesting. I usually do not like Russian black bread, but this one I did. Very aromatic and tasted fresh.

The pickles were served with bread and on the house. Good accompaniments to rather heavy Russian cuisine.

I ordered a liver tart from cold appetizer menu. When I ordered it, the waiter warned me that it was small and only for one person. I was not quite sure what he wanted me to worry about, but, as GH does not eat liver anyway, it was destined to be only for me from the start.

To be honest, I supposed that it would be like liver pate on something, but what actually arrived was cold liver patties served with sour cream and carrot pickle.

Well, it was described as a tart, but in reality it consisted in three pieces of liver cakes (I described them as cold liver biftekia to GH and I think it is to the point). I found them very pleasant.

GH ordered Pelmeni with minced meat filling, served with sour cream. Although they were served in cray pot, I think the tortellini like dumplings were fried in frying pan.

I snatched one and found it delicious.

As main dish, GH ordered Zarkoie pork stew.

It was fine, but probably not the best dish that you can eat at this restaurant.

I ordered a smoked fish fillet in Barin style.

It was a serious piece of white fish (seabass?) fillet, served with lightly cooked slices of tomato. If you like smoked fish, it is definitely for you.

We did not order dessert and we were not asked either. We were too full anyway.

The bill would have come to 53.40 Euro if we did not have discount coupon.

As I did not order any drink except for bottled water (served without asking us, but it is a usual practice in expensive restaurants of this sort, so I am not complaining), in normal circumstances, you would be paying 30 Euro p.p. for 1 starter, 1 main dish and 1 drink. I would not say it is expensive considering the environment and quality, but it is under the current economic situation.

I think that by cutting 10 to 15% off from the price tags shall increase the trade (there were only 3 couples including us while we were eating in a Friday evening) and they might be earning more in the end.

It is a shame the place to be so empty, because the food is quite good.

Barin
13, 33rd Street Elliniko, 16777
33η Οδός 13 Ελληνικό, 16777
Tel. (+30) 210 9635416
http://www.barin.gr/