Café Pushkin is a Moscow restaurant with a twist – to step through the doors is to step back into pre-revolutionary Russia and into the pages of a Tolstoy novel. Recognised as one of Moscow’s finest eateries, this is a literary cafe and restaurant with artefacts and props all hailing from the 19th century. You can enjoy traditional cuisine in the 24-hour ground-floor café, which has been created in the style of an antique pharmacy with a long bar. Take the old-fashioned lift to the first-floor restaurant, which offers haute cuisine and is decorated as a magnificent library, with antique globes, thousands of books and other memorabilia.

There is also a rooftop terrace, which is ideal in summer and offers great views along the Tverskoi Boulevard. A classical pianist or flautist adds to the atmosphere of gentility. Waiters are dressed in old servant frock coats and, in the quest for authenticity, even the Russian menus at Café Pushkin are written in Old Church Slavonic. The menu includes traditional Russian dishes, and French cuisine highlights, typical of the early 19th century. Try the beef stroganov. Seriously.