Buyan Russian Restaurant

It's pretty hard to find Russian restaurants in this part of the world. Even in Sydney, there were only one or two Russian restaurants. My first encounter with real Russian food was when I was doing a course on Russian culture studies in university for fun. I was invited for a Russian night, where a lot of the Russian community cooked for that night and most of them were at the event. My friends and I pigged out major. I discovered their use of sour cream and potatoes. I think I have been craving for that sort of Russian comfort food since.

This is probably one of the very few Russian restaurants in Singapore. This place has three levels. I have only ever been to level one for food. The place is quite dark with log wood panelling that gives the feeling of one being in a log cabin in Russian or Siberia. Except its not cold enough outside.

I have been here for dinner and find it quite expensive. Lunch though like a lot of places is affordable. The three course meal is $35+.

Some dishes my brother and I had:

Lamb Stew

This reminds me of a minestrone. It has that dominant tomato taste to it. The difference is that this dish has lamb and barley. Its a rustic dish but doesn't seem unique to me.

Crab soup

This reminds me of another dish. Shark's fin and crabmeat soup without the shark's fin.

Chicken Kiev

Nicely battered on the outside and moist on the inside. Even though this popular dish seem simple, I have had plenty of places get it wrong. Chicken is easy to overcook but this is a good chicken kiev.

Roast Chicken with spices

This tastes quite Indian. I guess Russian is a place where East meets West so it shouldn't surprise me that so many dishes have Eastern influence. When I asked the waitress what was in the dish, she said the spices were a secret Georgian mix. But the yellow of the chicken indicated to me that there was turmeric in the dish. The other obvious spice in it was ginger. I must say I'm not sure what else they added into it but I don't think its cumin as the spices are pretty mild. Not a bad dish but I won't go WOW.

Sorbet and a fruit pastry

Nothing very special about this. I don't know if I have much to comment about this. 

I would come here for lunch. Not sure about dinner. I am not really blown away by the food. 

Website: http://www.buyan.sg/

Location: 9/10 Duxton Hill, Tanjong Pagar

Opening Hours: Rest 12pm - 12am

Price: $35+ for lunch

Contact Number: 62237008