CITY Issue 51

Clockwise, from top left: 02 Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton; Conservatory Bar and Lounge at the Park Hyatt; Denis Simachev; the lobby at the Ritz-Carlton lobby and a guest suite bathroom. tremes—a $16 cappuccino barely raised eyebrows among locals—Moscow certainly lives up to its “world’s most expensive city” status. Yet while the sticker shock may take some getting used to, it results in a certain sense of urban exclusivity long gone from most tourism Meccas. Though sprawling, the Kremlin, for instance, is almost refreshingly free of foreign tourist hordes. Higher-end restaurants, nightclubs, and lounges are packed with mostly Muscovite revelers, providing instant “insider” status to the rather rare expats in the house. Such was the scene the night after my venture to Simachev at Dyagilev, a year-old nightclub named after famed Russian cultural crusader Sergei Dyagilev. This grand, baroque club towers over three floors, with everything from seriously sexy strippers and dazzling acrobats to trapeze artists and vodka-and-Red Bull–crazed clubbers filling its dance floors. Upstairs, those who can afford them canoodle in curtained-off banquettes starting at $5,000 per night, with a hard-core entry policy strictly enforced. Here, too, the crowd is mostly locals, slim Slavic beauties and the men who pay to keep them that way. Indeed, there are a reported 53 billionaires in Moscow, and it felt as if they were all letting loose at Dyagilev that night. A similar vibe could be found two days later at Turandot, the yearold, $50 million haute-Asian eatery a short stroll from the Ritz-Carlton. Decorated like a Baroque 18th-century palace, there’s seating for 500 and a staff of 600 fabulously costumed to period perfection. Another triplex fantasy-scape, Turandot is the high-point in the high-end culinary empire of local restaurateur Andrei Dellos, whose next-door Cafe Pushkin is where local over-classers head for a taste of home cooking. Linked via an elegant patisserie, the two restaurants form an epicurean compound soon to house a clutch of ultra-exclusive ateliers and a new Italian restaurant opening in December. Although my visit was a bit early for dinner, Turandot’s gilded tables and fresco-covered private dining rooms were already buzzing with a handful of chino-clad tourists sticking out among the smart-suited, chain-smoking locals. Of course, in a country with one of the greatest rich-poor divides in the developed world, there remains—thankfully—a few low-cost luxuries. The Izmailovsky Park flea market, for instance, may be a good 30 minutes from the city center, but its stalls of Soviet-era bric-a-brac— along with the occasional antique from the days of the Czars—makes it well worth the trek. Come hungry; the shashlik stands lining its entrance 54 CITY

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY Issue 51

Contents Letter from CITY Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment The City Life Fast Food Fit Field Trip The Suite Life Paint the Town Red Fresh Tracks After the Sunset One City, Many Destinations The Winning Photographer The Entries By the Numbers The Finalists Expert Opinion Amateur Hour Meet the Finalists Nowhere Man Dune Raiders Just Go Where To Buy It Socials Icon

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