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Groobs
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 15 Oct 2006
Posts: 83
Location: China (but missing St Pete!)
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 Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:53 am Post subject: Magrib - what next? |
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Magrib Club has been closed now for some time, which is a real shame for many of us - not only was the nightclub section a good place to start an evening out, but the restaurant area fronting onto Nevsky was a great place for a business lunch and I know several expats who used it as a sort of "virtual office ".
I hear that it might be going to become a Sushi bar. Does anyone have any knowledge about what's going on there? |
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gaijin
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 03 Oct 2007
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:29 pm Post subject: |
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The Magrib is closed? That can't be old. If the weather is good I'll probably be over there this week-end.
Damn, this sushi bar epidemy is really a shame. Each of them is an insult to the Japanese people. Together, they're a declaration of war. Besides, it's bad enough to see Russian people rushing in McDonalds to a point I haven't seen in any other country, including France. When you add the crowds in those miserable sushi bars, you really have to ask question about Russian psychology. |
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stanj
Frequent Guest
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 41
Location: St Petersburg Russia
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| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 11:29 pm Post subject: Re: Magrib - what next? |
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| Groobs wrote: | Magrib Club has been closed now for some time, which is a real shame for many of us - not only was the nightclub section a good place to start an evening out, but the restaurant area fronting onto Nevsky was a great place for a business lunch and I know several expats who used it as a sort of "virtual office ".
I hear that it might be going to become a Sushi bar. Does anyone have any knowledge about what's going on there? |
Magrib had faded a great deal in the last year or so, I doubt I even know anyone who went there in recent years. It was not a loss to the club scene with its closure. The disco had been closed for a lot longer than the restaurant. The spot has reopened as another middle Eastern theme place serving sushi of course. Among those under 25, sushi is what a Happy Meal is to a 5 year old.
Regarding sushi being an insult, the local restaurants get pretty high marks for the quality of sushi from foreign visitors who know the genre.
McDonald's is not popular with anyone over 18 in Russia, it is the cheapest food available, cheaper than a blini. There has been no head long rush to McD's by Russians, in fact I doubt I've seen an adult in a McDonald's unless it was to satisfy a child's cravings. Ask a 16 year old at random whether they would want Sushi or McD and there would be no contest. There are 10 times as many sushi bars as fast food outlets and most seem to be full so it is obvious where the taste of St Petersburgers lays. |
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Peter80
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 97
Location: St-Petersburg
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| Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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Stanj, when did you go to McD last time?  Crowds of people there every day, any age. McD has no competition with it's low prices and decent quality. You can't compare to sushi, sushi is three times more expensive. |
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gaijin
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 03 Oct 2007
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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There seems to be another arab style restaurant where Maghrib was. Sharm, something like that.
I agree with Peter regarding where the crowd goes (not regarding quality), the crowds at the free toilet network is usually horrible. It's a real shame, proving the poor taste of young Russian people (including millions of young adults), especially when there are decent things like Teremok (at least they serve food) next door, empty.
But the success of sushi bars is also disappointing. Most of them claim to be restaurants of Japanese cuisine when they obviously have no idea what Japanese cuisine is, and when they make efforts on the decor it is always wrong (unless there is an unknown exception). They sometimes even paint clumsy lines on the wall, resembling Chinese characters, or have very weird stuff like a gong greeting customers. Sh... I guess I should be glad that the racist Yaposhka was renamed Yaposha (not going there any soon though). |
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gaijin
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 03 Oct 2007
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:55 pm Post subject: Re: Magrib - what next? |
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| stanj wrote: |
Regarding sushi being an insult, the local restaurants get pretty high marks for the quality of sushi from foreign visitors who know the genre. |
I'll be damned. I know Japanese cuisine, everything I had to endure in Piter was shit, and relating it to Japan is a severe insult to Japan. I can't stand the view of an Uzbek girl in kimono any more. |
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stanj
Frequent Guest
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 41
Location: St Petersburg Russia
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| Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Peter80 wrote: | | Stanj, when did you go to McD last time? Crowds of people there every day, any age. McD has no competition with it's low prices and decent quality. You can't compare to sushi, sushi is three times more expensive. |
I walk by at least one or two every day, and see many people but they are all teens or younger. Compared to any of the other fast food outlets that cater to kids, the food is the least palatable, but it is cheap. Carl's Jr, Teremok, KFC, Subway are all more expensive but noticeably better quality. I actually like Subway and Teremok but only dine there a couple times a month, a nice cafe with business lunch is often cheaper and much better.
Sushi is not that expensive, surely not for the 10s of thousands of young people who eat it each day. Many more people eat sushi each day than McD.
I eat almost anything but I draw the line at McDonalds. It, and lack of activity have made an entire generation in the US fat and unhealthy. I would hate to see that happen here, but it is. The average dress size has increased in recent years. That might be influenced by more processed foods and more cars resulting in more empty calories and less exercise. It is no where as bad as in the US and UK but it IS occurring in Russia to a degree.
Almost any sort of food is fine in moderation but the increased number of meals away from home and the calorie/fat level in processed food are not good for people. I used to live in a community that prided itself in not having fast food, only fine restaurants and made to order cafes but after years of court battles McD came in and now the kids are all fatter than their parents. Excess fat in foods also diminishes learning ability in kids. If anyone has been in US schools they will know exactly what I am referring to. |
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Peter80
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Posts: 97
Location: St-Petersburg
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| Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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| As for me, i don't see much difference between McD, Carl's Jr, KFC and Subway. The same trash. |
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gaijin
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 03 Oct 2007
Posts: 155
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| Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Peter80 wrote: | | As for me, i don't see much difference between McD, Carl's Jr, KFC and Subway. The same trash. |
McD and KFC are both terrible trash, and a shame for their global impact. I don't know the others (although there's at least 1 Subway on Nevsky, but when I saw the price of half a sandwich in a Subway elsewhere I decided it wasn't for me).
But Teremok is above. I won't say it's tasty, but you know it's food ( check http://www.theonion.com/content/news/kfc_no_longer_permitted_to_use for more err... facts ). And it's normally clean, cheap, and they serve Kvas, which I like. The diversity in tastes is nice too. Get one of 10-15 salty blini (which actually have different tastes, unlike fast food hamburgers), one of 10 sweet blini, kvas, and you have something that resembles a meal more than anything you'll get at McD. You can normally cook better blini at home, but there they are OK and queues are always shorter than at McD.
There are other blini places but I think Teremok is the cleanest. |
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