Moscow restaurant guide

Restaurant: Buddies Café

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Cuisine

We received a notice from manager Kelvin Pang that one of the last to open in 2008, the sports bar/Asian food Buddies Cafe, would open just off Tverskaya on December 28 so we decided to try it out. We had heard that we could expect some pleasant and authentic Thai and Szechuan dishes. Despite the address at Tverskaya 12, the entrance is off a small side street about a block and a half east on the right side. At the large, black vertical sign on the right side of the street you duck into a courtyard and descend a rock-walled stairway to Buddies. The restaurant consists of two spartan open rooms with a few plasma TVs mounted for sports events.

The Szechuan/Thai menu has a touch of Singapore and Vietnam. We started with a selection of hot appetizers: Deep Fried Crispy Wonton (340r), Chinese Spring Roll (320r) and Vietnamese Spring Roll (340r). For the main course we ordered Seafood Fried Rice (380r), Chicken Thai Green Curry Sauce (480r) and Chicken Szechuan Ko Pong Sauce (480r) accompanied with a large bowl of white rice. The quality of the food was good; both the Thai Green Curry and the Szechuan Ko Pong sauces were very tasty if mildly spiced and the rice was perfectly cooked. Buddies is actively promoting itself in the Expat community so our readers should get a good reception at this convenient location in the center. We wish them the best in this tough environment.