PIE SHOPS

Last night I discovered a great place in Moscow. It is called Proekt O.G.I. - 'The OGI Project', though in Russian it is a sort of pun on the word for 'pie'. It's a small basement bar-stroke-venue-stroke-bookshop-stroke-restaurant-stroke-gallery. It didn't really have much to do with pies. Even the restuarant bit didn't sell them.

We saw, or rather heard from behind a sea of heads, a Moldovan funk-punk band called WK? play. The beer was sooo cheap, and it wasn't crawling with ex-pats (only us, he-he). It's also in a nice part of the city (Chistiye Prudy, or 'Clean Ponds'), and right near a metro station - but well-hidden in a courtyard, so no passing trade. A really nice, friendly, enthusiastic crowd too.

I sometimes feel that all the really nice places in Moscow are in basements. In fact, I don't know a single decent place at street level or above. There's another place I like run by the Proekt OGI people, called Pirogi ('pies'), and that's also mostly underground. It does sell pies, though, among other things. It also has a bookshop. Bizarre. But I would recommend either of these places, should you ever be in Moscow (Pirogi is near Teatralnaya metro station).