Running an authentic Russian restaurant in Ireland could be risky. The Irish are conservative eaters and Russian cuisine is virtually unknown here. For the restaurateur, ingredients for Russian dishes can be difficult to find. For the customer, a modicum of adventurousness is required.
After a month in operation, the management at Tzar Ivan on Clarendon Street in Dublin has learned a lesson or two. The first one, and it surprised the owners significantly, is that Irish diners - despite being surrounded by water - shy away from fish. John Dory steamed in white wine with spinach and saffron sauce was taken off the menu because hardly anyone ordered it.
Now, with the benefit of experience, Tzar Ivan has re-written its menu - not to alter the style of its dishes to suit Irish taste but to introduce new courses which, the management hopes, will be more suitable to local clientele. Four of the dishes that were removed are fish-based.
Blinis with red caviar are retained despite the odd complaint from pseudosophisticates that the caviar is salty. Red caviar, the roe of the Pacific Keta salmon, is naturally salty. It is an acquired taste but once acquired, it can be addictive. The big grains popping in the mouth produced a wonderful sensation totally different to the smaller grains of black caviar that Tzar Ivan does not offer and is most unlikely to do in the future.
Russia is in the process of reducing its exports of black caviar by two-thirds in an effort to preserve stocks of Beluga, Osyotr and Sevruga. Prices, already expensive, are expected to rise way beyond the means of the average Dublin diner.
But the new menu does add a touch of the exotic with a number of Georgian dishes none of which, as far as I know, have been available here before. Satsivi, a starter of marinated chicken in a walnut sauce, was a favourite dish of one of the world's least favourite Georgians, Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili (aka Stalin). It is well worth a try.
Lobio, another Georgian speciality, is a vegetarian dish from the same stable as Indian dal dishes and is made from beans or lentils with coriander, lemon juice and vinegar. The great Georgian dish, Chicken Tabaka, in which chicken is flattened, marinated and rubbed with garlic, is another addition along with Shashlik, the traditional kebab dish of the Caucasus.
One of the simple wonders of Georgian cooking, Khatchapuri, a flat bread stuffed with Suluguni cheese, could make its appearance soon if a suitable substitute for Suluguni can be found. Georgian wines, the ideal accompaniment to Russian and Georgian cuisine are, as yet, unavailable in Ireland.
I dined at Tzar Ivan in a group that included Russians and Irish who had lived in Russia. The Myedavukha, a sweetish, honey-based drink with a low alcohol content, was an immediate pre-meal palate-freshener. The mushroom starter in "peasant style", known in Russia simply as Zhulien, was declared authentic immediately as was the Skoblianka, thinly sliced beef with onions, red peppers and, of course, mushrooms. The Slavic peoples have a fascination with mushrooms to the extent that long expeditions into the forests each autumn are national pastimes in Russia, Poland, Belarus and Ukraine.
I had the Siberian Pelmeni, dumplings stuffed with a mixture of beef and pork and served with sour cream, as a main course. They were the real thing, with the stuffing creating its own sauce within each dumpling. There has, however, been a problem at Tzar Ivan with the sour cream. True Russian smetana is not available in Ireland and on one occasion a substitute was not up to scratch. This problem has now been solved.
Zharkoye, spring lamb with onions, mushrooms, potatoes, turnip, garlic and herbs served in a clay pot, was the choice of two of the Russians present. It too got the thumbs up as the genuine article. Star of the show, according to all concerned, was the Yablochny Pirog, a Russian apple pie to take your breath away.
Also on the menu of more than 40 different courses are familiar Russian and Ukrainian dishes such as Borshch, Chicken Kiev and Beef Stroganoff. These, as with almost everything else on the menu, are served in quite hearty portions. A visit to Tzar Ivan is not for those who peck at portions suitable for a sparrow. If necessary, fast in advance in order to build up an appetite.
The restaurant run by three Muscovites - Vyacheslav Borodin, Vladimir Trusov and Sergei Tarutin - is a welcome addition to Dublin's culinary scene. The three men, who were in college together in Moscow, have obviously invested strongly in the genuine Russian decor with its matryoska dolls, traditional wood carvings and little earthenware dimki statues. Both the food and atmosphere make for a genuine Russian night out.
Tzar Ivan is at the Westbury Hotel Complex, 30/31 Clarendon Street, Dublin 2. The restaurant has a special lunch menu priced £11.95