Underwhelming Blini — expected more

I was looking forward to Blini here based on the reputation. The reality was disappointing. The savoury and satisfying character that makes this dish special was muted — either from shortcuts with sour cream smetana or from scaling up production at the expense of quality.

the Russian tea tradition using a samovar is centuries old and central to social hospitality. The a traditional Russian stolovaya canteen setting I was hoping for wasn't quite there either. kefir was available but not suggested appropriately. I've had much better versions elsewhere. Two stars because the dish concept is sound; the execution let it down.