Asakusa has a whole cluster of Russian restaurants, and the original among them is a place called Manos. The others all trained here and then branched off. The one with the best reputation these days is Bona Festa, but I was curious how the original tasted, so I went with a friend. By the way, Bona Festa recently reopened after a renovation. It feels like it has moved from a casual vibe to something more like fine dining.

Butter

Bona Festa seems to have the edge in polish. This place is a bit more old-fashioned, and there was a waitress from Russia.

Salad

Just fine, nothing special.

Bread

It came out warmed up. Even better with the butter.

Angel keseran (angel prawn potato fry)

Crispy fried potato with a big prawn, and it tastes pretty good

Tsuboyaki soup

There is a thick, rich cream soup inside, and it tasted good. It went well with the bread too.

Cabbage roll

This is the signature dish here. The way the cabbage melts so softly is a unique taste that is hard to imitate with any other dish. For this dish alone, it seemed just slightly better than Bona Festa.

Cross-section

Honestly.. Bona Festa’s cabbage roll looks more appetising, but for some reason this one tasted better. The power of the original, maybe.

Beef stroganoff

It was tasty, made with wagyu, but this one fell a little short of Bona Festa’s stunning beef stroganoff. The recipe is similar, so I have no idea why the taste differs this much.

Jam

It was served to stir into the black tea.. but I have no photo of the tea, only of the jam..

As you would expect from the original Russian restaurant, the dishes are wonderful. Even at a weekday lunch every seat was packed. What a place.

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