Ever since I mentioned to friends/colleagues that I missed having a lot of culinary options, they’ve pointed me to Moscow’s Danilovsky Market. Situated two minutes from metro Tulskaya, the market is home to many wonderful booths for all types of food. That allure was always there, but until today life prevented me from going there.

To set the stage, the market is in a dome-shaped building which I’d personally liken it to one large yurt. If you’re paranoid about missing it, it’s incredibly obvious when you’re on the street, plus there’s a lot of signage indicating where to go. The hours are also very visitor-friendly given that they open from 8AM to 9PM, which was evidenced by the horde of people inside. Oh yeah, the decor of each individual stand is very hip, which did help immerse you in that market mentality. Plus, it’s cool that not only can one eat some fantastic food, but you can also shop for fresh stuff that doesn’t tend to pop up in stores! (I didn’t shop for things to take back home, but today was my chance to scout for future reference.)

Upon walking through the entrance, I was blown away by what I saw. As the pictures below indicate, it was jam packed with booths/stalls, and my immediate thought was “I’m going to blow far too much money here.” The first order of business was to walk around and see what was interesting. This was a lot harder given that everything looked good, so I had to narrow things down to places that would take card instead of cash; perhaps I was a bit optimistic beforehand, but thankfully most places had the reader. In my case, I saw a place called Chowder & Pies, and at the risk of prematurely appeasing my appetite, I opted for it. Simply put, I couldn’t remember the last time I had clam “chowdah”, so this opportunity to rectify that gap in my memory. That, and the pies sounded delicious-they were! By this point you may be wondering how was the chowder itself. It’s not New England good (or really, can anything else match that quality?) but what I ate reminded me of that sunny day in Connecticut where I had the chowder to end all chowder. Oh yeah, I had to wait for my meal first. Because the joint was a small one, the guys had to make the chowder, so I was delayed for ten minutes. No worries, as I’d spotted a place making crepes and waffles a little further down. When choosing, one can see the varieties of toppings, which were mainly fruit. However, as I’m not that fancy, simple chocolate was what I opted for. A recurring theme of this post is to express my regret that I didn’t have the appetite nor money to sample other variants, but man did some of those waffles look incredible! Seriously, you can’t go wrong with whatever you get! Once I finished the waffle, my order was ready to pick up. Nothing more needs to be said other than the fact that I was in heaven! Finally, once I finished slurping down the last of the clam chowder, I decided that I needed to walk off the food. Other stands spotted on this reconnaissance mission were pastry places and even a Moroccan stand (which I regret not finding a bit earlier), but lethally, a gelatto store. If I hadn’t indulged enough already, I ensured that I did here. Om nom nom! By this point, the food was starting to make me feel sluggish, meaning it was time to head back home, for both my wallet and I’s sake. Moscow is blessed to have a market like this, that’s for sure!

Final tally:

-650 rubles for a meat pie and clam chowder.

-200 for a Belgian waffle with Nutella.

-200 for two scoops of pretty solid milk chocolate ice cream.

Honestly, had I not been so full, I could’ve easily gone for a burger (of which there were quite a few stands offering them), the Moroccan place, and/or the Indian food stand by the entrance. Alas, this calls for at least a return trip…or several. With that in mind, I hope to be able to come back and update this post to reflect what other types of cuisine I’ve eaten there. Stay tuned!

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