You can really eat well in St Petersburg. And you can also eat really well as a vegetarian. There are some brilliant restaurants serving great Russian and international food. And leading the pack in this beautiful city has to be Cafe Botanika. This is the kind of vegetarian restaurant that will have meat eaters reconsidering. Plus it’s the oldest vegetarian restaurant in St Petersburg.
About Cafe Botanika, St Petersburg – A vegetarian restaurant
The food here is an eclectic mix and you can choose from Asian inspired food to burgers, pancakes or Russian fare.
They also have a great children’s menu. We started off with some tart and tasty homemade lemonades that were perfect for the seriously hot summer day.
And paired them with some houmus and vegetables to share.
The children had some rice salad (that I had to stop myself from eating it was so full of herby freshness) and pasta.
Botanika’s menu has been put together by their head chef from India. He describes opening the restaurant as similar to lighting a candle in the dark.
The result has been that the restaurant has drawn people from far and wide. Attracted by the fantastic ambience, great food and a wonderful location.
The restaurant avoids the hustle and bustle of the more touristy areas but is still a great place to watch the world go by.
It would be a lovely place to catch up with friends. Or sit at the outdoor terrace over tea.
When we visited I wanted to try something very Russian and had potato pancakes with sour cream. They were so delicious I could eat them every day.
The peanut stir fry with tofu was also seriously addictive. Even now I’m wishing I could be there digging into a plate of it.
Everything on the menu is cooked fresh to order with no processed foods or microwaves in sight. Including this heavenly bean burger which is perfect if you’re looking for something wholesome but very tasty (including the tangy fresh salsa).
And for puddings there is so much delicious choice. From vegan figgy biscuits with maple syrup to an amazing carrot cake.
This is a beautiful cafe in a space to linger in as long as possible. It’s welcoming and so full of delicious food.
You could eat here every day and never get bored.
When I return to St Petersburg, at some point in the near future I hope, Botanika will be my first stop.
Ready to visit?
Find out more here and read more with our trip to Russia with children.
Taking the Red Arrow night train between Moscow and St Petersburg
A review of Corinthia St Petersburg
A visit to the Peterhof Gardens, St Petersburg
That peanut stirfry looks and sounds amazing, I am obsessed with all things peanuts right now, mainly chocolate but even still x
It really was amazing – I keep thinking about it!!I love peanuts too.
I am so hungry and this all looks so amazing x
ha ha! It was delicious. Such a special restaurant.
That looks delicious!
I’m a full on meat eater, myself, it must be hard to always find nice vegetarian food, some places don’t cater too well do they
No, some places don’t cater that well and others just aren’t inspiring. This menu was packed full of so many delicious dishes I really think anyone would be happy eating there.
Wow, that food looks delicious. I was a veggie for 12 years and actually found America really hard to get decent veggie food
Yes America is hard isn’t it? It’s weiird as you’d think it would be more like here but they put gelatine in so much and often there isn’t even a veggie option. 12 years is a long time to be veggie and then stop!
that food all looks and sounds amazing!
It really was one of those meals to always remember – there’s something special about this place and the food was obviously a big part of it. Yummy!
The food looks delicious and wow to the kids menu.
Yes, I always love coming across places with an imaginative kid’s menu.
Food looks so tasty! In my country those dumplings with dill are called “pierogies” and there is lots of different stuffings 🙂
Yummy that all looks amazing. Sounds a great place. I need to try to cook more like this myself, we have too many processed foods in our diets.
I would love to visit St Petersburg, so much interesting things to see. That cafe looks fab!
The food looks absolutely amazing. The burger looks especially scrumptious.
the food looks lovely. I can imagine it must be hard trying to find suitable places where you;re vegetarian x