The cuisine bears little, if any, difference from what you can try in Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and any other city in the region. Local foods like pelmeni or bliny (pancakes) can be found in practically any restaurant around. The Coffee House and Food Master cafes on the Lenina Avenue are European-oriented and you can eat quite a decent pizza or lasagna in the latter. An average meal there costs from 6 to €10 per person excluding wine.
Want something more traditional? Go to the Korchma u Tarasa (there are several in the downtown) — originally a Ukrainian place, it features a lot of traditional Russian and Siberian cuisine. Zhili-Byli is a Russian-style place resembling a peasant's hut with local pop-music and waiters (and waitresses!) dressed appropriately. The service in both places can be painfully slow, especially on weekend evenings but you will be rewarded with good and relatively cheap dinner (6-10 Euros excluding alcohol that is quite affordable as well).
For a high-class dinner go to Vechny Zov, Slavyansky Bazar or Parmezan — for a price that starts at around €30 plus wine you will get a high-standard European or Russian meal including traditional Russian and local delicacies. Chefs are often invited from France, Italy, etc., so European quality is guaranteed — at a European rate.
There are also a lot of smaller places offering good meals for relatively low prices — ask whoever reads Russian to browse local Internet or look through the papers. Also, don't expect the restaurant staff to speak anything but Russian (except the most expensive places).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Tomsk
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Tomsk - updated May 2024
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Tomsk Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
