13.02 In Sochi for the Games? Here’s Where to Eat

SOCHI, February 13 (Kevin O'Flynn, RIA Novosti) – The Winter Olympics host city, Sochi, has all the ingredients to be a gastronomic paradise: proximity to Georgia, home to the best cuisine in the former Soviet Union; a sea for fresh fish on its doorstep; and lush vegetation. Paradise it ain’t, but there is still plenty on offer in a city long practiced in filling tourists’ stomachs.

Here is an unscientific selection of the city's most interesting eateries.

One of the better upmarket places is Lighthouse – an airy, stylish, single-story restaurant with a wall of windows to show off the sea view. One of the few places with a bilingual menu, it focuses on Uzbek cuisine (plov costs 350 rubles, or about $10), but also has more expensive fish dishes, like roasted tuna with vodka jelly and lime (990 rubles). There is Wi-Fi and a small terrace to stand and stare at the sea.

Brigantina, a pricey Italian restaurant nearby, has a photo on the wall of its French chef together with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. It offers pastas from 520 to 620 rubles and a decent summer terrace.