Head down a dark staircase, hunt for a door bell hidden behind a painting and try to act casual as a section of the exposed brick wall swings open in rush of dry ice and pumping music. Finding Schrödinger’s Cat might seem like the end of your cocktail quest, but when you’re settled in the playful basement bar laboratory, you’ll realize the game isn’t over yet.
Physicists will be feeling smug at this point, but for those not in the scientific know, the bar takes its name from the namesake mind experiment involving a cat in a box that may be alive, dead or both simultaneously. Need a stiff drink? You’ve come to the right place. Yegor Stepanov – a finalist in the Bacardi Legacy Cocktail Competition – heads up the bar while Sergei Astafes masterminds the kitchen. The menu, following in the scientific theme, is printed on a periodic table. “House” cocktails are cross referenced with their corresponding alcohol via color coding.
“Ketchup” anyone? The fiery blend of tomato juice, Tabasco and vodka – otherwise known as a Bloody Mary – is served in the eponymous condi ment bottle and brought to your table with a bas ket of “chips.” The chips are actually crisps and you drink the cocktail by squirting the ketchup into the accompanying shot glass. Other receptacles are equally as surprising. The “Gnome’s leg” – a blend of prosecco, rum, lime and bitters – is served in a glass shaped like a boot, while a lego man in wizard’s attire lurks at the bottom of a conical flask filled with a potent blend of gin, absinthe and bitters ( cocktails cost around 350 rubles).
The menu is equally zany. There are eight bar snacks on offer, served in take out boxes and presented on the menu as mathematical sums. As well as oriental spring rolls (380 rubles) and shrimp udon (450 rubles) you can order the mys tery “X box,” which on our visit this turned out to be deliciously sticky, marinated pork ribs (450 rubles).
Schrödinger’s cat is located in an old air raid shelter, making the experience rather like stepping into a crazy scientist’s bunker. Bar staff wear lab coats, the interior features substantial amounts of concrete and piping and table lanterns filled with candles flicker shadows on the walls. +7 (968) 459 2210kotbar.ru Ulitsa Bolshaya Dmitrovka Metro Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya
+7 (968) 459 2210
32 Ulitsa Bolshaya Dmitrovka
Metro Chekhovskaya, Pushkinskaya, Tverskaya
