The Story about The Place Across The Street

When we got to this apartment in Irkutsk, Russia, a month ago, we wondered what the place was across the street. At the time there were no signs. All we could see were people (wealthy people) coming and going. At night, we could see beautiful chandeliers and what looked to be ornate high back chairs.

I will admit, we made up a pretty good tale about what was going on across the street.

I finally broke down and asked. Apparently this is a new fancy restaurant. This restaurant’s tale reminds me of our adoption process…took over 5 years to complete. The progress was halted because of government intervention. After making numerous changes to the original plan, the restaurant was granted the petition to open.

The story behind the story is that a very famous Russian playwright lives above this restaurant; well, he owns an apartment there. He now lives in Moscow. This playwright, Valentin Grigoriyevich Rasputin, is so famous that his plays are studies in Russian schools.
Anyway, when Rasputin got wind that there was a restaurant going in below his apartment in Irkutsk, he wasn’t happy. He called his very good friend, former president Putin, and halted the project.

Well, after many years – the restaurant opened…about the same time we came to town.

We haven’t been there – apparently it is a European type restaurant (that is called Cafe Soho??). We’ve heard it is very nice, rather pricey – but a nice place to go. Something tells me this is going to be the new “after court” restaurant venue.