Turandot Restaurant and Social Club
Turandot was named after an Italian opera set in China. It followed the story of Prince Calaf, who fell in love with the cold Princess Turandot. In order to win her hand in marriage, the suitor was required to solve three riddles, with a wrong answer resulting in his execution. Calaf passed the test, but Turandot refused to marry him. He offered her a way out: if she was able to guess his name before dawn the next day, he would accept death.
The site is located in a mansion that was previously owned by Catherine the Great. At the beginning of a lengthy six-year construction process, only the building’s facade remained in tact. A Soviet-era fronting of brick and concrete had to be removed in order to begin the delicate restoration process. Several hundred artisans, sculptors, and artists were employed to design and craft all the wooden panels, bronze décor elements and lighting units, stucco of alabaster and plaster moldings, mosaic parquet, decorative paintings, crystal chandelier pendants, carved furniture and porcelain tableware. The rest of the interior items were produced by the Russian, French, English and Italian manufactures specially for Turandot by original sketches. Numerous antique items were acquired in order to contribute to the setting. Nothing was spared in the decor of Turandot – the hand painted chairs and tables, the tapestries and frescoes on the walls and ceilings, the costumes of the waiting staff, and the special order Turandot dinnerware.
Turandot was financed by the Stoly family and opened through the employment of prominent Russian entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, professional architects and a fine art restorer. It is located on Tverskaya Boulevard, about a 5-10 minute drive to the northwest of the Kremlin within Moscow’s central district. From the entrance facing the Boulevard, one enters a huge, white marble Italian courtyard, and then the circular, two-story dining area, on each floor surrounded by a series of small private dining rooms. Beneath the elaborately detailed and hand-painted, high cupola ceiling, bewigged and costumed chamber musicians perform classical music, opening the evening with Nessun Dorma. Belying initial impressions from the decor and costumes, the cuisine is Pan-Asian.
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