Jewish community in Moscow is quite big. There are many places connected with Jewish culture such as Jewish museum and tolerance center, Jewish cultural center named after R.Goldman, Moscow Jewish Community Center, educational organizations, language schools, synagogues, and a plenty of amazing restaurants with kosher food.

Apart from it, there are also a few kosher supermarkets where you can buy products made in Israel or locally made food approved by Rabbin. Such places are popular not only among the Jews who live in Moscow, but also among those who like authentic places with ethnic food. Normally they are located close to the Jewish signs. We went to the city district called Maryina Roscha and visited 3 the most convenient located markets to check what they offer.

Pardes

Pardes is located right next to the Jewish museum and Tolerance center. This market is famous for its meat, which is made in accordance with all kosher rules. You can see butchers working right in the market, so it must be really fresh and high-quality meat products.

Here you can find dozens of hummus, tahina, sauces, jams and sweets. But the thing which impressed us most was date honey. That is something we have never heard about. The brand is Israeli and it seems to be something unique what isn’t made in Russia or at least isn’t easy to find in a regular market.

If you miss Israeli brands of sweets, that is an excellent place to visit! There are chocolates, halva, different pastes (Tahina paste is another thing which is difficult to find in Russia), jams. Paradise for a Sweet-Tooth!

Not to lose a chance to get something right from Israel, we bought typical hummus, which turned out to be really fresh and tasty.

By the way, the market has its own meat café with Jewish food (falafel is the main dish there and the size of portions is really impressive) and its own milk café which is more like coffee bar. Nice place to have a lunch or shop when visiting Jewish museum!

Shefa Tov

This market is in the next door from Pardes which makes it convenient to explore both of them at once.

Shefa Tov is bigger itself, but it doesn’t have a café. However here you kind find meat, sausages, milk products, canned goods, semi-finished products. Such things as nuts or dried fruits are sold in large packaging. 1 kg of hummus for less than 10$ is also available.

It is a good place if you like Israeli wine – here we found at least 4 brands. The appetizer is also here – cheese with capers or with sun dried tomatoes. Wouldn’t say that such cheeses are rare in Moscow (even the brand is Russian), but you definitely can`t find them in any single Russian market.

To stay healthy, we bought home-made cheese. 4,3% fat only! That is something what is really hard to find in other local dairies. Cheese tastes like thick milk, which makes it a good change of typical Russian sour cream for those who are on a diet.

SHUK

This place has a very strange name which is translated like «Market and Public catering SHUK. The word «shuk» means «market» in Hebrew.

It is a new self-service café with Israeli street food, but you can also buy something to take home.

Locals come here to chat, work, have a dinner. The atmosphere is friendly and «light» – nobody is in a rush and it isn’t as crumped as most city cafes in the evening.

It is very interesting, that here they also sell Japanese alcohol drinks, many-many types of beer and cider!

No Israeli wine through. Weird, but wine brands are American mostly. Well, it is a good place for alcohol-tasting.

Generally, Jewish food culture in Moscow is progressing. That is true that you still can`t easily grab a falafel in the street café when walking and you have to make an effort to find a really good hummus. However, a plenty of Jewish restaurants and cafes, which have been opened recently makes us think that it is changing. Looking for a new food experience? Welcome to Moscow!