The city’s main thoroughfare is Prospekt Nezavismosti. The part that runs between Ploshad Nezavismosti (Independence Square) and Ploshad Oktyabrskoy (October Square) is the main drag and is only a few minutes from the Dynamo stadium.
It’s a wide boulevard with four lanes in each direction and contains some of the city’s main shops, bars and restaurants including a TGI Fridays and a McDonalds. Pechki Lavochki is a Belarusian restaurant all geared up for foreign visitors and sells local, Russian and Czech beer. Traditional dishes include potato pancakes served with sour cream, filling soups with beetroot or mushrooms and pelmeni, which is Slavonic ravioli. Next door is Il Patio, an Italian restaurant.
The Krinitsa bar is a two floor bar with a cafeteria run by Minsk’s Krinitsa brewery. The cafeteria serves basic hot meals, soups and Russian-style salads. Next door is Planeta Sushi, Minsk’s original sushi restaurant. Now the city is obsessed with the stuff and it’s available pretty much everywhere. Just around the corner is Pinta Pab, a beer cellar that sells imported beers and sushi. Just off the Prospekt is Mirski Zamak, another place specialising in traditional Belarusian dishes.
Karl Marx Street runs adjacent to Prospekt Nezavisimosti on the stadium side of the road. This street offers some of the best value in town such as Byblos, a Lebanese café, and Traktir, a cellar bar with some good beer snacks. You’ll also find the News Café opposite the British Embassy, which offers a Belarusian take on the full English breakfast.
Behind the Dynamo Stadium, all on its own in a big open space not far from what’s usually the away end, is Staroe Ruslo, a restaurant and micro-brewery.
Prospekt Pobediteley is where you’ll find some of the city’s main hotels. Around the corner from the Hotel Yubileynaya is Saloon, which has six draught beers. Traktir is up a flight of stairs near the cinema and offers Belarusian dishes. A few minutes from here and a bit hidden away is Rakovski Brovar, a two floor restaurant with a micro-brewery. From Prospekt Pobediteley you’ll see the city’s main cathedral overlooking the river. Behind it is U Ratushi, a bar serving Irish beer that has live music every night. There’s also Irish beer, as well as Czech and German brews, available at Drozhi United, the city’s token Irish pub. It’s just behind the Red Church on Independence Square.
If you head to Ploshad Yakub Kolas and take the road to the left of the imposing Tsum department store you’ll find the city’s only curry house, Jomolungma. It has Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian and Japanese cuisine, is one of the few places with English speaking staff and stays open until 5am. From the same square follow the tram lines to the left and you’ll arrive at the Mixx Pub, slightly hidden away up a flight of stairs. It models itself on an English pub and succeeds insomuch as the atmosphere is informal and a beer costs three quid. It stays open until 3am.
Minsk’s main brewery is Alivariya and they have a restaurant and bar on site, a good 10 minutes walk from Nemiga metro station. Lida beer is also worth looking out for. It’s the biggest brewery in Belarus and produces some decent dark beers. St Petersburg based Baltika is the biggest Russian brewery and their beers are numbered 0 – 10. Notable brews are Baltika 6, an English style porter, and Baltika 8, a wheat beer. Baltika 3 is the one that’s now widely available in the UK.
If you are drinking vodka then choose Belarusian brands such as Kristall and Bulbash, which will cost a fraction of the price of imported brands. The Kristall distillery has a good reputation and one of its brands was once the only vodka available at the Oscars ceremony. An average bottle of Belarusian vodka costs about ₤2-3.
