Moscow: Russian-style meetings

Reported by Cécile Balavoine. Photos by Ludovic Maisant.

Meeting in yet another hotel bar, organising a meeting in a room that always looks the same as the next one... Why not take advantage of a stay in Moscow to explore unusual addresses ? Russia's capital is full of places of all kinds, but all perfectly suited to informal working sessions.

Baccarat's Cristal Room, for example, is chic and slightly offbeat, and has been proving its worth since 2008, when it opened in a former pharmacy created for Tsar Peter the Great. Philippe Stark, who reinvented the room, has succeeded in blending the dilapidated with the sumptuous in a perfect balance. A true embassy of the French art of living For those wishing to impress a local counterpart, the Cristal Room is the stronghold of David Hemmerlé, formerly of Carré Blanc, and David Desseaux, a disciple of Guy Savoy and Alain Ducasse. However, the Cristal Room is not really a restaurant. Here, private rooms, each with its own unique character, are reserved for studious yet gastronomic get-togethers.

Not far from there, the Café Pouchkine also evokes French tradition, and yet... the famous song by Gilbert Bécaud was based on a fantasy that Andrey Dellos, a Russian with distant French origins, turned into reality in 1999. Today, this address, which is still a firm favourite with Muscovites, combines French and Russian flavours in a spectacular, slightly cardboard-pastry atmosphere. The concept has also flourished in Paris, with the first Café Pushkin opening in 2010 at Printemps Haussmann, followed by two others on Place des Vosges and Boulevard Saint-Germain.

If you prefer the contemporary to the nostalgic, Gorky Park is the place to be. Just recently, a magnificent space dedicated to art, the Garage, opened in a former kolkhoz restaurant redesigned with great restraint by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. This contemporary art foundation, founded in 2008 by Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovitch and initially housed in a 1920s bus depot, moved to the Gorky Park in 2012, in a temporary arrangement designed by Shigeru Ban, the architect of the Centre Pompidou in Metz, and then, in 2015, to its definitive setting made in Holland. As well as the exhibition rooms, which can be used privately, there are other spaces, such as the café, which looks like a Scandinavian dining room, for serious meetings.

Not far from the Garage, on the edge of the Gorky Park, since 2016 you can also opt for a more rudimentary venue, but one of the best in the world.Bohemian charm : Bicycle. This trendy café, where people sit on wooden pallets with cushions, shows films from the 70s on the theme of bicycles. Quite a programme.

The most daring business travellers might dare to venture towards Krasnye Oktiabr, otherwise known as 'Red October'. This former chocolate factory on an islet opposite the Kremlin has been transformed over the last few years into a maze of art galleries, bars and restaurants. Even more disconcerting is Mendeleev, named after the chemist who created the periodic table of the elements and, according to legend, also of the recipe for the perfect vodkais a bar with no street sign. To get in, you'll have to walk through an unlikely gargote, ring a doorbell at the end of a narrow corridor, then wait for the cellar doors to be opened. Suspense... and a select atmosphere guaranteed.

From the depths to the heights, it's just a few metro stations away. In the Moscow City district, restaurant 354 is undoubtedly the best place to eat. the most dizzying from all over the capital. Up there, you can whisper company secrets while enjoying prawns and other seafood. But only in summer. Because as soon as the frost sets in, this beautiful terrace hibernates, waiting for the sleepless nights of the coming year.