{"id":67047,"date":"2017-11-23T16:28:30","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T15:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=67047"},"modified":"2017-11-27T09:54:55","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T08:54:55","slug":"unusual-addresses-russian-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/unusual-addresses-russian-meetings","title":{"rendered":"Moscow: Russian-style meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reported by C\u00e9cile Balavoine.\u00a0<\/em>Photos by Ludovic Maisant.<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/strong> ? Russia's capital is full of places of all kinds, but all perfectly suited to informal working sessions.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong> For those wishing to impress a local counterpart, the Cristal Room is the stronghold of David Hemmerl\u00e9, formerly of Carr\u00e9 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.<\/p>\n

\"Moscow-Cristal-Room-Baccarat\"<\/a>
La Cristal
Room Baccarat, a landmark in French art de vivre, decorated by Philippe Starck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not far from there, the Caf\u00e9 Pouchkine also evokes French tradition, and yet... the famous song by Gilbert B\u00e9caud<\/strong> 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 Caf\u00e9 Pushkin opening in 2010 at Printemps Haussmann, followed by two others on Place des Vosges and Boulevard Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n

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<\/strong> 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 caf\u00e9, which looks like a Scandinavian dining room, for serious meetings.<\/p>\n