Food and drink blog

For the main course I had two vast golubtsi—white cabbage leaves stuffed with mixed ground meat and vegetables and topped with sour cream and a sweet and sour tomato sauce. My companion fared less well with some frozen sole smothered in an inedibly garlicky almond sauce.

The blinis and the almonds came out again for puds (it was that or the usual yogurt/ice cream/ fruit options): pineapple and whipped cream blinis paired with a non-alcoholic almond drink full of sharp nutty chunks. We didn’t finish it; indeed we finished nothing on our mountainous plates that night, and were admonished time and time again by our sad-eyed waiter who would shake his head and cluck like a Jewish mother, “I see that you don’t like this one at all! Two big pieces of meat you have left here!” So he wrapped it all up for us to take home.

Yalta Crimea, Carrer Salamanca 1-9 (Barceloneta), tel. 93 319 7527. About €25 per person for three courses.