On a side street not far from Moscow Rail Station, Gusto is part of a group of up-market Italian eateries in St. Petersburg, and it is unquestionably one of the better places for Italian food in the city. Somewhere between a cafe and a restaurant, Gusto has deceptively simple interiors that nonetheless are luxurious enough for the relatively high prices on the menu to come as no surprise. Fortunately, they are entirely justified by the fare on offer, which combines perfectly executed but somewhat bland classics to appeal to its more conservative patrons with several pleasingly original creations from the Italian chef.
While most of the more expensive Italian restaurants in St. Petersburg seem to concentrate on seafood to impress their wealthy clients, Gusto offers more rural Italian cuisine, with imaginative combinations of vegetables and mushrooms to the fore. The wine list is also noteworthy, and Gusto's hi-tech storage system makes it possible to order a huge number of vintages by the glass.
