Moscow, Russia

Tverskaya ulitsa 3, Ritz-Carlton, Moscow

One of my best memories of a date in Moscow was taking an early afternoon wander through the Red Square, including taking in the view of the Moscow River behind St. Basil's Cathedral. We then headed to the Ritz Carlton 02 Lounge roof top bar for a cocktail and admired the panoramic view of Moscow City, including Red Square and the Kremlin. Should you feel hungry, The 02 Lounge has one of Moscow’s finest sushi bars.

Lubyansky proezd 25/12, Metro Kitai-Gorod, Moscow

The novelty factor of this relaxed but gritty venue is the bar itself, which is made up of the wing from the Chinese Fighter Plane that crashed in Moscow during World War 2. This lends itself well to light hearted date chat whilst you play with the controls and sip a cocktail.

With its novel history, there is no surprise that inside Djao Da, you feel a world away from the harsh Stalinist architecture, and, whilst we were there, the bitter weather up on the street level. 

Petrovka ulitsa 27, Moscow 103031

In contrast to Djao Da, Galleria is the place where you will see the Porsches and the Ferraris parked outside because it is hot tipped as one of the (most recently) ‘good’ places frequented by the millionaires. And me.

We went early, around 8ish. We were having our pre-drinks before going on to dinner elsewhere, but we realized that it was, in fact, a very swish restaurant itself. The lighting was honey-hued and the central bar was full of the expectant high end refreshments and accompaniments. After depositing our coats in the velvet-curtained cloak room, we walked through the main, large restaurant and round the corner to some low level sofas and other tables for two looking out onto a veranda. This apparently comes into full use in the summer months.