One of the unquestionably best traces of St. Petersburg’s Soviet past is the sprinkling of restaurants serving cuisine from former USSR republics. Of these the most popular both with locals and visitors is probably Georgian, but there are also Armenian, Uzbek, Azeri, and Kazakh places, as well as generalised “Caucasian” cuisine to be found all over the city. These Central Asian alternatives provide a dash of spice and colour to the often stodgy Russian options, and all are definitely worth trying out. Although often characterised as quite meat-heavy – a staple of Caucasian cuisine in St. Petersburg is the fabulous shashliky (kebabs) which appear on every menu – food from this part of the world is also a good option for vegetarian visitors to the city, making use of the vegetables and spices native to that part of the world. Dishes you will typically find include Georgian khachapuri (cheese-stuffed bread) and lobio (a delicious vegetarian bean soup), Uzbek plov (rice with lamb), and Armenian dolma (stuffed grape-leaves). From all of the city's many options, we've selected the best restaurants for you to sample.