My name is Alex Moser; I'm the Executive Chef of the Hyatt Regency Ekaterinburg. Being a head chef for me is the most exciting thing ever. I have been working in many countries... so many flavors and different taste have past my way!

When I decided to move to Russia, there were not so many dishes came to my mind, except borsch. Some of you might smile, but believe it or not, we used to learn back in the time, at the culinary institute, how to make it.

Traditional soups from different countries were part of the classes and one of them was the famous Russian borsch.

That's where my culinary journey of Russia begins.

One should remember that Russian peasants lived in very harsh climate conditions, and traditional food for them is a combination or a mix that includes plentiful fish, poultry, game, mushroom, berries and honey. Crops of rye, wheat, barley and millet, provided the ingredients for a variety of breads, pancakes, cereal, and drinks like kvas, beer and vodka.

Russian cuisine is a very interesting, but also limited cuisine. What do I mean by using a term "limited"? Due to the cold climate in most areas in Russia the availability of products and ingredients is restricted.

A lot of soups are served to survive the cold winters. One of the world famous soups, as I mention earlier, is the borsch - a soup that made with beetroots and other vegetables, meat can be added too.

Other very tasty soup is solyanka, one of my favorites. It can be made out of beef, fish or chicken. Sausages and cold cuts are one of the main ingredients for the beef version. Pickled cucumbers give the proper taste in combination to olives, capers, onion and lemon.

Solyanka and borsch:

Pelmeni - Russian raviolis - is the very good choice during the winter months. They usually filled with meet, mushroom or potato.

One of the most fascinating dishes is shashlik. There are many different recipes. "Out in the forest, over the open fire, just perfect on a snowy Sunday, Russian say.

Of course every cuisine has tops and flops. One of the dishes I don't like is okroshka, a cold soup with vegetable and kvas. I can get the taste, its very similar to beer and I don't drink beer, maybe that's way I don't like it.

Also I am not a fan of the salted fish, which the Russian usually eat while drinking beer as a snack, a very salty and fishy taste.

But I can say the Russian cuisine has some very tasty and delicious dishes which you all should try when you have a chance.

Learn more about the Russian cuisine & Russian cuisine restaurants in Ekaterinburg