What did the president and the prime minister do after the congress?
After the United Russia Congress the president and the prime minister had lunch at a Petersburg restaurant.
The restaurant staff say they made no special arrangements for the visit: they knew the visit would take place, but the menu was not known in advance. Still, one of the best tables near the glass wall with a fine view of the Savior on Blood Church had been reserved. The restaurant was not closed to the public because of Dmitry Medvedev's and Vladimir Putin's visit, and ordinary customers - it being Sunday there were quite a number of them - were dining at neighbouring tables.
"I knew I would be serving on VIP guests, but I hadn't imagined that they would be the president and the prime minister," recalls the waitress who served them. "Of course, I was very nervous at first, but they greeted me with a very friendly ‘Hello' and that immediately put me at my ease. They asked my name and what was especially pleasant, they did not forget it and always addressed me by name. Mr Putin struck me as being more reserved, while Mr Medvedev was relaxed and outgoing. He did the ordering and said that they would like Japanese cuisine. He asked me what I would recommend and we chose the menu together."
The president and the prime minister began with pineapple and wheat fresh. For the first course they ordered miso soup, then rolls, sushi and sashimi. For the hot course they ordered rice noodles with calamari and prawns in oyster sauce. The guests were then treated to a duck Chinese style, which was given on the house. They asked for hazelnut candies with their coffee.
The lunch lasted from 03:43 to 05:23 PM. All this time the president's personal waiter was in the restaurant. He did not interfere with the waiting and stood to one side giving instructions to the restaurant staff. He said that oshibori (wet towels served to the guests for wiping their hands before the meal) had to be sprinkled liberally with vodka for disinfection and tea had to be of different temperatures: warm for Dmitry Medvedev and hot for Vladimir Putin. By the way, both ordered the same tea, the green Chinese Oolong tea without additives.
Yevgenia Tsinkler
