Could a St. Petersburg cafe rate with the likes of Florian in St. Mark's Square, Venice, and with Vienna's Braunerhof on Backerstrasse? Yes, according to a review published by The Observer in London, Oct. 21, 1999. The cozy little Cafe Idiot in the historic center of the Northern Palmyra near the famous Hotel Astoria is just that place.

No marble-top tables, Venetian wall mirrors or baroque frescoed ceilings. Nevertheless, Cafe Idiot continues to enjoy a reputation as both a relaxing and exciting place.

Seven years old, The Idiot was one of the first chic cafes in the city. And, although many competitors have come and gone since, The Idiot firmly holds its ground.

Mikhail Handii, the owner, attributes the cafe's success to its ambience: "This is a place where you don't need to wear a tie. If you are tired, you can recline on a couch. If you meet someone and want to be left unnoticed, there are plenty of dark corners. Each room is decorated differently. The soft sofas beg you to stretch out, close your eyes and forget about the world. That is what many people like to do here. We have customers who come here daily. They stay late, meet friends and play chess and next day they are back. The place is popular with foreigners and Russians alike. We also have a Website. "

The cafe is discretely located on Moika Naberezhnaya. A barely visible sign points to the entrance a few steps down. I was there at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon, and each of the five rooms was occupied. Some American students were leafing through their copybooks and sipping coffee; women were casually perusing magazines; and the music was just loud enough to create an atmosphere without interrupting the relaxing mood.

Some Russian clients showed up and the bar, situated at the far end of a three-room suite, sprang to life.

The name "Idiot" in this city evokes images of the magical novel, written by the city's very own Fyodor Dostoevsky. In fact, the writer's old apartment is not far away and the characters from his novels lived, suffered and committed crimes in the same area.

Handii explains that people are drawn to The Idiot for its good food as well as for its special ambiance. "The place is not cheap. It is for the middle class and it continues to be popular. If anything on the menu proves unpopular with the customers, we get rid of it."

The menu is extensive, and interesting. There are several different exotic varieties of bread, including Armenian, cauliflower and corn varieties. Russian standbys like vodka, caviar, borsh, pelmeni and staffed cabbage are all there on offer. Salads are between 95 and 140 rubles. Appetizers start at 115 rubles, the most expensive being wild mushrooms in sour cream (145 rubles).

Main courses are about 175 rubles, and deserts go for 85 rubles. Drinks cost 65 rubles on average. A bottle of French wine costs 500 to 600 rubles.

The Cafe Idiot also offers business lunches, from noon to 4 pm, for 230 rubles.

In addition, it organizes regular exhibitions of work by St. Petersburg artists. The next show is scheduled for late March. A successful local painter, Valentina Gerasimova (Gulmira), will display her works – mainly cityscapes on Dostoevskean themes. Living in the area, she has had plenty of time to appreciate the eerie atmosphere of the shadowy embankment. In the words of the owner, the exhibition will stay open till the last work is sold.

The cafe used to have poetry recitals, and the owner offers select clients a small book of his own prose as a reminder of those days. He carefully warns readers that his works aren't in standard vocabulary, and they truly aren't.