Ris i Ryba (Rice and Fish) is located above the Udarnik cinema, a stone's throw from the Kremlin, at one of the busiest roads and most accessible spots in Moscow.

To get to the restaurant, you take the elevator to the second floor of the building, and as you step out, you are met by a beautiful scenic view of the river and the Kremlin. The external wall is made of glass, and the panoramic image gives this restaurant an appealing light and spacious atmosphere.

The interior is kept in a traditional minimalist style. Wooden tables line the picturesque windows, allowing for quite a few guests to enjoy the view while eating their meals.

One of Ris i Ryba's major attractions is the conveyer belt on one side of the room, with different sushi servings on small plates going around. The idea is that you sit next to the belt and pick out the plates you want as they pass you by. The plates have different colors and each color is equivalent to a price. So by counting the plates you have eaten, you can calculate the total amount. This concept is a wonderful thing for people who don't have time to wait for service or for those who simply enjoy the childish fun of having the food circling around to them.

The menu is in Russian, and apparently no English version exists, which is interesting since the crowd of customers the afternoon I visited appeared to be of mixed nationalities. Fortunately, my dining partner spoke some Russian.

My friend was in the mood for vegetarian and had some difficulty finding something to accommodate his tastes in the sushi selection. He ended up settling for a cucumber roll and a vegetable tempura.

Since I love everything related to sushi, I went for the small mixed sushi menu consisting of three nigiri, three small salmon rolls and two large pieces of California roll (crabmeat, avocado and cucumber), as well as a favorite of mine - a piece of eel nigiri. (My friend did not know the Russian word for eel, so I spoke out as a sushi expert and asked the waiter for unagi, hoping I wouldn't make a fool out of myself by getting the wrong thing.)

Since it was lunchtime and I didn't want to fall asleep after a glass of wine, we both stuck to Japanese green tea.

The tea came immediately and, soon after that, our starters, miso soups, arrived. I think the teapot could have been filled with a bit more water. There was only enough tea for two small cups.

The soups were pretty big, a little sparse on the tofu and seaweed content and calling out for some soy sauce to spice up the taste. While we were still slurping our soups, they brought us the sushi. It came so quickly that I couldn't help wondering if they had picked it off the conveyer belt. I started to get this idea when I compared the sushi preparation time with the time it took for them to cook my friend's tempura, which was considerably longer.

For me, this is a very important issue on appropriate restaurant service: The dishes ordered by people at the same table should be brought to the table at the same time. Somehow I have experienced this shortcoming more than once in Russian restaurants.

Eventually the tempura showed up, and it turned out to be delicious.

I had no complaints with my sushi, either. The fish was fresh and the pieces nicely sized. The California rolls had a good flavor and ... yes ... unagi was the correct word, two pieces of eel were on my plate. Had it been accompanied by a bit of teriyaki sauce, the eel would have been perfect.

My dining partner and I chose the Imperial raisin/nut/honey cake with vanilla sauce for dessert and I ordered a double espresso to go with that. The cake was good, though not fantastic.

A light lunch at Ris i Ryba cost us $50, and, though it is slightly overpriced, for this location and quality it's not really too high. However, beware: Do not ever bring a camera to this restaurant. We tried to take photos there for this review, and the staff was very rude in telling us photos were not allowed. Apparently you have to sign a contract there to take photos of the interior.