On the hunt to try Armenian food, I had come across two options. One was Erivan, a nicer looking place near the Alexandrinsky Theatre with more expensive prices and an English menu online. The other was Kilikia with a Russian only website and dishes than spanned a bit further. In the end we went for the cheaper (maybe slightly more local) Kilikia after the good experience at Uchkuduk.
It was nowhere near as local as Uchkuduk, with a local couple of Americans across the room, staff that spoke English, and a menu presented in English. No matter, there were plenty of Russians around and a private function also.
- Pyurek (Armenian pie homemade style with beef, walnuts & cottage cheese) 300g 280rub - the pie was full of air, with a thin pastry, cheese and mince all of which was nice. It looked huge but due to the air, it wasn't in the end;
- Beans were good and slightly spicy;
- Aveluk (homemade Armenian soup cooked with mountain grass called aveluk or curled dock, with potatoes, onion, garlic & fragrant greengrocery) 250g 260rub - tasty with interesting grass coil (almost like a seaweed);
- Mutton soup with very soft meat, well seasoned soup, and a peppery/jalapeno flavour;
- Pilaf reasonable but slightly mild. Meaty flavour. Wet rather than oily/fatty. Chickpeas. Not bad. Hot chilli on top.
- Tava Kilikia (beef cuts oven-baked with vegetables & spices in tomato sauce) 500g 590rub - they told us in advance that it would take 1h to cook, which is fine. But the slowcooked beef was a bit average with some pieces soft, some not. Nice tomato flavour and peppers, like shakshuka. The acidity from the tomato had been cooked off nicely.
Service had 10% included which was fine. Overall the food was ok. I wouldn't seek out Armenian specifically, but I'd be happy to try it again.