Today restaurant menu of Saint-Petersburg is so full that unexperienced fan of cooking art is hard to choose the best. The Restaurant «Baku» is one of the leading here, as it becomes a favor from the first visit. Guests get plunged into oriental atmosphere where national hospitality is as natural as luxurious decoration. The restaurant walls remind of Azerbaijan carpets where intricate curves never repeat. Spacious arches, mirrors, refined mugs, velvet and organza, cosy sofas and chilled music helps to forget for a moment about breezy Saint Petersburg and feel sunny Azerbaijan. The cuisine of the Baku restaurant is worth a special and enthusiastic description. Presenter Stanislav Salnikov experienced it himself together with a chief cook and cooked amazing national Azerbaijan dishes. Recipe «Badambura - homemade walnut and cardamom cookies» Recipe «Dyushbara - mutton dumplings in a mint and saffron broth» Recipe «Khanbalyk – sterlet stuffed with walnuts and cherry plum pastille» Recipe «Takhta-govurma - veal with vegetables and chestnuts under a crispy cheese crust» Badambura: homemade walnut and cardamom cookies recipe serves 4 persons; preparation time ~ 20 minutes; cooking time ~ 10 minutes Ingredients:Ingredients for the dough: 150 ml. kefir, 350 g. flour, 100 g. sugar, 1 small envelope yeast, 200 g. butter, 3 eggs, a sprinkle of salt. Ingredients for the filling: 200 g. walnuts, cardamom, 200 g. sugar, 100 g. melted butter. Directions: To make the dough, carefully mix the flour, yeast, butter, sugar, salt and kefir together until it becomes a uniform mixture. To make the filling, finely chop the walnuts and mix them with the cardamom and sugar. Roll out several very thin layers of dough, brushing them with the melted butter and lay them one on top of the other. Roll the dough into a spiral log and cut into 4 portions. Make a hole in the middle of each piece and put in the filling. Pinch closed and stretch the edges a bit to give the cookies an elongated boat shape. Put them on the cookie sheet with the pinched side down and bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 160 degree Celsius. Dyushbara: mutton dumplings in a mint and saffron broth recipe serves 4 persons; preparation time ~ 20 minutes; cooking time ~ 5 minutes Ingredients:Ingredients for the dough: 1 egg, 200 g. flour, 100 ml. water, ¼ tsp. salt. Ingredients for the filling: 200 g. ground lamb, 30 g. fresh coriander, salt, pepper. Ingredients for the bouillon: lamb, 1 white onion, 10 g. butter, dried mint, turmeric. Directions: Mix the egg, water and flour to make the dough. Then roll out the dough until it is thin, cutting it into 1 cm x 1 cm diamonds. Finely chop the coriander and mix it into the ground lamb. Put a small amount of this lamb mixture into the middle of each dough diamond. Then fold the diamonds in half to seal in the lamb, forming a crescent shape. Boil lamb to make the bouillon, adding in the chopped onion, which has been lightly fried in the butter. Add in a pinch of turmeric and salt and pepper to taste. Put the dumplings in the broth and let them boil for 5 minutes. Serve in a deep bowl, sprinkling fresh coriander and dried mint on top. Khanbalyk: sterlet stuffed with walnuts and cherry plum pastille recipe serves 4 persons; preparation time ~ 20 minutes; cooking time ~ 25 minutes Ingredients: 500 g. starlet, 100 g. cherry plum pastille, 150 g. walnuts, 1 white onion, pepper, salt. To garnish: Fresh, green herbs, boiled crayfish and lime. Directions: Carefully separate the fish’s skin and bones, being cautious not to let the flesh fall apart. Soak the bones in hot water for 10 minutes. Finely chop the walnuts. In order to make the stuffing, mince the fish fillet. Chop and lightly fry the onion in butter. Add the onion, walnuts and softened pastille. Add salt and pepper. Then stuff the fish skin with this mixture. Sew or use a skewer to secure the fish skin closed. Bake in the cooker for 25 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Garnish with the fresh green herbs, crabs and lime. Takhta-govurma: veal with vegetables and chestnuts under a crispy cheese crust recipe serves 2 persons; preparation time ~ 30 minutes; cooking time ~ 10 minutes Ingredients: 500 g. veal, 2 white onions, 1 paprika pepper, 4 Baku tomatoes, 70 g. melted butter, 6-8 chestnuts, 50 g. dried cherry plum, coriander, basil, 100 g. grated Suluguni cheese. Ingredients for the dough: 1 egg, 200 g. flour, 100 ml. water, ¼ tsp. salt. Directions: Cube the veal. Chop the onions, pepper, and tomatoes. Lightly fry the veal in a dry pan. Add the melted butter, pepper and onion only after all of the juices from the meat have evaporated. Wait 5 minutes and then add the chestnuts, dried cherry plum and half of the chopped tomatoes. Add salt and pepper, sprinkling in the fresh coriander and basil right before the meat is finished cooking. Mix the water, egg and flour to make the dough. Put the meat and vegetable mixture into a takhta – a special wooden dish. Sprinkle the rest of the chopped tomatoes on top. Rub raw egg on the rim of the takhta. Roll out the dough until it is thin. Then cover the top of the dish. Pinch it around the edges to make the outer crust. Paint the egg on the edge of the dough again and sprinkle the grated Suluguni cheese on top of the crust. Bake it in the oven for about 8 minutes at 220 degrees Celsius.