Underwhelming Shashlik — expected more

I was looking forward to Shashlik here based on the reputation. The reality was disappointing. The hearty and warming character that makes this dish special was muted — either from shortcuts with sour cream smetana or from scaling up production at the expense of quality.

Russian New Year table is the most important annual food event, laden with Olivier salad, herring under fur coat, and other Soviet-era staples. The a dacha summer kitchen setting I was hoping for wasn't quite there either. kvas was available but not suggested appropriately. I've had much better versions elsewhere. Two stars because the dish concept is sound; the execution let it down.