Billie

Architect Gosha Aigunyan built four rooms, each unlike the next but united by a futurist aesthetic and restrained geometry. In the main space are American pool tables surrounded by illusion-portals that seem to open onto a parallel world. The Gray Room is deliberately drained of color: only the food and the glasses provide bright spots here. The third room became home to the country's first three-legged American pool table, a deliberately provocative art object. And in the fourth, with oak paneling and a heavy Russian billiards table, you can sense the spirit of classic gentlemen's clubs.

Our restaurant guide's team finds Billie a place that's more about mood than about food: people come here for a game of pool and a good cocktail, not culinary discoveries. Our secret guests rated the cocktail list 7 out of 10.

Chef Artyom Chudnenko built the food menu around the idea of "sexy junk food" — familiar street food taken up to restaurant level. Pizza is made in several variations, from a Margherita to a signature version with duck confit and arugula pesto, plus versions with Parma ham and shrimp, and with gorgonzola, pecorino and spicy honey. Alongside them on the menu: chicken strips under salted caramel with Svan salt, juicy smash burgers, and sweet-potato fries with a miso-truffle sauce. For dessert, there's a matcha tiramisu and sorbets. For anyone who prefers something lighter, the menu has lighter options too.

Bar manager Misha Pugachev built the cocktail program around three directions. Neo Classic offers strong mixes built on tried-and-true recipes but with an unexpected read and a long-unfolding flavor. Juice Cocktails are bright fruit combinations, designed as the perfect complement to rich street food. Plus mini shot collections for anyone who likes to try something new. The non-alcoholic alternative is far from an afterthought too: strawberry with tomato and gochugaru pepper sounds intriguing and genuinely works.

"Billie" — as regulars call the place — stays open late, welcomes guests with dogs, and is ready to provide an instructor for newcomers picking up a cue for the first time. Despite the billiard-club format, there's not a hint of a Soviet-style billiards hall here: just carefully calibrated minimalism with futurist touches, inside a renovated 19th-century building on Neglinnaya.