Kukhmisterskayas (cook-shops)

Categories / City Services/Restaurants, Cafes, Cafeterias
KUKHMISTERSKAYAS (from the German Kuchenmeister, or cook). Cafeterias or cheap restaurants, established to "meet the needs of low class clerks and other poor men", as well as to provincials arriving to St. Petersburg. They appeared in the capital in the early 19th century. Usually, they were located on ground floors or in basements, occupied 2 to 5 rooms, and were available almost on every big street. Family dinners, wedding festivities, and other events were organized at kukhmisterskayas; alcoholic drinks were sold only on tap. The so-called Polish Kukhmisterskaya (2/9 Mikhailovskaya Street) was particularly popular among students; there was also a Greek Kukhmisterskaya, and many others; in the early 20th century they were referred to as "stolovayas" (cafeterias), and included the Normal Cafeteria (at Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor), and Von Derviz's Cheap Cafeteria (23 12th Line of Vasilievsky Island).

Reference: Проект нового Положения о трактирных заведениях в столицах, губернских, портовых и уездных городах. СПб., 1852. С. 7.

I. A. Bogdanov. Derviz Vera Nikolaevna von
12th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 23
Mikhailovskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 2/9
Проект нового Положения о трактирных заведениях в столицах, губернских, портовых и уездных городах. СПб., 1852 Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor