I have already written several times about where to eat cheap in the center of Minsk. Here I talked about the best (and most interesting) restaurants in the cities, and in this review I listed the colorful establishments where you can taste the national cuisine. Everyone liked those articles, so today we will have another “gastronomic” review. In this post, I will tell about Minsk canteens– where you can sip a hearty borscht and eat a salad with a cutlet as cheaply as possible.
They are all simple (and you can’t count on the designer interior and cute waitresses there). But if you don’t mind this format, then this review will be very useful to you. Are you ready to start? Then let’s go!
Olymp Cafe (also known as TSUM canteen)
The cafe is located near the Yakub Kolas Square metro station on the second floor of the Minsk Central Department Store. It’s very easy to get lost there, so when walking into this kingdom of Kiev cutlets, be sure to look at the signs.
The entrance to the cafe is guarded by such stylish mannequins. Most of the visitors are sellers and other employees of the Central Department Store.
As for the food, everything is simple and as cheap as possible. There is a section with cakes (2-3 BYN) and beer (3-6 BYN). And there is a main “line” where there are all kinds of side dishes, soups and salads with hot dishes in a row. You take what you want and go to the checkout. The average check is about 10 BYN. For this money, you can get, for example, carrot salad (2.7 BYN), poultry pickle (2.94 BYN) and pork roast (4.51 BYN).
Opening hours: from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (on Sunday – until 5 p.m.).
Address: Independence, 54 (second floor of the Central Department Store).
The average check per person: about 10-12 BYN.
Restaurant-bistro “LIDO”
A chain restaurant that was once very popular among tourists. It has a rather unusual interior (in the style of some medieval tavern), but the prices are about 1.5 times higher than in the TSUM dining room. A detailed menu is available on the website.lido.by . Take a look if you’re interested.
The very system of operation at the Lido is the same as that of most canteens. You pick up a tray, and then you walk along the food line, picking up what you like. The choice of dishes is quite large. A lot of things are cooked right in front of you, so the food is always as fresh as possible. There is also an alcohol bar in the establishment, but it is located away from the main section.
Overall, the place is not bad. And there is only one negative in all this. If in other canteens a pancake with cheese and ham costs 3 BYN, here it costs 4.50. At first, for the sake of experiment purity, I wanted to buy at the Lido for the same 10 BYN as in the dining room opposite. But I only got two salads and bread for the money.
How to find it? There are two establishments of this chain near the Yakub Kolas Square metro station. One is on Independence Avenue (directly opposite the Central Department Store). The other is at the Komarovsky market (at Kulman 5a). Another restaurant is located in the very center of Minsk. You can find him at Nemiga 5.
Opening hours: from 9 to 22 (seven days a week).
Average receipt: 15-20 BYN. Late in the evening (from 21 to 22) there are 30% discounts on almost all dishes.
Canteen of the Main Post Office (and the Ministry of Communications)
Another good place to eat cheap is in the center of Minsk. It is located at the Lenin Square metro station on the left side of the Main Post Office building. You can use the Globus store as a reference point. The entrance to the dining room is next to it.
There are guards inside the cafe (since the building is still a ministerial building), but unlike in Brest, no one asked me for my passport. I just said hello and moved on.
The dining room is quite small inside – I counted only 12 tables. And she doesn’t work for very long: on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Another disadvantage is the small assortment of dishes (2 soups to choose from, 2 desserts, 5 hot dishes and 6 salads). But you certainly won’t stay hungry here.
The cost of lunch is about the same as in the Shopping center. Soup, salad and hot dishes with side dishes will cost you 10-12 BYN.
Address: 10a Independence Avenue.
GUM Canteen
Walking around the city, I, of course, looked into the GUM canteen (near the Oktyabrskaya metro station). This is the very center of the city, which is an undoubted plus for tourists. It’s also good that you can eat here even on Saturday. After all, most canteens in Minsk are open only on weekdays.
As for the set of dishes, it is quite standard here. But the prices seemed a bit overpriced. For a regular lunch (of cabbage soup, chicken fillet and rice with vegetables), you will have to pay almost 16 BYN. For comparison, in good Minsk restaurants, breakfast can cost 18-20 BYN. In short, GUM got a little cocky. But let’s focus on the good stuff. I have no complaints about the taste of the dishes. And the dining room is located in the very, very center.
How do I find it? Look for a wooden door to the right of the main entrance.
The address of the institution: Independence Avenue, 21.
Average check: around 15 BYN or even slightly higher.
The dining room of the Bolshoi Theater
Another place where it is convenient to look while walking around the city. It is located about a kilometer from the Nemiga metro station, directly opposite the Troitskiy suburb. To find it, go around the theater on the left and look for the sign (entrance) “No. 6”. There will be an entrance to the dining room behind the wrought-iron gates.
The dining room here is divided into two parts. One is a buffet with tea and various sweets (and prices like in an average store). The other one is actually a dining room (with a standard set of dishes). There are even fewer tables here than in the Main Post Office. But the interior is very pleasant and there are few people.
As for the prices, they are quite pleasant. Soups for 3 rubles. Salads for 2.50. And second courses for 5-7 BYN. It’s a pity that the canteen is open very little – from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (and even then only on weekdays).
Address: 1 Paris Commune Square (the door of the dining room “looks” at Pashkevich Street).
What else can a tourist do at the Bolshoi Theater?
Go to the opera or ballet (bolshoibelarus.by ), as well as a look behind the scenes of the theater. Such excursions have recently become incredibly popular.
You will be shown the actors’ dressing rooms and the workshops where the scenery is created; they will tell you the legends about local ghosts and the stories of the creation of the most famous performances. If you like theater, you will definitely enjoy this tour.
You can view all the details here.
Hotel canteens
I don’t know if you’re aware or not, but in many hotels in Minsk, anyone can have breakfast (and not just the guests there). The food is served in a buffet style, so you can eat until your belly button comes loose. I found the cheapest deals in hotels “Tourist” and “IT time“. In both cases, you can eat for a fixed price of 25 BYN.
The interior of both dining rooms is very simple, but the choice of food, on the contrary, rather pleased me. The arsenal includes side dishes, salads, pancakes, sausages, fritters, draniki, many types of desserts, as well as coffee, juices and tea.
The offer is valid from 7 to 10 o’clock (for Tourists) and from 7 to 11 at the IT time hotel. Everything seems to be fine. But there is also an important disadvantage here – the hotels are located quite far from the center. “Tourist” at the metro station “Partizanskaya”, and “IT time” – at the metro station “Borisovsky tract”.
Lyrical digression
By the way, if you have not yet decided where you will live in Minsk, you can pay attention to the very Tourist and IT time hotels. There’s nothing fancy about them. But they are among the most budget hotels in Minsk. You can check the prices using the links below:
- Tourist;
- IT’s time.
In addition, I also recommend you to read my review with a story about different districts of Minsk. This is how you will find out what is unusual about Osmolovka, and what makes Uruchye better than Nemiga.
Canteens of other Minsk hotels
To complete the picture, I also called several hotels in the very center of Minsk and found out how much their buffet breakfasts cost. The information is as follows:
- Minsk Hotel – 40 BYN (breakfast is served from 7 to 11);
- Europa Hotel – 70 BYN (from 7 to 11);
- DoubleTree by Hilton— 85 BYN (from 7 to 10-30);
- Yubileynaya Hotel – 30 BYN (from 7 to 10);
- Hotel “Belarus” – 31 BYN (from 7 to 10:30).
If you love hotel breakfasts with all your heart, you can go to one of these hotels sometime. All addresses are available at the links above.
Stolichnoye Cafe (also known as the Minsk City Executive Committee canteen)
Deputies won’t offend themselves, so the Minsk City Executive Committee canteen is probably the best place to eat cheap in the center of Minsk. Everything is brand new and neat inside. The food is delicious, and the prices are even slightly lower than in other Minsk canteens. Soups – about 3 BYN. Salads – from 1.5 to 3.5. And hot – up to 5 rubles.
The only negative in all this is that I was too shy to take pictures there. As it is, the place is good. You can find it at Independence, 8. Entrance from the courtyard. There is a Lenin Square metro station right next to the building, as well as two main metropolitan railway stations.
Opening hours: from 10:30 to 16:00. Weekends are Saturday and Sunday.
The average receipt is about 10 BYN.
Worthy of mention
Inexpensive tea and cakes can be found in the branded cafeterias of Kommunarka, scattered throughout the city. There is very little choice of savory dishes there, but for the sake of cheap eclairs and cakes we often look there.
The full list of establishments of this chain can be found here. And if you want to see with your own eyes how all these sweets are produced, you can take a tour of the Kommunarka factory. This is a great option for family companies.
You can also find good canteens at Minsk universities. For example, in the building “D” of MGLU (at the metro station “Victory Square”) or in the BNTU (at the “Academy of Sciences”). Officially, only students and teachers are allowed there. But in practice, of course, no one will turn you away. And the only thing to be afraid of is that the strict janitor will give you a stern look.
Afterword
At the very end, I also want to share with you a couple of tips that will be useful to you during your trip to Minsk.
- Find affordable housing in the city here;
- And look for my selection of the cheapest hotels in the capital on this page.
- You can view the transport schedule on the websitekogda.by .
- And for navigation in the city, I recommend offline maps MAPS.me .
- A large catalog of excursions in Belarus is presented on this site.
- And you can read about mobile communications, currency exchange and free wi-fi in this article.
That’s all. I hope my article was useful to you, and now you definitely won’t stay hungry while walking around Minsk. I told him everything I knew. And if you want, complete me in the comments.
