Russian Tea Time Review

Author: Blair Penn

Are you searching for the perfect place to take your parents when they come to visit? Or perhaps you long to sip on a cup of luxurious yet reasonably priced tea while being surrounded by 20th-century Russian decor? Then look no further; located in the heart of downtown Chicago lies an elegant Russian tea house that fits your needs.

Russian Tea Time is one of Chicago’s culinary landmarks and hosts a wide variety of customers like college students, symphony goers, and celebrities. The teahouse offers authentic Russian food and house-blended teas. The inside of the establishment is delicately furnished with chandeliers, white tablecloths, and red chairs. As soon as I walked into the tea house, I heard the Balika music fill the background and felt like I had just teleported to 19th century Russia.

Although Russian Tea Time was labeled as a “fine dining restaurant” on Google maps, the prices are reasonable if dining with a group. Indulging in the premium tea service is on the pricier side, but luckily you can still enjoy the Russian tea house experience at a reasonable fare with a pot of tea priced at $8 and assortments of sandwiches or sweets for $15. These 15-dollar assortments are definitely enough food to feed 2-4 friends.

Russian Tea Time was established in 1993 by a Ukrainian immigrant named Klara Muchnik. Klara started as a surgical nurse in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1967, but her true passion was cooking. She spent most of her free time collecting old family recipes which she would then recreate and test herself. Klara started catering because she was desperate to make extra money during the harsh economic times of the Soviet Union. She began catering birthdays, weddings, and dinner parties in Tashkent and her avant-garde approach to cooking made her popular quickly. Klara’s cooking became known in Tashkent, but her family decided to travel to the US in search of a better life.

When Klara and her family arrived in the US in 1990, Klara brought with her the dream of creating a restaurant that celebrates her Russian roots. Klara’s son, Vladim, played a major role in the creation of Russian Tea Time with his business acumen. Due to Vladim’s hard work and networking skills, Russian Tea Time already had quite a reputation around the city even before the much-anticipated tea house opened its doors.

I have become such a fan of Russian Tea Time that I visited there twice in the past month! Once was to meet my friend’s grandparents and the other time was to celebrate Family Weekend with my parents. When I visited with my parents, we indulged in the premium tea service which included a pot of tea per person and lavish three-layer trays.

My dad also ordered the stuffed cabbage from the main menu since it was a childhood favorite of his. He said the cabbage at Russian Tea Time was authentic and comparable to that made by his mother. Another time, I will have to try the dinner menu, which includes many old-country favorites. So far, I have kept to the more popular tea service.

When you order a pot of tea, you need to strain out the leaves as you pour it with a tea strainer. I chose Earl Grey tea as my tea, which was so flavorful that I enjoyed drinking it even without sugar. This is unusual for me as I fancy sweet teas.

The Russian tea service is presented on big platters that take you through the three courses of the meal — and the premium tea service there is far more than an afternoon snack. On the upper level, you will find raisin scones and fluffy crepes accompanied by cream, jam, and caviar. My family and I decided to start with the upper layer first and the scones and crepes were some of the best items of the outing. The cream and jam were a great accompaniment because they added the right amount of sweetness that the scones and crepes were otherwise missing.

The next layer consisted of savory finger sandwiches. Our opinion of these sandwiches varied as they each were so different. About half the finger sandwiches were on a toasted bread cracker and the salmon, cucumber, and cold chicken and honey mustard were some of the favorites. The herring sandwich caught me by an unpleasant surprise, and I had to subtly spit it out in my napkin. The fishy taste and slimy texture were a little bit too much for me, but perhaps a more adventurous soul would appreciate it.

Lastly, we finished with the bottom layer, which included delicately crafted pastries and mini cakes. Another disappointment was the pound cake, which was a square piece of yellow cake dusted with powdered sugar. It was too dense and had an off-putting flavor and odd texture that reminded me of stale bread. It came as a surprise to me since every other one of the desserts was moist, flavorful, and exciting. Our favorite dessert was a variation of a thousand-layer cake: Napoleon’s cake. Russians refer to it by this name because it was created to honor the 100th anniversary of the country defeating Napoleon and his troops.

Russian Tea Time may not be the place you casually take your friends on a lazy Sunday afternoon, but it is perfect for a special occasion — especially if you are trying to spice things up with something more exotic and interesting.