Friday 12th June 2009

Linda Clarke and Bob Thompson

We arrived at this pub just after lunchtime so it was very quiet. We had got there via metro line 7 (purple) on what proved to be a rather fraught journey as we couldn't locate the entrance to Taganskaya station. We were only one stop away but it took a long time to get to and from the trains. The escalators are immense, taking several minutes to get to the bottom, with no time to admire the famous decor as there's a train every two minutes, and we still couldn't get a seat! We got off at Proletarskaya station.

After walking the wrong way along the street we eventually arrived at DURDIN / ДУРДЙНЪ, Volgogradskiy Prospekt 4A. Again, we appeared to be the only customers. The full range of beers: Pilsenskoye (Filtered), Severnaya Zvezda (unfiltered), Weiss (Bavarian Style), Bohemian Dark (Filtered), Cabinet Red (Filtered). We had them all except the Weissbier, and they were fine with the filtered Pils, Pilsenskoye, being the best.

The pub itself was quite good, although it needed a few more people in it for a really good atmosphere.

Plenty of local breweryana is displayed and some nice repro adverts are painted onto the walls. Durdin recalls the name of a brewery that existed at the end of the 19th Century and the advert in the photograph is a reproduction of an advertisement promoting their Pilsener beer of that time.

Durdin is part of a small chain of 4 or 5 pubs in Moscow and we believe that although they do not brew on site they do have a small microbrewery that supplies the pubs.

Important Information:

DURDIN / ДУРДЙНЪ, Volgogradskiy Prospekt 4A, Moskva RU-109316. Tel: +7 (095) 780 0139

Open: Daily 12.00-01.00

This pub is around five minutes walk from Proletarskaya / ПРОЯЕТРСКАЯ metro station
which is on lines 7 (purple) and 10 (green)