Antipa

Antipa's location is hardly typical of a modern coffee shop: the premises of the Temple of St. Antipas of Pergamum next to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The refectory cafe was opened by actor-turned-priest Andrei Shchennikov, the temple's current hegumen, while the space was designed by young architects.

Antipa is a street coffee shop accessible to everyone, regardless of their religious views, who wants to grab a cup of Raf coffee with a croissant or a cup of tea with a bowl of millet porridge.

The menu is aligned with that of present-day cafes, including coffee classics, a strawberry-flavored cocoa drink, and blueberry latte. Both dairy and non-dairy milk is available. Antipa serves cookies and croissants alongside quiches and honey-soaked gingerbreads. For breakfast, you can go for a serving of cottage cheese pancakes with a sour cream and sweetened condensed milk topping or a bowl of millet porridge with dried apricots and honey.

Antipa's interior strikes you as stylish yet ascetic: a small space with white walls, arch-shaped windows, wooden tables joined together, and an icon under the ceiling. In summer, the cafe offers veranda seating. The cafe's social media pages often announce film screenings ranging from Andrei Rublev directed by Andrei Tarkovsky to Inception by Christopher Nolan.