Where to Eat Real Pyshki in St. Petersburg

If you’ve come to St. Petersburg, pyshki are probably already on your list of things to try. Quite right too: these hot yeast rings dusted with powdered sugar are the city’s classic street food (the local pastry often mistaken for a donut), and getting to know St. Petersburg without them would be incomplete, like skipping St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the raising of the bridges over the Neva or a coffee on Nevsky Prospekt. But here’s a question guidebooks rarely answer: where can you try a real one, hot and straight off the machine? At the nearest coffee shop, chances are they’ll just warm up a ready-made one for you.

This guide is for people who want the real thing and don’t fall for tourist traps. We’ll explain how the pyshka became a symbol of St. Petersburg, how to tell a good pyshki café from a random one at a glance, and where to eat pyshki hot in the city centre.

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A short history of pyshki: how they became a St. Petersburg symbol

The pyshka was invented right here, in this city, in the 1950s. After the war, Leningrad (as St. Petersburg was called in Soviet times) needed an inexpensive, filling dessert, and food technologists at the Trust of Canteens and Cafés developed the recipe: yeast dough, a ring shape, hot oil, powdered sugar. The first pyshechnaya, a pyshki café, opened in 1958 on Zhelyabova Street, known today as Bolshaya Konyushennaya St.

The pyshka quickly became more than just food. Pyshki cafés were places where social boundaries faded: a student, a factory worker and a professor would stand at the same counter. A glass of coffee with condensed milk, a hot pyshka, five minutes of warmth: whole generations remember this ritual. That’s why, for many visitors, the pyshka is also a little time machine, and when people here say “it tastes like childhood”, they mean it literally.

This is why you should try a pyshka in St. Petersburg itself, and try it fresh. At a supermarket or a chain coffee shop you’ll get all sorts of things, just never this. A real pyshka lives exactly as long as it stays hot.

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How to find the best pyshki in St. Petersburg

The city has a handful of good places and rather more random ones. To avoid disappointment, keep three simple signs in mind. They never fail.

The pyshki are made in front of you. This is the main sign. If you can see the machine and the process itself (dough dropping into the oil, rings turning golden, finished pyshki riding down the “slide”), you’ve come to the right place. If the pyshki are taken ready-made from under a glass counter, or worse, out of a box, that’s definitely not it.

It’s hot, straight from the fryer. A real pyshka is served right out of the oil, rolled in powdered sugar while it’s still warm. A pyshka that has gone cold loses almost everything that makes it worth eating. A good place hands you your pyshka within a minute of it being cooked.

It’s light, with no heaviness. The secret of the original recipe is the instant “sealing”: when the dough hits hot oil, a crust forms within a second, and almost no oil gets inside. In essence, the pyshka bakes like bread. So a proper pyshka never leaves you feeling heavy: you eat one and carry on with your walk. If you feel like lying down after a pyshka, the recipe wasn’t followed.

One more thing, so you don’t mix them up. A pyshka and a donut are two different things. A donut is fried differently, soaks up oil and often comes with a filling. A pyshka is something else entirely: an airy yeast ring, hot and dusted with sugar. You can tell the difference from the very first bite.

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Where to eat pyshki in central St. Petersburg

Now for the addresses. We’re Pyshki iz Detstva® (“Pyshki from Childhood”), a small chain of pyshki cafés, and our pyshki are made before your eyes: the machine stands right in the café, in plain view. What’s more, our machines are genuine Soviet ones. They stopped being made in 1991, and no new ones exist. We tracked down, bought and restored every one of them by hand.

Let’s be upfront about one thing. The city has the legendary Pyshechnaya on Bolshaya Konyushennaya St., the original one, open since 1958 on the site of Leningrad’s very first pyshki café. It’s a landmark, and we hold it in high regard: it’s worth a visit at least once. But there’s almost always a long queue, and it has just one address. We’ve set things up differently: several convenient cafés in the centre, the machine in plain view and your pyshka within a minute, with no long wait. So choose whichever suits your mood, or better still, try both and compare for yourself.

Here are our three addresses. All of them are right in the centre, next to the sights you’re planning to see anyway.

118 Nevsky Prospekt · by Moskovsky railway station

The most convenient first stop if you’ve just arrived. From Moskovsky railway station, cross Vosstaniya Square to the other side: we’re directly opposite, next to the Oktyabrskaya Hotel. Ploshchad Vosstaniya and Mayakovskaya metro stations and the Galereya shopping centre are just a short walk away. Step off the train, and a few minutes later you’ve got a hot pyshka in your hand. The machine here is called “Elizaveta Petrovna” (Empress Elizabeth).

Hours: Mon–Fri 9:00–21:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–21:00.

1/25 Malaya Sadovaya St. · by Gostiny Dvor

Perfect if you’re exploring the centre on foot. Malaya Sadovaya is a short pedestrian street between Nevsky Prospekt and Italyanskaya St., a stone’s throw from the Eliseev Emporium, the Alexandrinsky Theatre and Catherine Garden. From Gostiny Dvor or Nevsky Prospekt metro stations it’s less than three minutes’ walk, all of it through the pedestrian zone. Drop in halfway through your walk: the children get a show at the machine, and you get five quiet minutes. The machine here is named “Ekaterina Alekseevna” (Catherine the Great), and not by chance: the monument to Catherine II stands very close by, in the garden next to the theatre.

Hours: Mon–Fri 9:00–21:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–21:00.

2 Moskovsky Prospekt · by Sennaya Square

The busiest hub in the city: three metro stations in one spot, Sennaya Ploshchad, Sadovaya and Spasskaya. We’re in the very first building on Moskovsky Prospekt, right by Sennaya Square, on the way to the market and next to the PIK shopping centre. It’s easy to pop in on your way to just about anywhere. The machine here is called “Pyotr Alekseevich” (Peter the Great), in honour of the city’s founder.

Hours: Mon–Fri 9:00–20:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–20:00. Please note: this café closes at 20:00, an hour earlier than the others, so plan to visit before 8 pm.

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What to order: pyshki prices, toppings and drinks

Eat your pyshka hot and straight away: that’s the golden rule. Don’t carry it off to save “for later”, because the best of it lasts only the first few minutes. Take one right at the counter, step aside a couple of paces and dig in.

The classic is a pyshka with powdered sugar, 40 ₽. If you fancy something richer, add condensed milk, jam (apricot, cherry, strawberry, raspberry), white chocolate or chocolate topping. There’s plenty to wash it down with, too: we have a full drinks menu with specialty coffee, signature teas (sea buckthorn and thyme, raspberry, ginger and rosemary, currant and mint), lemonades and milkshakes.

One last honest piece of advice: take one pyshka and try it, but don’t wander too far. You’ll be back for more.

If you’re with friends or children, there are 12+1 and 24+2 sets, with free pyshki added to a big order. A mountain of fresh pyshki for everyone and a drink each makes a great plan for an outing with friends.

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Take St. Petersburg home with you

Pyshki taste best hot, but leaving without any would be a shame. For that, we have gift boxes of 4, 6, 8 and 15 pyshki in our branded packaging decorated with views of the city. We’ll pack one for you while you finish your coffee to go.

It’s probably the most honest souvenir you can bring back from St. Petersburg: a taste everyone at home will remember, and one you won’t find in any supermarket back home.

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Where to go

A pyshka is one of those things worth a small detour. Or rather, you won’t even need a detour: all three of our addresses are on the way to places you’ll be seeing anyway, by the railway station, by Gostiny Dvor and by Sennaya Square. Pick the nearest one, drop in for a hot pyshka and watch how it’s made. One pyshka costs 40 ₽ and settles any doubts faster than any guide.

All our cafés with addresses and directions →

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Pyshki iz Detstva®, registered trademark No. 1143773.