Nicholas II

NOTE: the dishes highlighted in red below feature a link to a dozen recipes, and while they may not be the exact recipe enjoyed by the Tsar, it will give you an idea of his favourite dishes. If you know of a more authentic traditional Russian recipe for any of the dishes noted below, please email me at royalrussia@yahoo.com – PG

The kitchens for the Alexander Palace were located in a separate building, situated a few hundred feet away from the palace, on Dvortsovaya [Palace] Street. Meals were prepared in this building, and taken to the palace through an underground tunnel, built in 1902 – see original plan.

The kitchen building itself was a two-story, U-shaped structure with distinct architectural features on each floor. This building contained numerous rooms, including kitchens, linen room, a copper pantry, and a rooms for the cooks.

The purpose of having the kitchens in a separate building was likely due to fire safety and sanitation concerns, as was common practice for Russian palaces.

PHOTO: The former Kitchen Building of the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, as it looks today

Meals were brought to the palace via a tunnel and served in one of the rooms, usually the Semi-Circular Hall. When Nicholas and Alexandra dined alone, they dined in a more intimate setting, such as the Pallisander [aka Rosewood] Drawing Room [see photo below] or in the Empress’s Corner Reception Room.

The Palisander Drawing Room, was a cozy space with rosewood paneling and a fireplace. It was the room where Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna spent time with their children and enjoyed family dinners. 

The Imperial family often invited close family members, trusted courtiers, and sometimes foreign dignitaries to dine with them. The Imperial children usually dined separately from their parents in their own dining room, situated on the second floor of the eastern wing of the palace.

For larger gatherings, the Semi-Circular Hall was the preferred space. It was in this interior, that a long table in the shape of a squared off U was used on more formal occasions. It was described as a room with a glittering chandelier, where guests could dine at round tables while listening to music.

While the Alexander Palace did not have a dedicated dining room, these two spaces served as the primary locations for meals, both casual and more formal. 

PHOTO: Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, taking tea in the Pallisander [aka the Rosewood] Drawing Room, in the Alexander Palace

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Royalty is often associated with luxurious living and dining. Throughout history the early Russian tsars, tsarinas, emperors and empresses dined lavishly. One has only to visit the elegant Baroque Style Hermitage Pavilion at Tsarskoye Selo for evidence of the grand scale in which the Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great dined and entertained their guests.

Despite the opulent surroundings of the Russian Imperial Court, Emperor Nicholas II was known for his love of simple, traditional Russian food, and unlike his ancestors and some of Europe’s royal family’s, avoided excessive luxury in food. He preferred a straightforward approach to dining, even when elaborate menus were prepared. Evidence of Nicholas II’s culinary preferences are indeed, often found in the surviving menus of that time.

Nicholas II started the day with rye bread with butter, boiled eggs and some sort of sliced meat, such as ham or bacon. 

Among his favorite breakfast dishes was Dragomirovskaya porridge – named after the Russian military general Mikhail Ivanovich Dragomirov (1830-1905). Historian of Russian cuisine Pavel Syutkin explains that “Dragomirov porridge is… Buckwheat with mushrooms! However, there are a few secrets in the recipe. First, cook porridge by adding cream. Secondly, it is served in layers, like a pie. And thirdly, an indispensable addition to porridge is wild mushroom sauce.”

Lunch was the main meal of the day, and began with soup, such as solyanka [a thick and sour soup], ukha [fish soup] or shchi [cabbage soup]. Nicholas also had a fondness for cold Russian soups, like Botvinya, made with kvass, spinach, sorrel, and beetroot leaves. Soup was served with small vol-au-vents [small round pastry shells filled with a creamy mixture of meat or fish], rasstegai [small pies with fish or meat] or small croutons with cheese. 

Nicholas also enjoyed pelmeni [meat dumplings] and vareniki [types of dumplings]. On the Imperial Yacht Shtandart, he often ate pan-fried dumplings.

Then came fish [pike perch or trout], roast [wild game or chicken], vegetables, Other favorites were Yalta-style Roasted Suckling Pig served with buckwheat stuffing and horseradish on the side, Mikhailovsky cutlets [later known as chicken Kiev] or Skobelev meatballs [Swedish meatballs], served with white sauce.

It is known that Nicholas II loved potatoes. Once in Crimea, he saw one of the officials carrying a sack of new potatoes from the market, and asked to sell him his purchase. In his youth, Nicholas II baked potatoes with his brothers and sisters in the Anichkov Palace park in St. Petersburg, and later with his son Tsesarevich Alexei in the Alexander Park.

It is interesting to note, that unlike many Russians, Nicholas did not like caviar. The officers of the Imperial Yacht Shtandart noted that “the Tsar was very fond of appetizers, except for caviar, salmon and salted fish.” There was a simple explanation for this – once while returning from the East in 1891, Nicholas was traveling along the Siberian route. At the stations, he was greeted with the traditional bread and salt, salted fish and caviar. The excessive summer heat coupled with all the salt, made him all the more thirsty. Needless to say, he developed a dislike for salted fish and caviar.

Dessert consisted of fruits, sweets, ice cream, jam, honey, as well as dishes such as pears in sherry or pie with rice porridge and lingonberries could be served. Lunch as a rule ended with delicious coffee.

PHOTO: сладости из империи / Sweets from the Empire

Nicholas II’s love of ice cream deserves special note in this article. Ice cream was especially popular at table of the last Emperor and his family. The recipe for “Romanov ice cream”, which was invented specifically for Nicholas II, has been preserved to this day. It included sugar, 10 egg yolks, heavy cream, whipping cream and vanilla. “I remember ice cream, the like of which I have never eaten anywhere else,” wrote the daughter of Grigorii Rasputin, Maria (1898-1977).

As far as alcohol, Nicholas was known as a teetotaler, despite the false allegations that he was a drunkard. As for wines, he only drank port at table. At first, the Emperor had his port brought from Portugal, but after he tried Crimean port wine, he switched. He rarely drank vodka and champagne.

At the same time, wines were served at the ceremonial dinners hosted in the palace, including Madeira, sherry, Bordeaux and Chablis wines, as well as Crimean wines, all from the well stocked cellars of the Alexander Palace.

FURTHER READING:

Imperial Dining – History of Court Dining: Dining with the Tsars

An Imperial Lunch in the Crimea

© Paul Gilbert. 7 July 2025

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