After AX ended on the last day, I forcibly threatened we decided to go eat Russian food!

b-but when we got onto the Metro to go to the restaurant.........
THERE WERE THREE RUSSIANS WITH US. NOT ONE, NOT TWO, BUT THREE. AUTHENTIC REALLY LIGHT HAIRED LIKE IVAN, AND REALLY PRETTY BLUE EYES. A-AND ONE OF THEM HAD A SQUISHY BUILD LIKE IVAN. XDDD AND ANOTHER ONE WAS FROM MOSCOW. uaaaggghh... MOSCOW.

And you can hear them talking in rapid Russian..! And then and then, they were going the same direction place as us! We talked to them (well not me since I was too shy, but johwa talked to them XD) and then one person asked if we just came from a convention and we said yes.
1: Is it for anime or something? Did you dress up? We saw some people walking around outside earlier in costumes.
2: A-ah, yes, some of us did...
1: What did you dress us as?
2: WELL SHE *point* DRESSED UP AS RUSSIA.
Me: *dies on spot*
I think I literally melted into a pool of embarrassment. I mean, to anyone who doesn't know Hetalia, that just sounded PLAIN CREEPY. TAT I'm sorry..!

Well anyways we then asked them to recommend what kind of Russian food we should order? And they said borstch (of course XD), beef stroganov, pelmeni (<3), one of the grain dishes (I forgot)...

The restaurant was in Hollywood, so we walked along the Walk of Fame thing and came across Michael Jackson's star:

Oh god, it was so freaking crowded like a Tokyo or Shanghai metro in the morning...almost impossible to get this photo. There were iron gates around his star and a police officer guy and sooo many people. There was also a section roped off by the curb filled with posters and flowers and gifts and stuff. It was so hard walking through cause I was still carrying all my luggage bag and junk from AX

Cute restaurant with matryoshka and alchohol on the walls

And Russian mtv =v=b

First was all the drinks:

Left to right: квас/"Russian cola", Тархун/tarragon soda, burratino lemonade

So...regarding the kvas/Russian cola......WE WERE COMPLETELY FOOLED. I thought it was going to be some sweet fizzy drink like...you know...soda.... but with a "Russian" flavor, whatever that means. I should've realized....if "Russian water" = vodka, "Russian cola" = PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING. OTLL Wiki -> "The alcohol content is so low (0.05-1.44%) that it is considered acceptable for consumption by children." BUT IT'S STILL ALCHOHOL, MAN. cola....cola.... OH, IVAN, YOU SNEAKY...!
As for tarxun, it sorta tasted like black liqcorice...kinda weird.... And the burratino lemonade was so good =///w///= It was so sweet and sugary, mmmm~

Next was the borstch:

Which tasted exactly like the Chinese vegetable soups I always drink, except with thick thick sour cream added. It was delicious

And then pelmeni (btw, I didn't eat all of these dishes ok. XD We shared all of our food, I can't eat that much!! XD)

Dumplings, except the dough part was much thicker. See the yellow stuff? THAT'S OIL AND FAT. 8DDDDD If you wait a little bit, the oil on your fork would condense and then turn into solid fat! lolol Ivan, now I know where your big bones come from....

My friend ordered this one: chicken kholodetz

I actually had this before! Didn't know it was Russian though...OTL It's a sort of jello/gelatin, but with little chicken strips inside. Pink sauce is sort of like wasabi

Mushroom soup with barley & sour cream:


OTBIVNOY:

From the menu: "pork loin breaded and sauteed in butter". I read that and went "OH BABY, BUTTER LOINS!!"

And other foods I forgot to get a picture of: lula kebab, beef stroganoff, shashlik (I think), and baklava (dessert!)

All in all, I feel like Russian food is very comforting..it doesn't taste so different and strange like you're eating something weird, it's like home.. Also, the food makes you veeery sleepy, hehe. Like you wanna hibernate through the winter

AND THEN

AND THEN

AND THEN WHEN WE LEFT

The owner talked to us and asked us where we were from and stuff, and he said

HIS SON WAS IN CHINA

AND HE

WAS LOVING IT VERY MUCH.

LOOOVVVVINNNNGGGGG.

CHHHIIIINNNNAAAAAAA.

HIS SOOOOOOOOONNN.

I-I WANTED TO ASK HIM, I-I-IF HIS SON'S NAME COULD POSSIBLY BE "IVAN" B-BUT I WAS TOO NERVOUS

BUT AAAUUUGHHHHHHH.

*head explode*

So that was my day.