O2 Restaurant Specials — Fresh Smelt Season

Smelt is a small, beautiful fish with a delicate taste and an obvious but inexplicable cucumber aroma that speaks of its freshness. When it appears on the shelves in early spring, you definitely want to take it to the restaurant and cook it — that's what Vladimir Shchepilov, the chef of O2 Restaurant, did. In its special seasonal menu, fresh Ladoga smelt is presented in several dishes:

• Fried smelt with hummus and olive tartare
• Salad with pickled smelt and zucchini
• Brioche with fried smelt, stracciatella and sea urchin caviar
• Hot smoked smelt with cauliflower carpaccio.