It’s no longer striking to see Russian brands borrowing foreign words to stand out among competitors on Moscow’s cosmopolitan horizon. Take Стейк Хаус Бутчер, for example; true to its name it is indeed a steak house with an appealing name Butcher to reflect its speciality. Incidentally, I did pay a visit there on my most recent trip to Russia and the food didn't disappoint.
The restaurant nextdoor to it, however, went a different way of looking Western by using Latin characters to write its name – Probka (on Tsvetnoy). If you translate it into Russian, it can mean a cork or a traffic jam; it’s one of those inspiring brands which make customers wonder, keep them guessing and make jokes about it perhaps.
I also came across a few brands which use a mixture of Russian and Latin characters. One of them is a restaurant called Бараshка. A name, which can be translated as Baa-lamb, makes a clever use of sh instead of ш.
Another butcher’s shop, Farш, pursues the opposite strategy: rather than write Farsh (in Russian – mince) all in Latin characters, the last letter is in Russian – ш (pronounced as sh).
Have you seen an interesting Russian brand? Add a comment!
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