Moscow, Russia + Add a trip

Rely on chains like Il Pasto, Shokoladnica, Coffee-House, they are almost anywhere in the city and offer satisfactory service. Avoid eating at these places if they are located near railway stations - staff here tends to be ruder as they have to deal with stations' bums and drunkens who try to use toilets, beg for money or sell stuff to the customers and in front of the cafes. Best tip on this is to ask your local contacts - many people would share info on their own favorite places.

There is a chain of self-service cafes called Mu-Mu (Mу-Му) with locations spread across the city. Good food, great selection & low prices. http://www.cafemumu.ru/contacts.php

Not such a perfect way to find some acceptable searching for realy "budget" places. In Moscow I'd like to recommend midle-prices places:

Mama-Tao (good chineese food) - Pyatnitskaya str. Grabli (russian/european cuisine) - Alekseevskaya subway st.

Budget food is often located in food-courts in big supermarkets:

Kroshka-Kartoshka (hot potato with different salads) Melenka (russian pankakes) Rostiks (russian KFC-like food)

You can have a luch a la carte in trattoria Venezia (in the center, near Pushkin monument on Tverskaya street, metro Tverskaya, Pushkinskaya and Chehovskaya) - they have 10% discount from 12 to 16 h. And usually one plate is enough - you can take pasta (250-350 RUR) + tea or coffe or glass of house wine (up to 100 RUR) and have a lunch for less then 10E/ www.trattoria-venezia.ru

A great new place is called "The Sisters Grimm" (Sestry Grimm) at Stoleshnikov pereulok (follow the "GOGOL" sign through the archway, but skip Gogol itself and continue 50 m). Cozy, inexpensive (yet), nice; their chef is great. A non-smoking section.

Propaganda cafe - legendary place to get cheap and good food in the day.

Moskva B.Zlatoustinsky, 7 8-495-624-57-32

Check out "Vokzal" ("The Railway Station"). Great food, fair prices (300-350 RUB for the whole meal), drinks, great location. It can be crowdy and noisy, esp. on Friday evenings.

2 min walking from Novoslobodskaya station. http://www.cafe-vokzal.ru/ (Russian)