• Royal Troika, a small Russian and Armenian restaurant in Toulouse, immediately suffered the fallout from the war in Ukraine.

  • Cancellations, disparaging remarks, vandalism… The signs of Russophobic hostility are just beginning to subside.

  • The establishment has programmed for May 5 with a neighboring restaurant a charity event, mixing Russian and Ukrainian gastronomy.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, fighting against amalgams has become an almost daily battle for the Troïka Royale restaurant in Toulouse.

The small establishment on rue des Filatiers serves Armenian cuisine, like its owner, Susi Calhava, but also Russian.

"We made this choice of Russian dishes because it did not exist in town", explains the restaurateur who until five weeks ago was content to humorously manage the Russian-Ukrainian conflict over the paternity of borscht, the famous red beet and cabbage soup.

But with the Russian invasion, the music changed.

“Suddenly, from March 25, we recorded a series of cancellations of reservations”, says the restaurateur.

Then came the little words on the window, the inappropriate remarks of passers-by.

Like this woman in her forties who came to shout very loudly in the street her satisfaction at seeing that customers are scarce.

The window smeared with excrement

The hostility also manifests itself anonymously, in online reviews: “Products not fresh, long live Ukraine”, saw fit to leave a fake customer.

Others have taken direct action.

About ten days ago, the doorstep and the window of the restaurant were smeared with excrement.

"We try to resist, but there are shocking behaviors", testifies Armine Davtyan, an employee disconcerted by this animosity while she has "Russian and Ukrainian friends who get on very well with each other".

She feels, however, that since the episode of vandalism, customers and neighbors are multiplying their attentions, as if to "reverse" this surge of hatred.

The owners and neighbors of the bar l'Heure du Singe and the Tempête restaurant under construction, at Les Carmes, have offered their room for an evening that is both fraternal and charitable.

It will be Thursday, May 5.

The medovics and pavlovas, the beautiful typically Russian cakes from the Royal Troika team will rub shoulders with Ukrainian dishes concocted by two refugee cooks in Toulouse.

And the profits will be donated to the Red Cross.

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  • Society

  • Toulouse

  • War in Ukraine

  • Restaurant

  • Russia

  • Gastronomy

  • Occitania