ARTS + FEATURES, "Surreal thing"

Dali Cafe // 11 Spassky Pereulok. Tel: 572 6203 // www.dalicafe.spb.ru // Open 10 a.m. to 5 a.m. // Dinner for two 690 rubles ($29).

All the dishes at this swanky new cafй hidden on a scruffy side street off Sennaya Ploshchad purportedly share their names with the titles of works by the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali after whom, of course, the cafй is named.

This throws up some strange imagery, as you would expect: grilled marinated veal (380 rubles, $15.50) is called “Flesh on Stones”; fillet of flounder with pesto (420 rubles, $17) is called “The Endless Enigma”; and bouillon with quail’s eggs and herbs (90 rubles, $3.60) is called “Atavistic Vestiges After the Rain.”

Perhaps in an effort to avoid the obvious, the literate people behind Dali Cafй do not have a dish named after Dali’s most famous work, “The Persistence of Memory” (1931), easily recognizable for its motif of melting watches. Melting watches are also absent from the sumptuous interior of Dali Cafй, which occupies a mid-sized second floor room overlooking the street, and smaller room at the back.

A great deal of attention has been paid to the decoration of the cafй. There is a reference to Dali’s “Mae West Lips Sofa” in the vast crimson velvet banquettes at the far end of the room, while there are smartly upholstered Empire-style chairs at the other tables. The tables are huge, black and shiny, like grand pianos, while blood-red swag curtains are tied back with golden tasselled cords. There’s more than a hint of camp in this red, gold, and black scheme, which extends to walls that, in the front room, have been covered with an elaborate marble paint effect suggesting ruby crystals flecked with gold. In the back room, hidden by a heavy curtain, the same idea is repeated, this time with dark, brooding malachite and ebony tones. In this “dark room” there is a recently installed triptych by the up-and-coming young painter Ira Drozd. The large paintings show impressionistic scenes from what appears to be a gay pride parade. As it happens, Dali Cafй is listed on gay web sites and describes itself as “gay friendly.”

The dishes are not as flamboyantly constructed as their names might suggest, and the idea of “surreal food” is perhaps a step too far. But there is wit in the presentation. A duck and pasta dish called “Gala’s Eyes” — a reference to Dali’s Russian-born muse and wife Yelena Ivanovna Dyakonova, known in later life as Gala — comes as two mounds of white pasta (eyeballs?), meat in red sauce on one and cream sauce on the other (surreal irises?) and an olive on top (pupils?). The dish stares at you until you stab it with a fork. Thank goodness they don’t supply you with a razor. It would be “Un chien andalou” all over again.

The menu’s origins are difficult to pin down — French, Italian and Asian elements jostle for attention, with some Russian soups thrown in for good measure. Ukha (Russian fish soup for130 rubles, $5.30) is renamed “Battle in the Clouds” while borshch is transformed into “The King’s Heart” (100 rubles, $4). There is a satisfying range of salads with adventurous combinations of cold meats, salad vegetables and fruits like melon and strawberry with no mayonnaise in sight (from 120 rubles to 490 rubles, $4.90 to $20), and an unusual selection of “non-alcoholic cocktails.” These are actually a group of frappes, milkshakes, cordials and fruits that should be popular in summer and with after-club crowds (Dali Cafй is open until 5 a.m.).