Moscow's ritziest restaurants may have to tighten their belts as a drop-off in business threatens their existence amid the financial crisis. It seems even billionaires are beginning to baulk at the prospect of shelling out the 100,000 euros which some of

They have long been the talk of the town due to an awful lot of money being spent on their design. Antique furniture purchased from the Hermitage museum and exclusive to-order porcelain are something of a must for the city’s haute cuisine restaurants.

For some of Moscow’s restaurateurs ambience – rather than cuisine – is crucial. Tens of millions of US dollars are invested literally into the walls. It seems sometimes that the owners are actually competing to see whose restaurant will take longer to pay off.

Casta Diva restaurant hasn’t paid off yet. Almost $US 75 million were cemented into the interiors. And obviously ambience is included in your dinner bill.

“I have been everywhere in the world. I have seen nothing like this. 150,000 euros for a dinner! They say it’s impossible. But this is Moscow and it’s like that,” says its chef Michele Brogioni.

The Disneyland for restaurateurs may soon come to an end, though. Coffee houses and fast food chains will most likely survive the financial crisis, while upscale eateries in Moscow have suffered heavy losses over the past two months.

One restaurant owner said: “My clients have experienced the crisis first hand. I can see it.  Their behaviour has changed. Their preferences have changed. Many of them now open the menu to consult the prices – something which they hadn’t done before.”

Although you might see several billionaires dining at Casta Diva in one day, a handful of well-off guests will not help balance the books for a venue in a city where there are 3,700 other eateries.

Still, society columnist Bozhena Rynska believes Moscow lacks affordable restaurants and cafes.

“We don’t have enough Starbucks, enough coffee houses,” she says. “People over the world make their money selling Volkswagens and spend it on Maseratis and Lamborghinis. To translate it into the language of restaurants I’d say- we are overloaded with Maseratis and Lamborghinis and don’t have enough Volkswagens.”

But Moscow chefs are still happy to work for the upscale market. Michele Brogioni recalls with pleasure how he was catering at the Kremlin for President Medvedev and the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi.

The star guests will definitely enhance his CV at home. The question though is how soon his employers will be forced on a diet themselves, if high-spending corporate and state dinners are no longer on the menu.