The USSR’s aviation history inspired new Moscow dining spot Café Polet which sits on a decommissioned airfield on the outskirts of the city.

Asthetíque designed the Khodynka Field outpost, previously known as the old Frunze Central Aerodrome. It was the centre of the Russian aviation industry throughout the 20th century until its closure in 2003, and the site has undergone massive adaptive reuse, now housing one of Europe’s largest shopping malls, a football stadium, Air and Space Museum and a residential enclave.

The New York practice has drawn on this long history to craft Café Polet’s Constructivist interiors, combining stainless steel surfaces with concrete, marble tabletops and copper highlights. Plane-shaped lamps stud one concrete pillar, and there’s also a bas-relief of a plane taking off – rendered in the same style of the great Soviet monuments, and the cinematic sets of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.

Porthole windows, flying saucer lighting chandeliers and a plant-covered trellis partition complete the restaurant’s design while injecting colour into the silvery Moscow restaurant, headed up by chef Aleksandr Airapetyan who serves a daily menu of European and Georgian dishes.

Khodynskiy Bul’var, 2, Moscow, Russia, 125167

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