To say the “Le Courage” restaurant in Sankt Petersburg, Russia, has a vintage look would be a gross understatement. The place looks to be in a state of severe disrepair, but it’s all by design, as the place just opened a couple of years ago.

Located in  Sankt Petersburg’s newly-built Russian House residential complex, Le Courage is a modern restaurant with a very unique look. It’s stylized as a 19th-century mansion in serious need of repairs, with deliberately worn walls, chipped stucco moldings, antique furniture, and deliberately worn floorboards. During the “renovation” phase, designers used a hammer to chip away at the stucco molds they had just glued onto the walls, they washed out the plaster to make it look like the ceiling had survived more than one serious water leak, and the 19th-century pattern wallpaper was left unfinished in places.

On the crumbling ceiling, we have massive golden chandeliers decorated with dried flowers and laurel branches that seem to have reclaimed them after the building was abandoned, and the used furniture only enhances the dilapidated look of the place. The wooden floorboards are worn, as are the chairs, doors, and cabinets, and there’s even a “Le Courage” logo sprayed on the wall.

The restaurant’s kitchen serves an array of dishes inspired by historical dishes of the 18th-19th centuries, but with a modern twist. You can find classics like cabbage soup and roasts, as well as a variety of pickles and appetizers, but there’s no doubt that the design and atmosphere of Le Courage are as important as the food, if not more so…