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The cosmopolitan bon vivant Stepan Arkadyevitch and his more rough-hewn friend Levin are dining in the private dining room of a restaurant catering to Moscow's rich and famous. The supercilious waiter stands by as Stepan Arkadyevitch looks over the French bill of fare.

(Stepan Arkadyevitch to Levin:) "Well, then, how about if we were to begin with oysters?"

"It's all the same to me. I should like cabbage soup and porridge better than anything; but of course there's nothing like that here."

"Porridge a la Russe, your honor would like?" said the waiter, bending down to Levin, like a nurse speaking to a child.