St. Petersburg, Russia Pie Shop

This summer was filled with firsts for us.  We traveled to seven new countries including Russia.  We spent two days in St. Petersburg as part of our Baltic cruise.  I will do a separate post on this incredible city and everything it has to offer, but I wanted to share with you our visit to a traditional Russian pie shop.
After eating the first afternoon in The Hermitage cafe, we really were hoping that our second stop to eat would be better and well, it wouldn't have taken much to be better.  The Hermitage may be known for a lot of things, but food will never be one of those.  We had something that was supposed to be a pizza and after one bite, I went back in line for a ham and cheese sandwich.
The pie shop was another story.  I could have stayed there all afternoon or at least went back to try more of their delicacies.  They tasted as good as they looked.

First of all, these were the horrible "pizzas" at The Hermitage with the mystery filling.

Chicken pie. This was incredible.  It was full of flavor and the crust was buttery and light.  

Notice the flower.  These pies were works of art.  You almost hated to see them cut into them.

Beef pie.  Again, this was incredibly full of flavor.  There was not much rice in this one.  

Chicken pie up close.

Cheese pie.  After taking one bite, I wanted to buy a full size one to take back to the ship.  I'm not sure if that would have been allowed, but it was that good!  We've been looking for recipes for something similar, but nothing has come close to date.