There seems to be a fascination with “borscht soup” which actually bore little resemblance to the authentic Russian version even among retro, old-school “Western” restaurants in Singapore. I guess it was seen as an exotic Western food items back in the 1950s/60s, and usually offered alongside Chicken Kiev, prawn cocktail and Baked Alaska.
These days, despite the availability of the real stuff, people still go for these retro renditions for nostalgic reasons. They’ve sort of achieved “comfort food” status.
