The best restaurant ( juuni 2018)

YOUR RESTAURANT AND FOOD GUIDE TO EXPLORE THE TASTES OF TALLINN

Tallinn & the best

RESTAURANTS Chef Silver Saa:

Golden Oldies:

Accidentally a barmen:

Revolution in street food:

Visit the oldest still running cafes of Tallinn

street artist turned chef leads the new wave of Estonian cooks

Laur Ihermann likes to create cocktails

What food truck’s are roaming around Estonia

TOP5:

Best terraces and grill restaurants in the capital of Estonia This publication was prepared by the special projects content department of Ekspress Meedia

HORISONT RESTAURANT & BAR

...modern cuisine and exclusive cocktails with a spectacular view!

+372 624 3000 horisont.tallinn@swissotel.com www.horisontrestoran.ee

EDITORIAL

Why come and eat in Tallinn?

T

he early summer has brought along distinct changes in the way restaurants and cafés in the capital city present themselves.

The hot weather and resulting desire to spend as much time outside as possible has led to small colourful umbrellas springing up over restaurant patios. Indeed, what else could be more valuable than the time we spend most comfortably? It is said that the Good Lord deducts the time we have spent poorly from our living days. So, let us embrace the warm summer with the conscious choice to pass our time with excellent food and drink in superb atmosphere and company.

You are holding the newest summer issue of the magazine Best Restaurants, where we hope to give an overview of the reasons why everyone should come to Estonia’s capital city Tallinn to satisfy their hunger for new flavours, emotions and experiences. We will have a look at the summer trends in Estonia, new hot spots and all kinds of refreshments to seek out both in town and at the countryside.

The hottest favourites in Estonia this summer can be summed up with two words: rhubarb and street food. In other words, food served on the streets is once again exciting the people of Tallinn this summer. More and more food trucks offering unique flavours start up their engines. They pop up in one place in the morning and another in the evening to provide everyone a bite to eat. The second trend is rhubarb, which comes

in many different forms. Estonia now makes marvellous rhubarb sparkling wine and standard light rhubarb wine that could fool 90% of people expecting a grape-flavoured beverage.

Aside from rhubarb drinks, there are also rhubarb cakes, barbecue sauces, chutneys and so forth. Rhubarb truly is everywhere.

Another summertime preference is certainly enjoying non-alcoholic drinks and various related products, cocktails and extracts. More and more people want to order something cooling at a café on a hot day that has great flavour and unique ingredients, blowing you away with taste, not alcohol content. Non-alcoholic refreshments are going to take this summer by storm. That way you can enjoy flavourful drinks but also keep your head clear to drive.

Local townies prefer to live as they always have: toss away heavy clothes, rest their bare feet on the grass, turn towards the sun, take off their watch and heat up the grill in the garden, the park or the beach. Good company and plenty of time to spare. This peaceful unwinding with delicious food spices up your life in the right way. Come and join us!

Martin Hanson, editor of OmaMaitse.ee

This publication was prepared by the special projects content department of Ekspress Meedia.

Publisher: AS Ekspress Meedia Special Projects Content Manager: Irmeli Karja irmeli.karja@ekspressmeedia.ee Editor: Martin Hanson, martin.hanson@ekspressmeedia.ee Advertising: Maksim Hrustaljov Designer: Tarmo Rajamets Cover photo: Lauri Laan, No.ee Print: AS Printall

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Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS PROFILE

From street artist to head chef:

Silver Saa’s

journey to the summit of Estonian gastronomy

PROFILE

Olevimägi Street in the Old Town is becoming Tallinn’s go-to fine dining address, with four of Estonia’s best restaurants now to be found here. The one with arguably the most exciting menu, head chef and range of flavours is Ore, and in particular the man in charge of its kitchen, Silver Saa. One year since the restaurant opened its doors we sit down to chat about things.

Text: Martin Hanson Photos: Lauri Laan

I

t was a year ago that the young, some might even say maverick Saa walked out of the kitchen at another restaurant, Fabrik, vowing to take time out, look around

and make no decisions about what he would do next in any hurry. Nevertheless, the dyed-in-the-wool nomad soon received a new offer and started sketching ideas for his next restaurant. He took on the challenge presented to him, which turned out to be redesigning one of Tallinn’s oldest restaurants (the Italian restaurant Bocca – Ed.).The result was Ore, which Saa says is very much in line with his ideas and what he wanted.

“I’m happy with the way it’s turned out,” he nods. “We’ve put a team together over the past 12 months that’s working really well together. We’ve just changed over to our summer menu, which has 11 new dishes. That said, the dish I brought with me from my last place is still there – pulled mushrooms

with eel – as is the beetroot jerky tartar, which was created right here.”

The restaurant arguably looks a little too refined for what Saa is trying to do. “My ideas and my food are simpler, easier to approach than people often expect of the restaurant,” he admits. “We’re more of a bistro decked out as a restaurant.

It gets noisy in the evenings, there’s lots of chat and stuff happening, and people enjoy the open-mindedness of the place. But at the same time we’re not making any concessions where quality’s concerned on any of the dishes – it’s still fine dining. We’re not aiming for a 100% harmonised visual with our food, but the flavours have to be there.

How the dill falls onto the plate

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

The insides of restaurant Ore take from the idea that most good things are natural and clean.

when we garnish it though is in the hands of Mother Nature.”

But let’s go back to where it all started…

“Life’s thrown a range of professional challenges my way, and I’ve been really grateful for them,” says Saa. “But now I want to focus on something I see still going strong five or 10 years down the line.” So what does the head chef have in mind? If you look at his career and the path life has led him along, it has changed direction completely every two years at the very least – sometimes leading him where he needs to go, sometimes leading him astray.

Take the hasty retreat he beat from the Savoy Hotel in London, for example, when the state demanded an eight-month audience while he complete his compulsory military service.

Or the unexpected offer he received to take charge of the kitchen at Salt.

Or the surprise closure of Fabrik, which Saa, with the diplomat-

ic skills that so many leaders have, puts down to “differences that arose on the direction the restaurant was taking and the kitchen’s vision of what we were offering”. What this means in reality is that Saa wanted to go grassroots with his restaurant – picking spruce shoots and going mushrooming, marinating root vegetables for the menu and so on – but the restaurant needed managing and it was easier for it to take a more ‘classical’ approach, which in Estonian terms means homely and Nordic.

“I want to go over the top, so to speak, and express myself through food,” Saa says. “To take the beetroot as an example, I don’t just want to roast it and stick in on a bed of salad – I want to work a dozen other miracles with it and explain to the diners what I’ve achieved.”

And that is exactly what he is doing at Ore: striking a balance between OTT showman and calm, cal-

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culating Estonian. His food has to be simple, using everything, in the best sense, that the country has to offer, while seasoning and flavouring it all in a palate-pleasing way.

For example, Saa is currently discussing how to turn ordinary raspberry tea into a solid dessert.

His genius in the kitchen is also reflected in the fact that in his relatively short career he has managed very much to impress the Nordics’ judges, earning Fabrik a spot among the 30 best restaurants in Estonia in the White Guide, which ranks restaurants in Scandinavia and the Baltic States. Ore is likely to follow this trajectory, although Saa doesn’t like to adorn himself with titles he has yet to win. C’est la vie...

Fabrik notched up another win as recently as November last year in the Silverspoon gastronomy competition, earning a diploma for its casual dining experience. Saa himself was nominated for the title of Best Head Chef in the same competition. From Saa’s point of view ‘casual dining’ means people coming along to enjoy good food and drinks without requiring them to make any special preparations or know the ins and outs of food etiquette.

“Those wins are definitely recognition of the hard work and dedication we put in over that yearand-a-half or two-year period in the restaurant,” he says.

Hip-hop culture and washing dishes

Head Chef Silver Saa (left) is the new poster boy for the future of Estonian gastronomy: hard working, full of vision, non-boastful and lets his food do the talking.

Despite being born in Rakvere and spending most of his summers at his grandmother’s place just outside of Tapa, Saa considers himself a Tallinn boy. Having started high school on one side of town, he then continued on the other, switching from Pelgulinn to Lasnamäe because of the obligatory Russian exam he would otherwise have had to take at the former. As Saa himself says, English is much more his language. He has been within the orbit of cooking and gastronomy since he was 14 years old, when he spent school breaks on the island of Naissaar helping out at a holiday centre, including in the kitchen... washing dishes.

“I spent two summers there, and when I’d done everything else I had

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Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

to do, the head chef, Peep Rohumägi, asked me if I wanted to come to the restaurant Paat to wash dishes,” he explains. “We’re talking back in 2006, when Paat was one of the most popular restaurants in Tallinn.

I got all the dirty jobs – any pots something had got stuck or burnt on the bottom of were left to me to scrub clean. It was a total head-spin of a job.

By the end of the night I’d be sopping wet with sweat. But that’s where I got the gastronomy bug, because I was also entrusted with some basic preparation work the other chefs didn’t have time to do themselves.”

The doors to chef school didn’t open to Saa either easily or automatically, however.

There was no ‘Eureka!’ moment where the young man realised his true calling in life. In fact, when he wasn’t scrubbing pans he was dabbling in art, producing instrumental hip-hop music under the name Seybeats and planning to go to the Pallas Art School in Tartu to study design and live the student life to the full.

“Food and gastronomy were never my master plan,” Saa reveals.

“I wanted to express my creativity.

But since I didn’t go to art school, I started thinking about what I’d do with my life. The whole artistic side of things ground to a halt, since music didn’t seem like something I could live off, so I set my sights on studying at Tallinn School of Service. I ordered my very first Gordon Ramsay book and started reading up on the world of gastronomy.”

Saa spent almost two years studying before returning to the kitchen.

His first work experience post was in the restaurant Ö under the watchful eye of Roman Zaštšerinski. Saa calls it a life-changing experience.

“It was working in Ö that I witnessed the agony and the ecstasy of the world of food,” he says. “But mostly the right way of making it. We picked rowanberries by hand, one at a time, to make schnapps for one of the President’s receptions. I sliced

loaves to make bread crisps – four of them, of which only about 10% could be used because I was such a novice with the knife. The experience I gained there taught me that a chef has to know how to handle his tools and that he has to treat his raw ingredients with respect.”

The young chef’s journey then took him via Swissôtel in Tallinn to the Savoy in London. One of the British capital’s most exclusive hotels, it had just been renovated and a completely new team was being put together. Saa became one of the 100 chefs who kept the wheels in motion in its kitchens throughout the day. It was not a position he was able to enjoy for long, however, as he was soon recalled to Estonia to undertake his military service.

“That was tough,” he admits.

“Not physically, but mentally. Going into it I thought: I don’t have the skills or the experience for this.

Where would I go from there? I decided to take things slowly, so I joined NOP as a chef. I soon twigged that I didn’t really want to be making salads and semolina for the rest of my life, so after ages convincing them – quite a few taste tests and a dinner for the owners in which I had to make several courses – I was taken on to manage the kitchen at Salt. I can honestly say the first six months I was there are a total blank. It was just so intensive

In fact, when he wasn’t scrubbing pans he was dabbling in art, producing instrumental hip-hop music under the name Seybeats and planning to go to the Pallas Art School in Tartu. working in a small kitchen coming up with your own menu from scratch. At the same time, it allowed me to create my own food, my own dishes, and do my own thing, and because of that Salt was named one of the 10 best res-

taurants in Estonia within a year of it opening.”

Saa says it nevertheless took a good two years for him to win back the recognition and skills he had lost during his time as a conscript. He is a nomad by nature, and a constant seeker – a man who is not afraid to speak out when something is bothering him or fails to satisfy him. All of which led to his time at Salt being curtailed when, after three years of hard work in the restaurant, he no longer saw any development. Next came Fabrik, awards and recognition, and now he has his restaurant on Olevimägi. From one kitchen to another, and so it goes on.

Perfectionism and mushrooms “I’ve always thought that people are the sum total of their experiences,” Saa says. “I want to show that in my food. That’s why there isn’t really a place for me in the Nordics’ kitchen, although I have a lot of respect for them. I like good Estonian stuff though, as well as raw ingredients from Asia and elsewhere.”

Since he is a perfectionist, Saa is always tweaking his dishes – getting the tiny details just right – and as he himself concedes, often making his life difficult in doing so.

When I ask the young chef what his favourite raw ingredient is, his answer comes immediately: mushrooms. Estonian mushrooms. “I love going mushrooming and I love cooking with them,” he smiles. “Although admittedly in a big restaurant you can’t cobble menus together on a whim and offer whatever it was you found in the forest or picked from your vegetable patch that morning or the day before. But that’s the kind of food I like making. If I find a hedgehog mushroom in the forest, I want to add it to my menu.”

Saa’s ideal job and workplace would be a small farm surrounded by huge forests, where there is a sauna and a pond and the sea is not all that far away, where he could pick and gather everything on offer, do business with the local farmers and prepare food of an evening for small groups of people in truly cosy surroundings. However, there is a caveat: he feels that if you achieve your ideal too soon, you leave yourself no room to improve as a chef.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

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A restaurant that allures with extraordinary food and wine, not unnecessary noise

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estaurant Dominic, which is located at the heart of medieval Tallinn, has been mercilessly enticing both locals and travellers with marvellous cuisine and drinks for years. When this place opened its doors in 2006, it was one of the first to put such emphasis on the harmony of food and wine. In fact, Dominic still leads the way even today.

Actually, there is a remarkable building on Vene Street—a 12th Century Dominican monastery, which has inspired the noble name of the restaurant. And rightly so, because its medieval interior alone is a treat, and unlike any other in the area. In the restaurant’s main hall, visitors can admire the 250-year-old ceiling painting and even older stone niches.

On the semi-basement floor, there is a cigar lounge in era-appropriate surroundings, with 30 different varieties of cigars to choose from.

Although the interior here is quite refined, perhaps even regal, it has the wondrous ability to instil peace, harmony and warmth in the guests.

More than just a simple meal Above all, Dominic is a wine restaurant, offering more than 500 types of wine and 50 types of champagne.

King of the wine cellar, head sommelier Imre Uussaar, has more than twenty years of experience. Anyone who is even slightly familiar with the head sommelier’s taste will know to never doubt the wine list. Those who have not yet had the chance

should be aware that the selection here has been highly acknowledged on numerous occasions, for instance, at the Estonian Silverspoon Gastronomy Competition.

In the kitchen, head Chef Allar Oeselg calls the shots. He earned his stripes working at the legendary Pädaste Manor years ago. It certainly seems that cooking school has paid off as both the restaurant and the Chef have excelled at the aforementioned gastronomy competition.

The food served by the head Chef is influenced by traditional French cuisine, matching perfectly with the overall milieu. The dishes are exquisite but not overly extravagant. Personal favourites are up to

you, but vitello tonnato and whitefish tartare have received nothing but praise. Main dishes also include several beloved options, including crab risotto with scallops. In the dessert menu, however, gourmands will be relieved to find a real delicacy—pan fried foie gras with fig jam.

One can proudly say that everything in this restaurant, as far as the eye can see and senses feel, is absolutely extraordinary. The service here has received its fair share of praise as well. These are not just empty words either since all waiters, some of whom have been committed to their trade for the last twenty years, have graduated sommelier school.

Vene 10, Tallinn +372 641 0400 Dominic@ restoran.ee

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Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

The spice trade is not one that is at the top of many people’s ‘dream job’ lists in the 21st century, especially among women. But this is what makes it so exciting that Juta Raudnask from Tartu is so passionate about providing Estonians with better-quality pepper, umami, oils and everything needed to make a killer curry. Figuratively speaking, of course.

C

urrently managing two physical stores plus the website Umami.ee, Raudnask took a couple of hours out of her busy schedule to chat about her professional life.

Juta, where are you from? Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school, and what did you study?

I’m a Tartu girl through and through.

I was born in Tartu, I went to school in Tartu – all 12 years at Tartu Art School – and I went to university in Tartu, studying landscape architecture at the Estonian University of Life Sciences. My mum’s a painter, so you can see there’s an artistic thread running through the family, and it’s been there ever since I was a kid. My parents say that when I was little and I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered that I wanted to be a university-educated chef. And whenever I was asked what I’d do if I won loads of money, I said I’d travel the world and visit every café and restaurant along the way. But while I never got a food-based education, I’ve more or less done what I said I would when I was a kid.

So what led you to food and drink and the world of gastronomy in the end?

It wasn’t a lightbulb moment; it was more of a slow-and-steady

PROFILE

Juta Raudnask: Spice Girl. How did a girl from Tartu end up opening a shop called Umami?

Author: Martin Hanson Photos: Raivo Tasso

approach. I remember telling my parents once that the only thing I wanted for my birthday was a birthday spread with dishes from all different countries, none of the typical Estonian ‘buffet’. Me and mum spent ages trying to make a bunch of stuff. We were following that old Soviet-era cookbook, Rahvaste toite /Foods of Different Nations/ – remember it, that one with the

black cover that had no pictures?

There was no way we were able to make a single one of those dishes without compromising somewhere, since we just couldn’t get the ingredients, but we ended up with a great spread in the end.

How ‘food-aware’ a family do you come from? Were your mum and grandma always in the kitchen?

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS – because his mum and grandma ran a diner, he grew up on a diet of soup, main and afters for dinner every night. Which meant that dinner in our house has never been allowed to be just mac’n’cheese! Well, it might still be one of the dishes, but not the whole dinner. Salads always go with mains, but eating the same sort of salad every night’s boring, so you have to come up with new ideas. And I guess that’s what set my imagination flying.

My mum’s a great cook. I’m still amazed at what she was able to pull off back in the Soviet days: there was always something delicious on the dinner table, even when there seemed to be very little available.

She’s the sort of person as well who can look at what’s in the fridge and no matter what there is make a fantastic cake out of it. I can’t – I need a recipe if I’m baking. My mum’s famous for her soups. As far as my grandma’s cooking goes, the thing I remember most is her roast potatoes: crisp and golden on the outside. The best in the world. Back when I was still doing my food blog my mum and my sister were always the first ones to try out whatever I was blogging about for themselves.

Who or what were your biggest gastronomic influences as a kid, and then as a teenager, and after that?

My husband Henri’s been a big influence, in a very practical sense

Girl from Tartu, the city of good thoughts, wanted to taste more, experience more than the local food scene offered.

The result is a well run spice shop.

And how did all of this lead you to opening the Umami store? Where did the idea come from to get into the spice trade, as it were?

We’d actually been scratching our heads for ages trying to work out what line of business we could get into, Henri and I – one that would meet the standards we set for it. We wanted it to be something interesting that would make us happy, but also something we could do whenever and wherever. After doing a round-the-world trip we spent a few years living in Luxembourg and it was the little exotic food stores there that got us thinking more seriously along the lines of Umami.

First Henri talked to the Chinese owner of one of the stores there, which is how we found our initial suppliers. I suppose we were motivated by self-interest to some extent, since we wanted ourselves and others in Estonia, including people outside of Tallinn, to be able to make food from Japan, China, Thailand, Africa, the Middle East and other places. We started out just with the online store, but now we have shops in both Tartu (at Vaksali 5) and Tallinn (at the Balti jaam mar-

“When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered that I wanted to be a universityeducated chef.” ket), plus we supply restaurants and major chain stores.

What were the very first things you started selling in Umami? And

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was the name there from the very beginning?

It was definitely always Umami, right from the outset. To me it just sounds nice as a word, but also exotic, which makes it perfect for our store, which brings together flavours from all over the world. All the things you need for tom yum were definitely among the first things we started selling.

What’s been the store’s biggest hit over the years?

They’ve changed from one year to the next, but there are some pretty fixed favourites – chia seeds, almond flour, turmeric, matcha tea, coconut oil and, right now, kombucha mushroom tea drinks. The oddest things we’ve sold... Well, I guess you could say the shirataki zero-calorie noodles are pretty odd.

What’s your day like running your business?

Sometimes I feel like a rally driver, or navigator, or both at the same time! First thing in the morning I answer any urgent e-mails; then I check what money’s appeared in our back account for orders that need sending out; then I deal with any problems that have arisen from using stock software in our shops or in the online store system; then I check whether anything needs ordering; then I put orders together; then I order transport. And since I always have a list of new recipes and blog posts I’ve planned, I try to get the ingredients I need and try them out as quickly as I can. If I’m happy with the results, we set up a photoshoot for the new recipe. Henri takes care of that – he’s the one who takes all the mouth-watering photos for the website. Then the recipes need to go up on the site or I have to pen the latest post.

Most people who turn their gastronomic dreams into reality do so with a café or pub. Is it fair to say a shop is an unusual direction to take?

It’s certainly the direction that suited us. Over the years we’ve been asked again and again when we’ll be opening our own restaurant or café, and our answer’s always been

10 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS the same: in all likelihood we won’t be opening one. Even if we did it’d probably be a pop-up affair – that way we could let our imaginations run wild and really produce an interest experience for people. The Umami store and website set-up means we can always try something new, whereas in a restaurant you have the same menu for ages and you have to juggle all sorts of things that have nothing to do with exciting cooking and dining. Basically, it’s just not for us. At least at the moment.

How have people’s tastes changed over the years where the store’s concerned?

Estonian clients definitely tag along when something becomes really popular elsewhere in the world.

10 years ago no one here knew a thing about coconut oil, whereas these days it’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t used it in cooking, or on their bodies. And then there’s kimchi, matcha tea, kombucha and of course chia seeds and goji berries – they’ve all become popular here as well thanks to the rest of the world talking about them.

How many different items are you currently selling?

Retail-wise I guess around 1000 different things. The other 500 or so are special orders and stuff for specific restaurants. We like getting our hands on stuff that’s hard to find – that’s what makes being part of Umami exciting. That’s why we always tell people that if they need something they’re having no luck finding anywhere else, they should come to us. We do everything we can to make all the flavours of the world available to people in Estonia.

What do you base your choice of new products on?

First and foremost whatever will allow people to make dishes from all over the world – the ‘musthave’things for different cuisines.

Then we go by what our clients like

The newest little boutique of spices, Umami, at the new Balti Jaama Turg.

and ask for. And then food trends.

We go to trade fairs to keep our finger on the pulse of where things are heading and try to add to our range on that basis.

Why food? Why gastronomy?

Making and enjoying exciting food is, in my view at least, the easiest way of spicing up your day-to-day life, in every sense. It’s also a way of travelling without setting food outside your front door. Travel and variety are very important to us, which is why food is the perfect area for us to be working in. It’s an endlessly exciting area because you can never know everything and there’s always something new to discover.

What would you say are your three favourite foods – things you simply have to have every week?

I’m pretty fixed in my ways where breakfast’s concerned; I’m guided more by what’s good for me rather than being adventurous. At the moment my favourite is a slice of wholegrain toast with mashed avocado that’s been seasoned with garlic, chilli and salt, and with a fried egg on top. It gives me carbs, fats and protein and makes for a great start to the day. But we have our dinner staples as well, like chicken tikka masala, Vietnamese pho soup and Thai tom yum kung soup. And then there’s very much more Estonian stuff, like meat patties and mash and roast pork and potatoes.

What was the last flavour or combination of flavours or ingredients to truly inspire you?

When we started selling frozen Chinese steamed buns at Umami – you know the ones, like the ones they do at Baojaam at Balti jaam market – I got to thinking straight away: why not serve them with pulled pork done with Japanese barbeque sauce? Or with finely sliced cucumber in a light rice-wine vinegar marinade or kimchi? Or why not with a fried egg with the yolk oozing out of it, with a dollop of mayonnaise mixed with sriracha sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds flavoured with ume plums? That’s a total fusion of flavours from Asia.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

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Welcome to

Beer House

– the place where beer lives!

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pened in July 2002, Beer House is a unique Estonian restaurant and brewery that produces seven varieties of “live”, i.e., unfiltered and unpasteurized beer.

The interior of the restaurant follows the style of Austrian beer houses. The beer square has the atmosphere and feel of Viennese streets. In summer, Beer House opens Tallinn Old Town’s longest terrace.

The recipes for the beer brewed in Beer House come from 16th Cen-

tury Bavarian breweries. A team of brewers makes sure that the unique premium beer production technologies are followed. We use only high-quality produce for making “live” beer: the malt is imported from Austria and the yeast and hops from Germany.

Beer House’s menu has been prepared by a team of professional chefs led by Dmitri Rooz, who has won various culinary competitions and festivals multiple times and was acclaimed at the world’s most prestigious international gourmet chefs’ competition Bocuse d`Or. We put our heart and soul into our dishes and select ingredients very thoroughly.

Beer House’s staff primarily values honesty and responsibility in business. Owing to that, we have been able to maintain our high quality for all these years and received the titles of Õllepruuli liider (Brewing Leader) and Parim restoran-õlletehas Eestis (Best restaurant-brewery in Estonia).

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Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

The three special branches of

the Carmen family Carmen Group is a family undertaking with a wealth of experience that has been active in the catering and restaurant business for 20 years. In addition to Carmen Catering and Carmen Cafés at Rotermann, Kentmann and Film Museum, the Carmen Group family also includes restaurants Korsten Armastus & Hea toit, Saku Gastro and Maarjamäe.

T

heir long-term experience in catering guarantees pleasant taste experiences and successful events. They also organise special dinners that either feature a special menu or a theme of some kind, like vegan dinners. All the establishments of the Carmen family share the same basic values – they consider trust and making their

best effort for the benefit of the client the most important aspects in the business.

Saku Gastro – Beer & Good Food Saku Gastro is the combination of a wide selection of beers, trendy interior design and a cosy atmosphere. Initially it was a pub, but now Saku Gastro is more a res-

taurant that offers both meat and vegetarian dishes. Food is prepared of local high-quality ingredients with craft methods and according to the changing seasons. The menu offers dishes to share as a snack with beer, larger meals but also delicious desserts.

The drinks’ menu includes most known beer styles from light lager to rich-tasting and strong trappist, as well as wines, house cocktails and soft drinks.

Korsten – Love & Good Food Korsten is located at the old and historical Tallinn Creative Hub Kultuurikatel, and you can feel the establishment’s love for good food and excellent drinks from its atmosphere. The eatery is not too grand or fine – the hearty portions

are just the right size and the openplan kitchen of the restaurant is exciting, a good meeting point for friendly company. It is worth mentioning that Korsten organises a Sunday pancake brunch for children every month. The menu that symbiotically combines Estonian cuisine with Italian and Mediterranean influences, daily specials, a sweet cocktail selection and cosy atmosphere creates unforgettable taste experiences.

Maarjamäe – History & Good Food The restaurant at Maarjamäe is the youngest offspring of Carmen Group. The restaurant is located in Count Orlov’s historical castle that housed a restaurant and a “grand venue” already in the first period of Estonian independence.

The history of Estonian cuisine, old recipes, classics and modern dishes has been combined in the menu. Etiquette and food courses for children are organised, historical tableware sets are displayed and the history of food and restaurant culture is introduced on the premises of the restaurant.

It’s like two restaurants rolled into one – in the daytime, the venue is mostly frequented by museum visitors, while in the evening, it hosts people who have especially made their way there for the excellent food. The restaurant’s grand evening section is to be opened in April.

If you want to keep abreast of the restaurants’ activities, follow the pages Korsten Armastus & Hea Toit, Maarjamäe restoran and Saku Gastro Rotermannis on Facebook.

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Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

Rae Meierei is the biggest restaurant in Tallinn. In summer it also has a 40seat terrace with just the right amount of greenery for soaking up the sun in the bustling atmosphere of the Old Town.

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ith a name meaning ‘town dairy’, the restaurant operates its own cheese factory, utilising the very latest technology. Here the experienced cheesemakers make a wide range of products using Estonian milk. They were trained by Massimo Mercandino, an Italian man who knows the cheese industry like the back of his hand. Each day the dairy produces a variety of soft cheeses from more than 600 litres of milk – mozzarella of different consistencies, creamy straciatella, burrata cheese balls, ricotta and, for baking and frying, halloumi. Naturally enough, the restaurant’s diverse menu also features some enticing cheese dishes.

Even better news for cheese-lovers is that the output from the dairy can also be bought separately. That way you can enjoy cheese made from fresh Estonian milk at home as well, or take some along when you go round to someone’s place. It makes a great gift.

Rae Meierei offers the most extensive drinks menu in the city.

Everyone is sure to find something to their taste, whether alcohol-free or with a little more kick. Why not try one of the cocktails? What makes them special is that many of the components used in them – the syr-

Rae Meierei

– a unique restaurant in the heart of the old town ups, bitters and essences – are produced in-house. The recipes for all of Rae Meierei’s own cocktails were developed as a team effort, involving everyone from the kitchen, so as to offer visitors combinations of flavours they will never forget. In addition to the restaurant’s signature cocktails, the barmen can whip up (or rather mix and shake up!) almost 50 classics, as well as alcohol-free cocktails and homemade lemonades.

If you tend more towards wines, you will love the fact that Rae Meierei also has one of the best

wine lists in the city, with more than 130 to choose from – starting from those made in Estonia, all the way through to some of the biggest-name wines in the world. 25 wines can be ordered by the glass.

So head down to the dairy and treat yourself to a tipple and some fine fare at Rae Meierei!

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

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PROFILE

Laur Ihermann: accidentally one of Estonia’s best barmen A young man with blond hair takes to the stage. His moustache could almost pass for that of a fakir, while his manner has something of the clown or joker about it. He smiles at the audience. It is a smile that melts hearts. In the spotlight this barman mixes drinks, extraordinary colours, introducing them to the onlookers, who are licking their lips in anticipation. Cocktail master Laur Ihermann is completely in his element.

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aving managed the restaurant Noa for four years but only ever made cocktails as a hobby, Ihermann nevertheless made it onto the podium in the Estonian Barman Championships in May, finishing in an impressive second place and earning special mention for his technical prowess. The 28-year-old mixologist says with a smile that it was a close-run thing.

“I’m not your classic barman,” he admits. “It’s not what I do as such. I don’t focus on bar work or on cocktails. To be honest, I don’t think I’d ever be able to just do one thing. I really like drawing as well. I’ve been drawing half my life. But I don’t want to work as an artist or illustra-

Ihermann (on the right) won the second place in 2018 Best Estonian Barmen Championships.

tor. What’s important to me is that there’s balance between the things you like doing.”

He may not undertake any special training for barman competitions, but Ihermann is a firm fixture at the bar when working at Noa – making cocktails, brewing coffee, pouring wine and talking to customers. All of this is his ‘training’.

“I could never manage a restaurant by sitting in some office and shuffling papers around,” he says.

“We don’t have any “I’m the boss, you all work for me” here – everyone’s equal, and in the best sense we all do a bit of everything. You need that if you want to have a good atmosphere, plus that’s how people learn.”

A coincidence by the name of Liina Ihermann started out on his career path at the age of just 15, when his sister Liina – who topped the podium in this year’s Estonian Barman Championships – got him a job at Pirita Yacht Club as the ‘bread boy’ (the person who brings the bread basket and cutlery and salt and pepper to the table). Liina has played a significant role in her brother’s life generally: it was she who took Ihermann to his first barman competition.

“I remember that my entry had 12 ingredients, and looking back on it now I can see it was rubbish!” he laughs. “My sister came up to me and told me that seven ingredi-

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Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

ents was the limit in competitions.

I stood there for ages pondering which ingredients I could leave out.

But it was too late by that point – I’d already made it, it was in the glass and it went before the judges.”

Ihermann’s open and very effective way of communicating and his smart use of stage fright stem from his somewhat unexpected choice to go to Denmark to study non-verbal performance. The two years he spent there more or less turned the then 18-year-old into the man he is today.

“I learned two things while I was there,” he reveals. “Or rather I learned one and the other became clear to me at the same time. I learned who I was – first and foremost because I was a young guy completely on his own in a new environment – and through that, through what I was studying, I polished my skills in self-expression. I get the sense that people never do so many things because they’re worried they’ll look stupid in the eyes of the people watching them. That’s a fear I overcame while I was in Denmark.”

What became clear to Ihermann while all this was happening was that the bar and restaurant business could be the one for him. After almost a year of military service and dropping out of his studies at the Danish school he returned to Estonia and headed straight for the food scene. First he worked at the Schlössle Hotel, then took on the management of the restaurant at the Nevski Hotel.

“Then a group of us formed who all wanted to open our own restaurant or bar or lounge,” he explains.

“We got some investors from Finland on board and we started looking at spaces in Kalamaja. We kept going with the plan for almost a year, but in the end it didn’t come to anything, for various reasons. At the same time, I’d been offered the job at Noa. When I came here, it felt right straight away: calm, cosy; just a great place to be.

And I’ve never looked back.”

So why cocktails?

Back in 2016 we wrote: “Noa barman Laur Ihermann represented Estonia in the Matton International Barmen Association’s alcohol-free cocktail world championships in summery

Prague, finishing in an impressive sixth place with his mocktail It’s Cloudy.”

This spring we wrote: “First place among alcohol-free cocktails in the Estonian Barmen Championships held at Tallinn School of Service went to Laur Ihermann for his mango & kale cocktail. The winning barman says he was inspired by the expression ‘the charm of simple things’.”

“Since barmen tend to be going down the route of ‘the more exclu-

Ihermann says he likes making things from scratch that can then be used, tasted, admired – whether they be drawings or cocktails.

sive or hard-to-come-by components or way of making it, the more interesting the result’ with their cocktails and mocktails, I left anything complicated out of mine and just used simple ingredients you can grab from the fridge or find in any shop,” Ihermann explains.

Today that cocktail, the aforementioned It’s Cloudy, is on the menu at Noa – and has proven very popular. It is likely that the cocktail he is competing with at the non-alcoholic cocktail world championships in the Czech Republic on 15 June will meet with the same success. While the competition there is fierce, Estonian barmen are more than up to the challenge of facing counterparts from much bigger countries with much better training opportunities.

Ihermann says he likes making things from scratch that can then be used, tasted, admired – whether they be drawings or cocktails. Crafting a cocktail is never as straightforward as people think it is: ideas pop up at the wheel of the car, in the gym, anywhere at all in fact, and completely unexpectedly.

“Mine tend to start with a particular ingredient I want to play with,” Ihermann reveals. “Then I start visualising it. Sometimes I even literally sketch my idea. Only after that do I set about mixing the drink. I’ve got enough experience now that I know what will work together in terms of flavours, even before I taste something.”

Where next?

Ihermann says he has no burning ambition or great dream to win a world title in a barman competition.

Not that he has anything against the idea of winning one, of course.

“I doubt I’ll ever aim to be the best in the world or to win competitions,” he shrugs. “I just do what I do, learn all the time and give everything I have to give. If that’s enough to win me an award, great!

I’ll take it.” He will say that at this point in time alcohol-free cocktails are very close to his heart. “So many people are drinking them – it’s unbelievable how many really – and that’s a challenge I’m more than willing to accept!” he smiles.

VIRU 11 10140 TALLINN ESTONIA info@farmrestoran.ee www.restaurant.farm

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A restaurant that transports you to India without ever getting up out of your chair In Bremen Alley in the heart of the Old Town, the Indian restaurant Chakra offers authentic flavours of the sub-continent in a medieval goods store. Everyone dines well here, whether they have travelled to the four corners of the Earth and seen (and tasted) it all or are more traditional in their leanings.

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rue Indian food is to be had where there are true Indian chefs – and that is exactly why anyone who loves delicious food should make a beeline for Chakra. Here, Hindu head chef and owner Venkateshwarlu Indla, known to his friends as Venkat, treats everyone to the choicest cuisine his homeland has to offer. The fact that he has dedicated over 36 years (which is to say considerably more than half his life) to food in one way or another shows that he knows what he is doing. For Venkat, cooking is much more than just a job: it is his life. And that is something you appreciate with every mouthful.

His philosophy of food preparation allows for no concessions and his standards are as high as they can be – if he himself is not satisfied with what he makes, it never reaches the table. But then what else would you expect from a man who has been fascinated by everything that happens in the kitchen since he was knee-high to a grasshopper?

The best-kept secrets of Indian cooking Indian cuisine is incredibly diverse, with thousands of variations, all of them influenced by the enormous

country’s religions, history, regional nuances and traditions. Having said all of that, it can also justifiably be claimed that Indian cooking is based on four absolute invariables: onion, ginger, garlic and tomato. With those four in place, a chef as versed as Venkat can always put something amazing on the table.

An endless list of spices adds bright colours to the cuisine from the country, although the art of using them all is mastered by few.

The nub of the issue is not only that there are hundreds or possibly even thousands of them, but that they need to be added to the pot or the pan at just the right time and in precisely the right order. Otherwise, the whole dish can be ruined.

The incomparable charm of Chakra Regulars at the restaurant claim you won’t get better Indian food anywhere in Estonia and that Chakra runs rings round competitors who have been on the scene considerably longer. The menu has something for everyone, each dish even more divine-sounding than the one before it. But if you have no idea where to start, you won’t go wrong with murg tikka masala (chicken

curry), dum gosht (lamb curry) and any of the biryani on offer. Once you reach dessert, both the kheer and gulab jamun are worth trying, and the home-made kulfi or Indian ice cream is not to be missed.

In addition to its food, the restaurant has earned a good deal of praise for its atmosphere. Although Chakra is tucked away on the lower-ground floor of the centuries-old building it inhabits, several steps down from street level, its interior is surprisingly warm and bright. It is an equally good place for a busy business lunch and a romantic evening meal. The last-but-one of its rooms is the best where the latter is concerned, as its glass wall provides views out over the courtyard, which is a great place to relax and unwind in summer – and to allow yourself to be spirited away to India without ever rising from your chair.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 19 TERRACES

Little colourful umbrellas: the best terraces in the Estonian capital

In spring, when all of Tallinn is overflowing with lush greenery and blossoms, restaurants and cafés open their summer gardens and terraces with the first warm rays of the sun, only to close them in autumn. In addition to the city centre, you can find original places where to dine also in other districts of Tallinn.

Text: VisitTallinn.ee, Photos: Tiit Blaat, Alar Truu, Radisson, Teet Malsroos

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afé Pierre’s little charming courtyard and hotel Telegraaf’s romantic summer terrace are located at the Master’s Yard in Tallinn Old Town. Restaurant Leib Resto & Aed’s luscious garden in the shadow of the Old Town’s walls seems like a slice of Tuscany. Lounge-café Must Puudel has favourable prices and a cosy atmosphere. The food there can be enjoyed in romantic surroundings and to the accompaniment of live music. Their sheltered courtyard is a marvellous place that makes you feel at ease.

A wonderful view of the Estonia opera house and Old Town can be enjoyed at the café Komeet.

Komeet’s roof terrace is definitely

The five best summer cafés in Tallinn Tuljak one of the best places for spending your free time in Tallinn. A bar called Lounge 24, which offers a wonderful view of the Old Town similar to that at Komeet, is located nearby on the top floor of Radisson Blue Sky hotel.

At Kalamaja, restaurants pop up like mushrooms after a shower.

For example, the seaplane harbour café Maru has a lovely terrace. Café Klaus is in the same building with Estonian Design House. It has an excellent selection of local design as well as honest and simple food, coffee and other beverages.

The popularity of Kalamaja’s first café Boheem has withstood the test of time and it’s a guaranteed excellent experience but the new restaurant wing of Telliskivi Creative City is a true surprise—there are cafés and restaurants for all tastes.

Café Katharinenthal with its beautiful summer garden is located in the flowering Kadriorg Park by the swan pond. Reval Café at the Kumu art museum is also welcoming and has a view of the park. Kalev yacht club’s terrace that seats 100 on the bank of River Pirita is really enjoyable in the summer.

NOA is located on the border of Tallinn and Viimsi. This is one of the finest restaurants with a sea

(Pirita tee 26e, Tallinn) The legendary Soviet-era restaurant Tuljak, which was reopened in summer 2015, is located in a building constructed in the 1960s that underwent a reconstruction and is an object protected under heritage conservation. It’s right on the road to Pirita and has a beautiful view of the Tallinn Bay. Tuljak’s spacious premises include two halls that seat up to 150 guests, as well as large terraces and a grill area that can also accommodate 150 friendly people in the summer. The exquisite terrace helps you forget all your worries when the weather’s nice. Since Tuljak is very popular, be sure to book a table in advance!

view in town. Beach pub and restaurant Paat looks interesting, like an upside down boat. You can enjoy excellent food and views of the famous Tallinn panorama there!

RootS beach bar and restaurant in Viimsi right by the sea is a truly special place. It’s just the right spot for going barefoot on the sand and taking in a picturesque sunset.

When you’re in Mustamäe, be sure to visit garden restaurant Umami that resembles someone’s cosy childhood home, at least for Estonians. The restaurant is located in a beautiful private residence surrounded by a large garden and gets the highest marks for its food quality and child-friendly environment.

20 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS Leib, Resto & Aed

Umami (Kadaka tee 141, Tallinn) Umami is the second establishment of “crazy foodies” Chef Janno Lepik and sommelier Kristjan Peäske.

These men are passionate about colourful food made of high-quality, fresh and seasonable produce. It’s love, not finery, that counts when cooking is concerned, which is why Umami offers honest and simple but tasty dishes.

“We are simple, yet original. We have a consistent cooperation with farmers, but we also like to spice up our gastronomic experiences with exotic ingredients.

Umami’s drinks selection values originality over variety. Freshly pressed juices, craft beers, carefully selected wines and home-made sprits—even the pickiest can find something they like. We brew our own beer, which should please craft beer enthusiasts,” say the restaurateurs.

Umami is a bit further away from the city centre but it’s a bonus, as the restaurant is far from traffic noise in a garden where you can feel at home in the shadow of apple trees, enjoy excellent food and let the world spin without having anything to do with it. Children are also very welcome in the restaurant and can play in the sandbox in the yard.

(Uus 31, Tallinn) “Good old Estonian black bread— fresh, warm, simple, and honest.

It’s what we grow up with and what we dream about when away. It’s what we, Estonians, are really. And now it’s the name of our restaurant. Estonians are simple; we don’t like pretentious food, stuffy service, or overpriced menus. But we do like to be creative and eat well,” says the restaurant.

Leib Resto & Aed is in Tallinn Old Town at the Scottish club’s building and garden, where “crazy foodies” Chef Janno Lepik and sommelier Kristjan Peäske have created an inspiring medieval environment with modern service, a down-toearth approach and extremely enjoyable cuisine. This is also a place where you can sit, listen to the distant murmurs of the city and forget everything else beside the “moment”.

Lounge 24 (Rävala puiestee 3, Tallinn) Lounge24 is great place for lunch and dinner meetings with business partners but also for enjoying life in good company, since the café/bar is on top of Tallinn— on the 24th floor of Radisson Blue Sky hotel. For a truly refreshing experience, enjoy the marvellous view of the city lights in crisp night air with friends while sipping cocktails.

Mimosa (Viljandi mnt 6 / Kalmistu tee 1, Tallinn) Mimosa is a cosy restaurant in the Nõmme district of Tallinn where you can enjoy memorable tastes and the atmosphere. Mimosa wants to be welcoming and warm—a place where you’d always want to return.

Friendly service, delicious modern Estonian cuisine, cakes baked on the spot and locally brewed house spirits are the key words that char-

acterise this restaurant the best. In the winter period, this lovely little house can seat nearly 60 people on two floors, in the summer period Mimosa also has a terrace and large yard that allow you to spend time in nature without leaving the city.

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Restaurant Vintage 17 –

a modern classic in both content and design How to find the best restaurant in an unfamiliar town without too much hassle? It is easy—you have to go where the locals go. Unlike you, they have had enough time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

For more than a year the locals have been frequenting restaurant Vintage17, which is led by a trio who have all dedicated their lives to restaurant business. With a Chef like Alo Stamm in the kitchen and head sommelier Allan Repp in the wine cellar (the latter has put together the wine list for several other top restaurants in Estonia) wonderful experiences are guaranteed from the get-go.

You can actually tell already by the name that wine plays an important role in this invitingly serene restaurant. After all, the word vintage refers to a vintage wine which is in a league of its own—the best of the best. And since the restaurant opened its doors in 2017, the name Vintage17 was born.

While the drinks menu is full of both timeless and modern hits, the

food selection is a charming combination of classics with a modern twist.

For example, instead of the regular beef tartare, the beef heart tartare will catch your eye, and instead of fish tartare you can order fresh salted ruffe slightly marinated in rum or gin. The visitors’ hearts have been won over by tiger prawns and the amazingly creamy Jerusalem artichoke soup but you should definitely also try the fresh oysters and elk carpaccio.

The true stars of the main courses are rack of lamb prepared after the

Vene tn 6, Tallinn +372 666 0508 info@vintage17.ee

chef’s favourite recipe and the juicy marble beef entrecôte that will melt in your mouth. In addition to the seasonal white fish the roasted quail has received a lot of praise. When it comes to desserts, your senses will be seduced by the frozen chocolate mousse but it would also be a sin not to try the nicely mild matcha foam.

Whenever the season allows, Vintage17 cooks mainly local produce to greet visitors with as much freshness as possible. Feel free to visit the establishment even if you suffer from a food intolerance, as the team can easily prepare all the dishes also lactose and gluten-free.

And to offer loyal customers new experiences time and again, in addition to the à la carte selection you can pick new favourites from the three-course Food and Wine menu that changes every month. To make the drink selection even a bit easier, the head sommelier has personally picked out wines that match the featured dishes just perfect.

22 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

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here is no denying that we have a thing or two to learn from the ancient cultures of the East. Including how to make a true feast out of a meal. It only takes a handful of people who enjoy sharing their dishes, instead of quietly nibbling at only their own. This is the ingeniously simple and charming concept of casual social dining that kick-starts even the quietest group around the table. Because, as we know, food unites. Especially when you share it with others.

Twist of TOA Fortunately, the menu is not overly lengthy or too complicated. It can be easily understood even by those who have never been to the countries that serve as the source of inspiration for TOA. There is no need to be afraid of flavours that are too strange. The hard-working kitchen family has taken the best of the cuisines they offer and given it their own twist.

So, in addition to multiple versions of spring rolls, you can also find steak tartar à la TOA from the appetisers’ section of the menu.

Those who are on ‘team soup’ will not be disappointed either because obviously tom kha and other familiar Thai soups are available. Even a few ramen soups are included. Be it a vegan, vegetarian or meat-lover, the variety of wok, rice and noodle dishes brings a smile on the face of those who love a little spice in their life as well as those who prefer softer flavours.

The components are always exceptionally fresh and the chefs are brilliantly skilled. If anyone should doubt this for some reason, they should definitely find a seat on the first floor to enjoy the show from the open kitchen. The sunny ter-

TOA – Taste of Asia Flagship of Asian casual social dining What happens when the eye-catching Rotermann industrial quarter in the heart of the city meets successful and experienced restaurant business people? The outcome is restaurant TOA– Taste of Asia, where in addition to the best of Vietnamese, Korean and Thai cuisine, the unique interior, which happens to be a special order from Bali, plays an important role. race is suited for all those who have decided to make the most of the summer here. The second floor at TOA welcomes everyone who prefers a more mellow setting.

The drinks menu is also excellent. There are cocktails with and without alcohol. But in addition to

the tasty lassi and TOA’s spritz drinks, it is also worthwhile to try the selection of more than 40 gins.

Those who want a head to tail Asian experience will not be disappointed either because in addition to classical spirits, TOA offers Japanese rice vodka, liquors and legendary sake.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 23 EVENT CALENDAR

Food festivals:

Tartu Food and Wine Festival

There will be a number of food festivals in Estonia this year–from the weed festival to the pickle festival and everything in between.

Tasting, exciting programmes, novel recipes, cooking, culinary pleasures–there will be plenty of action. We all love good food and great company, all you need to do is make it everywhere!

Tartu 3–5 August 2018 The Tartu Food and Wine Festival offers authentic Estonian flavours from small South Estonian producers and pop-up restaurants as well as a rich selection of wines. Everyone can participate in open tastings and get advice from the best Estonian sommeliers. In addition to the delightful food and wine experience, there is an entertainment programme for the whole family, home cafes in the city districts, a night promenade by the Emajõgi, a children’s area, and many more exciting features.

Tallinn Street Food Festival

Saaremaa Food Festival

North Tallinn district 9–10 June 2018 Tallinn Street Food Festival, which largely initiated the fast development of the street food scene in Estonia, celebrates its 5th birthday this summer. In order to properly celebrate the first jubilee, the event features a careful selection of food vendors who represent a mixture of high-quality classical street food and fresh, surprising and exotic approaches.

In honour of the centenary of the Republic of Estonia, we are going to salute the local cuisine–you will find Estonian food presented in novel, special or, on the contrary, very traditional ways. Tallinn Street Food Festival has always valued green thinking and endeavours to minimise its impact on the environment.

Kuressaare 3–10 September 2018 The heart of the summer is long past by September and rye that has survived the heat of the summer is turning golden on the most fertile lands of the island. Potatoes, free from the fear of the farmer’s whip, are turning the other side in the soil.

Vegetables, sleeping in the daytime and growing at night, are counting the stars across the sky in Saaremaa. Fruits are deliciously ripe and blush about their virgin plumpness. Clean air and the sea breeze–this is freshness, true freshness. Especially at the beginning of September when Mother Earth has blessed us with its best sons and daughters. The Saaremaa Food Festival offers a fascinating programme for an entire week, with only one thing to say about it: proper food makes merry mood!

what is taking place in Estonia in the summer?

Tartu Street Food Festival Tartu 16–17 June 2018 Tartu Street Food Festival, which is taking place for the second time this year, is a major international street food event that introduces the latest food trends. The festival offers fresh street food from food trucks, pop-up street cafes, top restaurants and alternative chefs. In honour of the centenary of the Republic of Estonia, the festival will focus on Estonian street food and its new flavours.

Grillfest: Good Food Festival Pärnu County, Pärnu 8–9 June 2018 Grillfest takes place every year in June at the scenic Vallikääru meadow in Pärnu. For two days, 300 caterers from Estonia and abroad serve their best fare.

There are outdoor restaurants and cafés and even a pet restaurant. You can enjoy the Good Food Fair, national fishing championships and cooking competitions; there is also a large and exciting play area for children. The festival features performances by excellent artists on various stages and there is music for every taste. Both days of the festival end with magnificent fireworks. After Grill Parties take place at the festival clubs. Everyone is welcome to Grillfest and the entrance is free of charge!

Buffet Day on the Onion Route Alatskivi small town 15 September 2018 The tradition of home cafes has become revered by Estonians in the recent years. The Peipus region and Onion Road have also taken to it. In mid-September, the locals open the doors to their amazing homes and offer the best recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. The main focus is on local food, handicrafts and culture.

24 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

Senso –

a popular restaurant where dishes change with the seasons Radisson Blu Hotel Olümpia is an iconic building in Tallinn city centre that was constructed for 1980 Summer Olympics. Restaurant Senso, which offers a chic and sophisticated atmosphere, is located on the second floor.

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auri Rool, the hotel’s food and drink manager, tells that the restaurant’s menu offers a range of Mediterranean-inspired dishes prepared with fresh seasonal ingredients. When it comes to fine or casual dining, they always choose produce that is of prime quality and try to avoid over-experimenting, which is popular now.

Andres Rahula, chef de cuisine has developed the restaurant’s menu and kitchen to such a level of excellence that they have regular customers who have eaten at Senso since the 1990s. However, the menu offers a wide range of dishes, so that everybody can find something they like: both burger and pizza lovers as well as those who enjoy more sophisticated dishes.

Morning favourites at the super breakfast buffet Senso’s breakfast buffet has a wide selection, which includes dishes for vegans and people with allergies as well. You can enjoy the perks of an

people think because there are multiple buffets. All food is freshly made on the spot. Pastry lovers should bear in mind that Senso offers famous Café Boulevard cakes and pies as well. Those who are in a hurry can also pre-order food. Senso does not have a standard menu—the variety on offer is constantly changing and a very popular feature among visitors is the chef de cuisine’s special menu.

You can also ask for recommendations on the spot.

Sunday is a brunch day Radisson Blu Hotel Olümpia was one of first establishments that introduced brunch culture to Tallinn.

Brunch is typically a combination of breakfast and lunch eaten late in the morning or early afternoon, and at Senso you can enjoy cosy time with your family in a comfortable atmosphere.

At brunches, we have a wide buffet selection of delicious cold and hot dishes and desserts on offer. Children can enjoy themselves in the play area. The brunch menu chan-ges five times a year according to the latest food trends. For instance, we have offered Estonian, Italian, Russian and Asian cuisine at our brunches. You can celebrate your birthdays, lovely get-togethers with friends etc. at Senso. If you book a table for at least 8 people you’ll receive a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine!

Banquet halls

international hotel chain by ordering from the special menu or help yourself to the buffet table—one of the finest breakfasts in Tallinn. The menu is updated twice a year to ensure that everything is prepared with fresh seasonal ingredients.

Elaborate lunch buffet on working days from 12.00–15.00 Senso offers lunch to guests who value their time, comfort, and good food. The emphasis is more on quality than price. When it comes to price, Senso is not as high-end as

Restaurant Senso and its two banquet halls are suitable venues for different events. The halls are perfectly suited for festive events like wedding receptions or small private gatherings. Everything is customer-friendly and comfortable when it comes to the planning—just sit back and relax.

Radisson Blu Hotel Olümpia Restaurant Senso Liivalaia 33, Tallinn www.restoransenso.ee www.facebook.com/sensorestaurant

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 25

Quo vadis, STREET FOOD

Estonian street food?

During the last few years, street gourmet has reached a level where it can be called the new wave in local gastronomy. Kitchen equipment has been integrated into a lot of trucks, there are events dedicated to street food, and even famous chefs have found their way to the field. But where is it headed? We asked our street gourmet expert.

Author: Martin Hanson Photos: Delfi

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n the one hand it is a bit worrying that many newcomers are still focused on burgers and other wellknown types of street food. It makes sense businesswise—a universal menu speaks to a wider audience and burgers are still popular. On the other hand it is nice that there are more and more trucks with fish-based menus (fish and chips, sushi etc.). I still expect there to be more specialised food trucks to introduce new cuisine to us here in Estonia. Also there

is still room for 1–2 more good vegan-trucks and an excellent truck offering Middle Eastern food. There are a few great Syrian places in Tallinn and I hope to see them at events, even though they do not have food trucks.

I would definitely like to see more Latin-American cuisine, the dim sum section has not yet been covered and it wouldn’t be bad to have Ethi-

opian-Eritrean food here, which is popular elsewhere,” says Raimo Matvere, the main organizer of the Tallinn Street Food Festival.

The organizer adds that he has been thinking about the possibility of creating some sort of a shared food truck business model, where multiple companies use the same truck in turns, offering different food. They would share the risks and expenses. But, of course, it would depend on their ability to share and manage very efficiently.

“As I organize the street food festival in Tallinn and Tartu, I can speak a bit about trends in the wider sense. While last summer rolled ice cream and waffles were a big hit, this year there are not so many trucks around offering them. But ice cream is still a hot topic—there are a lot of companies serving different natural ice creams made and served in innovative ways. The other newcomer in the sweets category is mini-pancakes. Hot dogs are becoming more popular and they are of a clearly higher quality than the ones sold in gas stations.

Also you cannot go without mentioning fish—fortunately there are a lot of companies serving fish dishes (mostly fish and chips but also other types of food) entering street food events and we are very happy about it,” Matvere adds.

Matvere also says that foreign food trucks have become a bit more interested in Estonian events.

“Charleston BBQ Truck from Riga is an important pioneer in this. They toured the events here in Estonia last summer and will join us again this year. We are also glad to welcome back catering companies from Finland and Lithuania who took part in the Tallinn Street Food Festival. There are also newcomers from our other neighbouring countries. We have been working towards bringing international companies to this festival for years and it seems that the interest has finally become mutual,” says the street gourmet expert.

26 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

What are food trucks?

A food truck is a vehicle adapted for preparing and selling food. Such vehicles have been used in catering for a long time and different kitchens on wheels have been around also in our area. First examples of food trucks and carts date back to the 19th Century when mobile kitchens catered the workers in post-industrial towns.

As recently as 20 years ago, food trucks were one of the main eateries in town for blue-collar workers. They belong to the world-wide street food scene that supposedly feeds over 2.5 billion people a day.

During the last decade, a small revolution took place in the food truck business. In the United States, more and more top chefs started offering their culinary art on the street from food trucks. This way it was possible for them to serve original dishes with restaurant quality at reasonable prices and in different places.

The food truck developed within the last couple of decades from a fast food kitchen preparing food only for workers into the first workplace for gaining experience for young chefs and from there on into an interesting venue also for the top chefs of the world. Most importantly—the chefs themselves had the chance to get out of their restaurant kitchens and join the people.

The new gourmet food truck movement was born.

Zagat, one of the most famous food rating services and restaurant rating agencies in the world estab-

Five new street food companies this year: 1. Mukkel: Asian-style burgers and other Asian food 2. Richie’s Gourmet Hot Dogs: Finally a truck focused on hot dogs (plus they just recently opened a stationary venue on the edge of Tallinn Old Town) 3. Lukumades: Vegan doughnut shop 4. Santa Maria foodtruck: There are new people in charge, they have a versatile menu and it seems they are already on a roll.

5. Van Foodie: Started business already in the middle of last season, again with a universal menu, a well-received truck.

lished already in 1979 started rating food trucks.

From a former suburban ghetto into the gourmet centre of Miami Only 20 years ago, the Wynwood suburb of Miami was the main habitat of lowlifes arriving to the United States from Puerto Rico.

It was known for drugs, murders and spread of diseases. But then a bunch of artists moved into the super cheap rental spaces in a corner of Wynwood and started living their lives, combining paying the rent with squatting. They painted the walls of their buildings, sold art in the street and partied. They were free-spirited and attracted others.

More and more young people from downtown joined them in

the ghetto and the police started showing their faces in the area. The snowball rolled until it grew so big that the first restauranteurs found the courage to explore Wynwood.

The streets were washed, the local government installed street lights and marked the roads. The snowball kept on rolling, the media offered their support and the result was a story quite common in the world—criminals were kicked out of the area and the young and successful moved in.

They were followed by property developers, the last “indigenous people” sold the properties they had once bought dirt cheap for killer prices, moved to the seaside and the area became the so-called Hipsterville that it is nowadays, with the finest restaurants, pubs and bars. A real Kalamaja of Miami. Nowadays, every person living in Miami would recommend you to visit Wynwood to eat, drink and have fun.

Which newcomers joined the food truck business last year?

“It seems that the first wave of newcomers is over and not so many fresh companies joined. It is a bit sad that a large portion of the newcomers prepare burgers or are universal caterers offering people rather wellknown street food. There are not many remarkably exciting new faces around,” says Matvere.

According to him there are also a couple of fish and chips trucks in production. One of them started business already at the Tartu Street Food Festival last year. Different fish dishes and fish and chips are without a doubt a breath of fresh air among the local trucks. There are also new sushi trucks, such as GO Sushi, and the Sushi Plaza truck that already took part in some events last year.

“Something’s cooking also in Tartu where we have the mainly burger-focused Pablo, and it seems that this summer also the biggest truck in Estonia, Rekka, is driving around there. Additionally the aforementioned Käru and Munchie’s. There are also new street food tents with exciting offers in the vegan food and sweets category,” Matvere notes.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 27

Three years as a street food pioneer is just the start Since it opened its doors, Uulits has turned untold tonnes of potatoes into French fries and grilled hundreds of thousands of burgers, and almost 50 delicious sauces have found their way between the place’s crunchy homemade buns. And all that in just three years.

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ulits was established threeand-a-half years ago and currently has three diners in Tallinn, each of which has its own slightly different concept. Its diner on Soo Street is its showcase restaurant and offers the broadest-ranging menu. The branch at Balti jaam railway station is primarily a take-out joint, while the Kadaka diner falls somewhere between the two.

Uulits considers itself a pioneer of street food, taking it to the next level. Street food doesn’t have to mean junk food or compromise when it comes to being healthy. It can still be high-quality and made from the best locally sourced ingredients.

‘Street gourmet’ is a term that emerged at the same time Uulits did

and has since gone on to be widely used.

Uulits’ principle is to create a concept of slow food in lieu of the existing notion of fast food. All burgers and wraps by nature are able to be changed for the better, and Uulits has convincingly shown that the meaning of fast food has changed a great deal.

Fridges are for sour cream There is no freezer at Uulits.

Everything is fresh, brought in straight from the market or handpicked in the forest.

To the team at Uulits, ‘handmade’ means potatoes purchased direct from the farmers that are chopped and sliced by hand in the

restaurant, and burgers that arrive as quality beef mince that is then seasoned every morning and prepped for grilling. There is nothing in the fridge except sour cream.

The same goes for everything else you find in your burgers. The onion jam, for example, is made in-house, as are the various herb mayonnaises. This all sets Uulits well apart from bigger burger chains, since nothing is pre-made.

The buns are provided by a small local bakery fresh from the oven every morning. In short, ‘hand-made’ means nothing sits around already pre-prepared waiting to be used. Quite the reverse – whenever anyone comes in to any of the three diners and places an order, the kitchen starts making their burger from scratch.

They are, to all intents and purposes, a la carte burgers. This is what the slow food concept is all about.

Compared to a typical fast food place, the wait is worth it – nothing comes from the fridge, nothing is chucked in a microwave and nothing is emptied into a deep-fat fryer.

Uulits regularly takes itself ‘out and about’, too, with its burger van being invited to birthday parties, stag dos, company retreats and even weddings for a much needed morning-after pick-me-up.

Thanks to its concept and its high standards Uulits has a lot of regular customers, and it is highly rated on TripAdvisor: both its Soo Street and Balti jaam diners are very popular among tourists.

28 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

Pride of our area:

Café Must Puudel Must Puudel is a café in the Old Town of Tallinn with a rich and diverse menu, heavenly cakes, delicious drinks and the coolest parties in the city.

Please also follow and like the Facebook page of Must Puudel, which displays our lunch offers and allows you to keep an eye on weekend parties.

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mall on the outside, big on the inside. The café space has been divided into several independent halls, so we welcome lovers seeking a quiet corner to have a chat as well as larger parties. The café has a quiet and sweet backyard, where one can seek refuge from the city noise. The interior is fabulously eclectic, thereby mixing newer and older design classics.

On weekdays in Must Puudel, you will meet studious people working at their laptops and ordering their third latte, for whom the café has become a comfortable home office. But on weekends, Puudel parties! Vinyl records are spun, and people dance until the early hours.

Must Puudel is known for its simple, delicious and affordable foods. One might say that this is one of the most popular breakfast and lunch locations in the Old Town.

Through out the years, Puudel’s beef burger along with our spicy coconut milk soup have been especially popular and have received high praise. We have also thought of vegans, as well as people who are gluten or lactose intolerant. There is a separate menu for children. And we should also mention the café’s rich selection of beer, and of course our cakes, cakes, cakes! Yes, Must Puudel’s cakes are renowned.

The hospitable and smiling waiters also welcome your four-legged friends.

So, it does not matter whether you have a start-up, you mend watches or manage a bank. The menu and musical programme of Must Puudel suits you and your

image. The heart of the city is not where the expensive tourism areas are. The heart of the city is where the city’s residents and tourists hang out. The heart of the city is located at Müürivahe 20. Come in, take a seat and grab something delicious to eat!

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 29 FOODSTUFF

Traditional Estonian meat jelly

sült Estonian sült is a traditional festive and everyday dish. Making sült is becoming a lost art at the Estonian home, since a varied selection is available commercially.

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ariety is good, but as large companies make changes to the ancient recipe to guarantee that the product preserves as long as possible, the genuine taste of sült is in danger of being forgotten. If we want to preserve sült as required but still offer genuine, traditional meat jelly to the consumer, both producers and consumers must acknowledge that Estonian sült can be industrially manufactured nowadays.

Estonian sült is a unique dish that resembles other nations’ meat jelly in appearance but is made entirely differently. In the past, sült was only cooked for Christmas; in later times people have started to enjoy it all year round as a cold appetizer or main course with hot potatoes for lunch.

Out next lesson on understanding local Estonian cuisine includes learning how to make a good batch of sült and, for example, fragrant horseradish mousse to go with it. Estonian culinary culture esteems sült in all its forms but the best meat jelly is still to be made from piglet meat.

What is the story of Estonian sült?

Estonian sült has a remarkably long history, which dates back to the

Middle Ages. The first printed sült recipe is from a book called Köki ja Kokka translated into Estonian from Swedish and published in 1781. Initially, sült was a dish for the land-owning Germans and wealthy burghers because they could afford meat. The sült back then resembled jellied and pressed meat boiled with spices and served in slices.

In 1881, Karl Treufeldt published the book Lühikene õpetus söögide tegemisest ehk taluperenaese köögi-raamat meant for Estonian farmers’ wives, which already includes the methods for making the sült we know—the meat is first boiled and then diced.

As the Estonian people grew wealthier in the 20th Century, sült became a familiar dish on the table both during festive family occasions and ordinary days. In the second half of the 20th Century, good homemade sült became a staple of the festive table and sült was considered to show how good a cook a woman was.

What is a traditional Estonian sült like?

Traditional sült that can be considered a national dish is boiled from a pig’s head, neck, hocks and feet,

which include enough adhesive so that the cooling mixture congeals without adding gelling agents. Sült is boiled for 3–4 hours at a low heat; onions, salt, black pepper and bay leaves, sometimes also allspice carrots, garlic, etc. are added during boiling. The cooked stock is poured into small and deep tins that have straight or wavy edges.

Meat is placed in cold water, quickly brought to boil, allowed to boil for a few minutes (parboiled), then the pieces of meat and pot are rinsed with cold water. The meat is again placed in boiling water and boiled at a very low heat without the lid on until the meat comes off the bones (3–4 hours). Before the boiling is done, seasoning is added: salt, onion, spices. The meat is separated from the stock and cut into pieces. The boiled stock is sieved, brought to boil once again together with the diced meat and poured into tins to cool.

The people of Hiiumaa, an Estonian island, have started the process of applying for a EU quality logo for traditional Estonian sült, which would make our meat jelly a guaranteed traditional product and a protected Taste of Europe.

30 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

Situated on one of the most popular strips of the Rotermann City, in the middle of Stalker’s Alley, is a bottle shop that has in less than half a year become the local flagship of quality beers, which also offers delicious Danish-inspired hot dogs in addition to quality drinks.

Photos: Lauri Laan

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apTap is making waves on the beer-foamy sea largely due to its rock-solid principle of pouring only the best quality in a mug. It would be hard to find anyone else nearby who washes their beer lines so carefully every time after pulling the tap and monitors the temperatures of barrels in the refrigeration room so vigilantly. Except for their neighbours at Brewdog. Same people, same principles, what else could it be.

Bottle shop TapTap –from quantity to quality

More than 200 stars on the shelves and 6 gems on tap But noble principles alone are not enough for people to keep returning again and again. The selection has its part to play. And they have nailed it. Only the brightest stars of the beer world are displayed on the shelves at TapTap. More than 230 different brands from local brewers and abroad, allegedly also Estonia’s best selection of Belgian lambic beers, are available.

There are quite a few experts who believe that the best drink comes from the beer taps, and there are six of these at TapTap. All of them tap high-end drinks. Those who enjoy the tap stuff so much that they cannot live without it can buy it to go. TapTap has installed a special canning machine, the first in Estonia, to can your favourites so you can take them on the road.

Rotermanni 2 +372 5303 9553 https://taptap.ee/en

Best hot dog in the area according to experts TapTap is a place where you could infinitely enjoy impeccable serving,

informed service and impressive selection. Especially in the summer when the spacious terrace is also open. And so it might happen that one might get peckish after a while, which is why you should definitely have a bite with your beer.

This aspect has also been thoroughly thought through at TapTap. As it would be a sin to spoil the beer-high with random bits and pieces, none other than Peeter Pihel has been called to help. His recipes are used to prepare the hot dogs inspired from Danish street food. For those who know anything about Estonian gastronomy, this guy needs no introduction. But for the rest–let it be known that last year, during the Estonian presidency of the Council of the Euro-

pean Union, it was Chef Pihel who conducted the preparation of all formal dinners.

There are a number of experts who think that TapTap’s hot dogs are the best in the area. When pork sausages that are made by the Tahkuranna butchery on special order, hand-made bread from the Kotzebue bakery and the beer mustard, ketchup, pickles, red and fried onion from the same masters all come together–nothing less could be expected.

TapTap has brought together true enthusiasts, which is also evident from the fact that you can also buy books on craft beer; glasses, hats and shirts of breweries; Mikkeller spirits and many other things from the establishment.

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othing about BrewDog beer bar, which opened its doors in the Rotermann Quarter just over a year ago, was designed to copy something that already exists or simply add a dot on the map of the local beer scene. It was inspired on the one hand by the growth in local craft beer culture and on the other by enterprising people realising that there was very much a gap in the market in Estonia for places in which to enjoy high-quality, freshly brewed craft beer.

BrewDog makes a virtue of self-interest, with its motto being ‘At BrewDog we are selfish. We make the beers we want to drink’.

The bar’s signature beer and its biggest seller is Punk IPA, which for many is often their first taste of craft beers.

In every city and every specific building in which you find a BrewDog bar, it is important that the atmosphere and history of the place match the BrewDog concept. Ensuring that all the elements work together is what matters most to the company.

When this is your ideal, there is no room for compromise: there are 14 taps in the bar, plus a bottling machine, and all of the beer lines are washed every time a keg is replaced. The kegs themselves are kept at the right temperature at all times in the cool room. All of this BrewDog views as elementary rather than obligatory. Priority number one is freshness, since their aim is offer people the best draught beer going.

BrewDog’s main line, with five beers, covers the main styles, offering a smoothly transitioning introduction to every flavour and guiding beer-lovers through almost 180 different types of beer. Some of these beers are constantly changing so as to ensure that regulars get to try something new.

Those who just happen upon the place are of course much needed to guarantee regular custom in future, but many of those who cross the BrewDog threshold do so with a good deal of knowledge and a fixed purpose.

BrewDog –

Exclusive dedication and top-shelf quality

The bar seems so cosy that it is easy to overlook the fact it can seat up to 42, plus a further 100 people on its terrace.

Everyone who works at BrewDog has the experience of the Certified Beer Server exam under their belts. Focusing exclusively on beer as an art means BrewDog has all the beer bases covered, but not to the exclusion of good food – neighbouring FLAMM means you can order delicious flammkuchen (a.k.a. tarte flambée, the pizza-like ‘flame cake’ or ‘pie baked in flames’ from the Alsace region on the border between France and Germany) to enjoy with your beer. Alternatively, another bar, TapTap, offers antipas-

ti and Danish-style hot dogs. There is also a range of snacks in the form of crisps, nuts, salamis and popcorn.

BrewDog’s manager Gerli Travkin has been on the restaurant scene for years. It was while training as a sommelier that she also became interested in craft beers, to which she has since gone on to dedicate herself.

As such, a second BrewDog popping up in Tallinn or somewhere else in Estonia would be no surprise. Making the BrewDog range more widely available in both stores and restaurants is certainly on the cards, as is continuing to run the training courses they already offer.

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Café August:

coffee, cocktails, music

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afé August is warm, cosy and sunny, as is also characteristic of the month.

The interior includes colourful cushions, chairs and lamps, and a lot light. Sitting on the comfortable window sills, guests can enjoy coffee and watch people walking past.

August is the favourite spot for music lovers. No matter if you drop by on a quiet morning, busy afternoon or after a workday to relax— terrific music is always playing.

Who is responsible for that? Who makes these playlists for the café?

No idea, but on weekend evenings even DJ’s can be seen playing records at café August. Guests can directly and personally thank them for the great music.

August stands out for offering breakfast all day! On a Sunday brunch, guests can easily order banana pancakes or stuffed oven-baked omelettes with Parmesan and salad greens. Additionally, the menu has a wide selection of refreshments, soups, pastas, salads, hearty main dishes, smoothies and desserts. Vegans and people who are sensitive towards specif-

ic ingredients especially praise café August’s menu. Chefs have also thought of those with gluten or lactose intolerance.

The café does not have a courtyard or a patio, but there are chairs in front of the place for guests to rest. Since August is located exactly in the heart of the city, there is

a certain metropolitan vibe in the surroundings.

Follow and like August’s Facebook page, which shares information about music nights at the café as well as daily specials.

Don’t walk past August! Come in, indulge yourself with a piece of cake and enjoy the good music.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 33 FOOD TRUCK

Estonian food truck revolution: three examples More and more we see these coloured vans driving around theEstonian cities, that when stationary open their windows and start to serve food from all over the world. What are these vans, who are the people who serve the food, why they do that, what they serve. Lets have a talk with three people from the food truck’s.

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efore we start: let you be reminded that most, if not all, Estonian food truck’s can be seen and tasted at this years Tallinn Street Food Festival at 08.09.06.2018.

Even noodles are suitable for the streets: the start of food truck Kolm Nuudlit The Estonian street food revolution has more or less centered around feeding the hungry with handmade burgers, less have we seen other world known gourmet tastes as street food. Step-by-step it is changing and the first step are noodles. „Couple of years ago me and my now food partner Epp Kõuhkna were backpacking in Asia and we fell in love with the local food. Principaly the simplicity, speed of creation and the amazing taste. And most of all, itall came togetheronthe street, in front of you. As we lovedthe food and the way it was made, we decided to bring that back with us,” explains Heleen Sutt, one of the owners, how the food truck Kolm Nuudlit (Three Noodles) came to existance.

Girls asked Jaan Naelapea to join and as they all new a lot about customer service, but othing about making great food they also aksed Annely Arbeiter, a chef, to join the gang. Sutt says that they had the name of the truck – Kolm Nuudlit – writen on the vanbeforeany noodles left the truck as a meal.

„It has been fun, explaining the name. There is three of us and we have noodles on them menu. Although it took us a year to get the pad thai recipe to our liking beforewe could sell it. At the moment wehave noodlesin our menu,” says Sutt.

The brand got its start in 2015, the car as brought from Lithua-

nia a year later and after rebuilding it they startedserving food in the summer on 2017. As Sutt says, theirfood was well recived and she thinks there is much room for growth in the Estonina street food scene. „Of course I can only talk from our int of view and experience, but there is room for new tastes and trucks. People are allways looking for somethng new and theAsian tastes are very popular amongst Estonians. Thatswhy wehaveour padthai, also a greencurry, Vietnamenese sandwiches, miso-noodlesoup and different gyoza’s.

The noodlevan has something for everyone – something to vegans, something for no glutein eaters, something for those who like fish or meat or spices or sweet.

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Creator of vegetarian food truck Herbi: I want to prove that vegan food is street food and also delicious The head chef of vegan restaurant V Mikk Mägi begun on a side jurney with creation of his own vegan food truck Herbi. With the truck the chef wants to prove that vegan food is street food and also delicious.

How did you got the idea tocreat a food truck?

The idea of a food truck has been in my head for a long time. I got aquainted with the concept in Belgium, there is a vegan truck called „Just Like Your Mom”. They are present at most of larger festivals and the food they make is delicios, also they do look cool making it.

Why vegetarian and vegan food?

I myself have been a vegan for over ten years and it is my life. As I ma chef of vegan food and I like making vegan food, the choice wasn’t hard to make.

How long was the process – from the idea to finding the car to getting on the road as a food truck?

I was looking for a suitablecar for two years. „Really” looking fo a year.

I found the right car through some friends, I drove to Saaremaa to look the van over and I actually drove the car back to Tallinn. After that, it wasmorethan 6 months of planning and building, trying to get all of the kitchen to fitinto the van. So it would actually work as a kitchen.

Whats the menu of the Herbi truck?

The menu will be diverse and always changing until I have found thehits what areasked for mostly. I plan to serve burgers, wraps, soups, salads, hot dogs and soon ... The focuse is great vegan street food. At the moment, the hit of Herbi are the the sweet potato fries.

Pizza food truck Roheline Rakett creates its recipes according to the clients wishes One of the creators of simple and hones pizza maker Roheline Rakett (The Green Rocket) says that parallel to normal menu items, they make pizzas as the hungry eater ask.

What is Roheline Rakett and what do you serve?

Roheline Rakett, a cafe and pizzeria on wheels, is a food truck that has a honest open fire pizza oven built into the van, it serves Italian style, Napoli-

tan, pizzas and pies, also great coffee.

As we want to serv our clients, who mostly are hungry, fast, we also make pizzas so we can sell them by slice.

Where did the name – Roheline Rakett – came from?

The name comes from the fact that the van isgreen and it has a chimney at the end of it. Looking at it makes you feel that you are looking at a rocket. Also it comes from the fact that we serve greatpizzas.

In your opinion, how has the tastes of people changed, specially from the angle of street food?

Street food in Estonia for years has ment a pre-cooked burger between buns coverd with coleslaw and light ketchup sauce. I am convinced that there areplacesthat cansell that stuff easily, but todays street food is something else – it is a restaurant quality on the street. Quality is everything, the price comes after that. Whats most important, there is a need for good street food, people are asking for quality and are willing to pay for it.

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ome time ago a place opened in Tallinn Old Town that offers amazing gourmet burgers. They charm—in addition to the wonderful taste experience—with their uncompromising quality. Only burgers made from organic Estonian beef or mutton, steaks and other delicacies end up between the handmade buns. And for quenching thirst there are exciting craft beers and organic beverages on offer.

We are talking about a lovely family restaurant called Mini Burger Factory. Its kitchen is curated by Chef Martin Aule who has practiced his art for several years in the United States and who has been honourably titled as the importer of quality burger culture into Estonia. Krista Jansen, his partner, keeps an eye on the finances and staff. She has been working in the environment field for almost 15 years and upon her initiative environmental awareness has been introduced to the restaurant. Even the servers’ aprons are made from old denim.

Since the family has always appreciated organic food, it was a logical step to continue with it in their business. But the busy couple did not start from scratch. Mini Burger Factory is actually the younger sibling of the Estonian Burger Factory. The latter is, by the way, the first restaurant in Estonia that was certified with an ecolabel. And they will continue this tradition in Mini Burger Factory.

Real burgers and the taste of organic Estonian beef Even though the menu is full of interesting items, the big hits of Mini Burger Factory are the combos of three mini burgers and beers that complement them perfectly. It is a concept that has been welcomed with open arms by both the locals and tourists who have travelled the world. Since it is something that has never been seen here before, the praise is fully understandable.

But in addition to the clean, organic and fresh raw material, the ceramic charcoal grill Big Green Egg with its excellent cooking capabilities is also to “blame”. It has to do with almost every item on the menu. Even the handmade buns, to give them a nice crisp crust.

Best burgers in Estonia from the importer of gourmet burgers

If you are not a fan of beef, the restaurant offers burgers made from chicken, tuna or even vegetables. Actually even people who do not prefer burgers will not leave this place hungry. Even though soup is missing from the menu, there is a proper selection of street food, vegan dishes, different salads and desserts. The problem with desserts is that after you are done with the savoury dishes, there usually tends to be too little space left in your belly. So if you are determined to enjoy the cheesecake or delicious handmade popsicle, you should prepare by picking out a lose-fitting outfit already in the morning.

To make the experience perfect, we offer magnificent handmade beverages to accompany the food— from lemonades to different beers; even the local root beer has found an honourable spot on the menu.

Mini Burger Factory also offers different organic ciders, red and white wine. In terms of hot beverages, the guests have fallen in love with the organic herbal teas that are picked from local fields.

Mini Burger Factory Pikk tn 47 For more information visit Facebook: miniburgerfactory Estonian Burger Factory Pärnu mnt 41a For more info go to: http://ebf.ee/en/

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FLAMM – far from just an ordinary wine bar

In FLAMM, a cosy, family-run wine bar on the Rotermann Quarter’s bustling eat street, the German chef and head of the family slides mouth-watering thin-crust flammkuchen out of the oven while his wife serves up some great wines to accompany them.

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he bar itself, situated in the quarter’s old grain elevator, is a sight to behold: its extant limestone walls and grain hoppers, paired with the clean and contrasting black, stone and timber interior design, give the place its own special atmosphere.

In fine weather the little tables outdoors are the ideal place to sit, wrap yourself in one of the blankets provided and people-watch as food enthusiasts scour the street in search of new culinary experiences.

Quick finger food that tastes divine There’s nothing complicated about FLAMM’s menu: its unique concept means that almost the only thing it offers is flammkuchen from the Alsace region of France. You simply choose whichever one sounds most tempting – the Flamm:Classic perhaps, with cream, smoked bacon, onion, cheese and thyme? Maybe the more exotic Flamm:Enco, with cream, king prawns, lime, chili, coriander and cherry tomatoes? And for dessert there’s the delicious Flamm:Appel, with cream, apple and Calvados.

The drinks menu also strives to keep things simple. The choice of wines changes frequently so as to surprise regular diners with something new. The range mostly features Old World wines, the majority of which can be ordered by the glass.

For the second year in a row FLAMM is working with another family-run company, the Vabrik vinotheque in Kalamaja. Vabrik sommelier Andre Peremees, in partnership with Urban wine house, has created an outstanding rosé that is set to become FLAMM’s house wine – and which will pair perfectly with any of its flammkuchen.

The carefully selected menu of stronger alcoholic drinks emphasises a small but well-crafted range of truly enjoyable tipples. One of the best gin & tonics you will ever drink is made right here and is all Estonian: herbs and berries hand-picked on the island of Saaremaa and Lahhentagge gin mixed with tonic from the Nudist craft drink factory.

Social dining FLAMM is well worth trying: it is a place that feels familiar and genuine, somewhere to chat with friends in a relaxed environment as you savour an enjoyable drink and a deliciously crispy flammkuchen.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 37 COCKTAILS

ranked 58th in the world, and Lidkoeb, belonging to the same owners.

“Working at Ruby was a dream come true,” she says. “Its owner, Rasmus Lomborg, is the person whose example I’m following in what I’m doing. He has three kids, and as he puts it, three foster kids as well – his three bars.”

Whisper Sister: one bar’s story

Three bars

A year-and-a-half ago, in the basement of one of the prettiest buildings in Tallinn, the former stock exchange, a speakeasy by the name of Whisper Sister opened its doors. Although it has no sign hanging over its door, the bar continues to attract hordes of thirsty souls, drawn in by the lure of the ‘foreign’ experience it offers.

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he bar was deliberately designed to have the feel of 1920s New York, which is the vital component in any speakeasy – the clandestine bars that operated during Prohibition in the United States. These bars were often to be found in the basements of legally and morally acceptable restaurants (i.e. those which served no alcohol), and gaining access to them required you to know a secret code or for the barman to know your face.

The name of the bar itself is no coincidence, either: ‘whisper sister’ was the handle given to any drinking den in the USA at the time that was run by a woman. Hence the name of this new bar in Tallinn. Once you get past the first line of security (which is to say the front door), a red carpet guides you into a bar reminiscent in its way of Alice in Wonderland’s rabbit hole. At the heart of everything is the marble-topped bar itself and the backlit cascade of bottles stacked up behind it.

Open secret “I’ve been away from Estonia for 10 years, living in Australia, then Asia,

and the last few years studying in Denmark,” Irina explains. “But after all that time me and my then fiancé, Tarass Markin, wanted to move back here to Estonia, albeit continuing to work in the same field we had been. Or in other words, opening our own bar.”

Whereas most bars in Tallinn spring up when ‘graduates’ of other older bars strike out on their own, Whisper Sister tells a different sort of creation story. Namely, it imported the unique experience of a bar considered to be one of the 50 best bars in the world. Before heading off on her travels Irina worked in two bars in Tallinn: Moskva and Clazz. More recently, during her time in Copenhagen, she also worked in two bars: Ruby,

When the current owners of Whisper Sister (not only Irina and Taras, but also Jaanus Üksik and Kristin Kalmu) were planning their bar in Estonia, they made several trips from Copenhagen to Tallinn to scope the places out.

But even when the foursome found the space they were after, it was another six months of hard work before they could open their doors to customers. The place had previously been home to a shop, a fashion studio and a hairdressing salon, and the various spaces they utilised were merged to create Whisper Sister.

Irina says that in fact they plan to open three bars in Tallinn (no prizes for guessing where the inspiration for that came from!), each with its own look and feel, but added together creating a unique whole. In addition to their speakeasy, they hope to open a boutique cocktail lounge in hotel bar style, plus a larger cocktail club playing dance music and aimed at a younger crowd – something of a ‘front room of a night club’ sort of place.

“We want to create different environments for different situations,” Irina explains. “But we also want each bar to have its own distinct style. So we won’t be transforming Whisper Sister into a Clazz or Chicago, with live music and where the point is to serve as many people as possible. We’ve got our own style and our own approach, and we’re sticking to them.”

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Von Krahli Aed – the pure food embassy

Von Krahli Aed was the first restaurant in Tallinn to take a serious approach to vegetarian food, and like the Von Krahl Bar, the roots of the garden (aed in Estonian) are in the theatre.

I

n Aed’s case the auditorium needed to be renovated and expanded and a new roof had to be put in place, so the only solution was to purchase the neighbouring property. But in order to pay off the loan, money had to be raised – and so a restaurant was opened.

The godfather of contemporary trends Aed was established 15 years ago with a great deal of ambition, since not only would it focus on vegetarian food, but lean towards the organic in doing so. Unfortunately, at the time, none of these words meant very much to the average Estonian.

Since then Aed has become a restaurant where the keyword is ‘plantbased’. Showing a preference for local organic ingredients is no longer anything new, but Aed nevertheless has something of an edge where this is concerned, since the country’s very first eco-store, Ökosahver, was set up by the same person as the restaurant. This means that everyone

knows the local organic producers and that you can be sure everything at the restaurant is made from locally sourced ingredients.

The other principle that Aed has followed since the very beginning is that people with very different eating habits can find themselves sitting at the same table. The restaurant today is no longer 100% vegetarian, by design: its menu provides for the fact that there may be four people in a group, say, one of whom is gluten-intolerant, another of whom can’t eat eggs, another of whom doesn’t eat meat and the final member of which eats everything. The menu has been put together so that everyone will find something to their taste.

This is possible thanks to the upside-down menu, which means that whereas normally the ‘main character’ is at the heart of a dish (duck, for example) accompanied by garnishes and sides, the Aed menu approaches things the other way round: it pre-

sents dishes as a whole, leaving it up to the diners to choose, according to their preferences, what to add as the crowning feature.

For head chef Maru Metspalu, the main inspiration in creating the menu was plants – her love for them and for nature generally is clearly reflected in her creations, as she is a passionate picker (of mushrooms, berries, herbs and anything else she can find) and amateur gardener.

The drinks menu includes some eye-catching homemade schnapps, plus herb wine made to a secret recipe and the restaurant’s own craft beer. Even the wine menu comprises nothing but organic wines.

The pure food embassy

Von Krahli Aed is a permanent fixture in the top 10 restaurants in Tallinn on TripAdvisor, which is reason enough to come along, put together your own menu and discover this historic place at Rataskaevu 8 for yourself!

The moment Aed opened its doors it became the recipient of a prestigious award, being named the best renovated building in Tallinn at the time. What made the construction and renovation work innovative was the fact that all of the materials used were natural.

It is also worth mentioning that the building in which Aed is to be found is the oldest in its quarter, having been constructed in the early 15th century. As such, its history dates back to a time before Columbus had even discovered America.

Flags fly on the outside wall of the restaurant, where there is also a large sign reading Puhta toidu saatkond or ‘The embassy of pure food’.

Here it should be noted that the sign is 15 years old, summarising what the restaurant has been all about from the very start – it was not put up recently, when the whole organic trend had already passed by.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 39

BEERS

beer

The

revolution:

what is happening in the world of Estonian craft beers?

With the final legal obstacle to the brewing of craft beers removed five years ago, the market was flooded with new beers, new breweries, new brewers and new brands. Depending on whose figures you believe, there are currently more than 50 breweries in Estonia and more than 500 new beers.

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fairly stable hierarchy has developed on the craft beer market in the country since then, although innovative and exciting things are happening all the time, with Estonian breweries expanding their reach in Europe, new festivals being launched and prizes and awards being won.

Estonian brewery named one of the top 100 breweries in the world Users of the world’s biggest site for beer enthusiasts, RateBeer, have been voting on the 24,000 breweries around the globe – and Estonian brewery Põhjala has made it into the top 100. Moreover, its Rukkivein beer was voted into the top 50 of the 101,000 new beers that hit the market in 2017.

Enn Parel, a member of the management board of the Estonian Small Brewers Union and the CEO of Põhjala, describes these wins as

among the greatest recognition a beer or brewery can achieve. “I’m only half-joking when I say this is basically the beer Oscars we’re talking about, so this is huge for Põhjala and in fact for the entire craft-brewing community in Estonia,” he says.

“The quality and overall level of craft brewing in Estonia has come along in leaps and bounds over the last few years, and despite the... how can I put it? somewhat hostile alcohol policy, Estonia’s become a serious player in global terms.

It’s really gratifying to see that things that are being made in Estonia are enjoying breakthroughs and making a name for themselves all over the world, whether that’s tech innovations like Skype or solutions like Transferwise or something for the taste buds like our craft beers.

They’re standing out internationally and capturing people’s imagination for their flavour, which peo-

ple haven’t necessarily experienced before. Plus a lot of home brewers have grown in a very short time into considerable breweries that are grabbing people’s attention all over the world.”

Of the breweries voted the world’s best, 68 of the top 100 are to be found in North America, the remaining 32 in Europe. None of the breweries in Finland, Latvia and Lithuania feature in the rankings. Parel feels this recognition will mean a surge in interest from around the globe not only in Põhjala, but also other Estonian craft beers.

Pärnu’s beer-brewing hiatus is broken Pärnu City Council has rubber-stamped the transfer of building rights on the land at Rehepapi 28 in North-west Pärnu Industrial Park to the company Pernauer, which has promised to start brewing beer there by the end of next year.

Founded in 2016, Pernauer aims to produce both beer and kvass. To date the company has operated on a range of premises, but this fragmented approach has stifled development. The company has brewed both bottled and draught beer,

40 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS which are offered in restaurants and stores around Pärnu.

With six owners, Pernauer is willing to invest 250,000 euros (without taking out a bank loan) to set up a 120-square-metre complex and fit it with the necessary equipment. If these plans are a success, the 10-year hiatus in beer-brewing in Pärnu will come to an end.

New beer festival to knock on Kalamaja’s door Dozens of craft breweries have united to set up a new summer festival focussing on local craft beers, wines and ciders. The Estonian Small Brewers Festival aims to bring together the country’s best small producers and promote their drinks to a wider audience.

Gristel Tali, a member of the management board of the Estonian Small Brewers Union, is already telling everyone to mark the second weekend in July in their calendars, as the festival will be the first of its kind in the country and generate a lot of interest as a result.

“We’ve been working up to this for a few years now and finally this summer we’ll be throwing the gates open on a really exciting festival where there’ll be lots happening,” Tali says. “We’re aiming to showcase Estonia’s best brewers, the things they make and the traditions they follow. Craft beer culture

and craft wine and cider culture have reached a pretty remarkable level in the country in the last few years, and that’s what we want to shine the spotlight on.” Small brewers from all over Estonia will be taking part in the festival, giving visitors the chance to try and compare their products.

Of the breweries voted the world’s best, 68 of the top 100 are to be found in North America, the remaining 32 in Europe.

None of the breweries in Finland, Latvia and Lithuania feature in the rankings.

Tali says the organisers’ goal is to celebrate high-quality craft products and make people more aware of just how many small producers there are in Estonia enriching the market with their beers, wines and ciders. “Our small brewers have proven themselves on the global stage as makers of fine craft drinks,” she says. “But since what they make is a little more exclusive and a little more expensive than average, the festival format will give people the opportunity to try them in small amounts.”

Two Estonian craft beers find their way onto Swedish retail chain shelves Since April, the small brewers Tanker and Põhjala have been exporting Estonian craft beer to Sweden’s biggest retail chain ICA for distribution to all of its supermarkets nationwide. The initial order from the breweries was for 24,000 bottles, with future orders dependent on the sales of the beers in the Swedish stores.

The Estonian beers were selected by ICA as a result of a fiercely contested competition held every six months. Just four new beers were chosen for ICA’s range in spring, so the fact that two of them come from Estonian craft breweries is a mark of recognition of the high level of local small brewing.

“Although Sweden’s our neighbour across the Baltic Sea and you might expect Estonian products to be known there, it was a long, hard, very determined slog before we could start exporting,” says Jaanis Tammela, the director of Tanker and a member of the management board of the Estonian Small Brewers Union. “The feedback we’ve gotten so far though has been positive, so we’re quietly confident that Swedish beer-drinkers will give us the nod and that our beers will become firm favourites among our neighbours.”

Supermarkets in Sweden are only permitted to sell beer with an alcoholic volume of up to 3.5%, which is why both of the Estonian drinks that were selected are lighter, pale ale-style beers: Craft FM and Kreuzberg. Tanker’s Craft FM is light with a citrus flavour and a low alcoholic volume, while Põhjala’s Kreuzberg is a refreshing sour wheat beer that utilises lactic acid bacteria in its production.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 41

Tallinn’s picturesque Old Town is home to Von Krahl Bar, much loved by many, for whom it holds a great deal of memories.

But how did it come to be in the first place, and what makes it so special?

A legendary but constantly evolving rendezvous point

T

he bar’s history is very simple: founder Peeter Jalakas ended up in the building because he wanted to make theatre.

Since this was 1992 and there were only large-scale theatres in Estonia at the time, for a small venue to survive it had to find other ways of making money. Hence the decision to open a bar – which immediately filled with people, and it has remained that way ever since.

Colourful clientele, colourful history The bar has changed its appearance several times over the years, inside and out, but its principles have remained constant. Mainline is not held in particularly high regard here; people tend to prefer the alternatives, and you have to keep up with the times.

Plans are currently being made for the bar’s anniversary season as it notches up 25 years of operations.

Different times have meant different things for Von Krahl, but for the moment it is once again leaning towards live performances – wheth-

er that be theatre, a band or simply something ‘alive’, which is one of the bar’s keywords.

During the ’90s there was a distinct blues and rock feel to the place, and as unbelievable as it may seem today, different bands performed there every day, seven days a week. The bar has also gone through alternative club music phases, as well as punk periods, and has hosted all manner of parties. Based on its quarter-century of experience it might be said that these things go in cycles lasting six or seven years and that each new crowd the bar draws in expects something different.

All-day breakfast and the classics The building is home to a number of restaurants, but whereas in the past the bar has always been more of a place to drink and hang out rather than eat, it now has its own little kitchen, enabling it to offer a menu adapted especially for it of which the Von Krahl team are very proud.

One of the innovations of this menu is the all-day breakfast, available (as the name suggests) from early in the morning to late at night.

Another is the Krahl Pauls, coming from the word ‘bowls’, wherein you will find salads with a mix of hot and cold ingredients.

Then there are the Von Krahl classics, the best known of which is without doubt the torud or ‘pipes’. There was a push to remove this legendary dish from the menu a few years ago since it was felt they were a leftover from last century, but as soon as word got out about their imminent demise, a Facebook group was set up demanding that the torud remain on the menu. A surprisingly large number of people joined the group and made their voices heard, so the team had no choice but to leave the dish untouched.

Von Krahl Bar is also the Lehe brewery’s embassy in Tallinn, making the bar’s choice of beers noteworthy. You can also try the house craft beer, an enormous variety of gins and some exciting cocktails.

Von Krahl Bar is at Rataskaevu 10.

Everyone is welcome to discover this historical (and needless to say very cool) place for themselves!

43

OLD CAFES

The most historical places to eat in the capital Over the years, many of Tallinn’s cafés have been given a makeover.

We’ve witnessed the comings and goings of waitresses, the evolution of service culture and much more – some of it good, some of it less so. New cafés have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, to the point where even counting them is no longer the easy task it was a couple of decades ago.

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s the name suggests, cafés are first and foremost associated with coffee, but then of course also with tea and other hot drinks, as well as pastries and cakes. In the history of cafés there have been periods of full and partial prohibition, but today there are no such restrictions on alcohol. Whereas in the 1930s you may only have been able to get a beer or a glass of wine in certain cafés, the Soviet era saw alcohol-drinking traditions not only restored, but even expand. A range of alcohol was available in cafés in the 1960s and 1970s, although beer and vodka are not among the memories we have of café culture from that time.

Today the definition of a café has become much broader. During the first half of the 20th century, cafés were not somewhere that people would have lunch. It was only later, during the Soviet era, that some cafés in Tallinn started offering hot dishes, although many of them limited their menus to wieners and garnish.

Dancing has never been a thing in our cafés either. One exception, in the 1930s, was Marcelle, a café

Tuljak

whose premises are now home to the Maikrahv restaurant. A number of cafés did host dance evenings during the Soviet era, however: Tuljak, Romantik and Mustamäe.

The tradition of live music in cafés has always been much more modest in Estonia than that of music in restaurants. As strange as it may seem, music was even heard playing of an evening in canteens and bars that served food in the latter half of the 1940s and the early 1950s. Such places included the Viru, Kopli, Pelgulinn, Tervis, Hiiu

Maiasmokk

and Astoria canteens and bars, as well as the Nõmme Railway Station Buffet.

Right from the very beginning Estonia has never been far behind the rest of the world where cafés are concerned. A coffee house is known to have opened its doors in Narva as early as 1697, while the first café appeared in Tallinn in 1702. All that is known about the Tallinn café is that its owner was one Alphonso Tellado Carvallido and that it closed down at some point before 1725.

No further cafés are known to have operated in Tallinn for the next half-century, although a lack of records doesn’t mean for certain that there were none.

A number of cafés were opened in the 18th century, also calling themselves ‘taverns’, and offering both food and drink. For example, a café-like establishment is known to have been operating in 1871 where you could also play billiards. The owner, a citizen by the name of Gilly, later ran another establishment on Niguliste Street opposite the Hamburg Hotel. It operated as a café and also offered lodgings. At the same time, one Joseph Grigory was running a café at Pikk jalg 14.

The Vogt business, which was set up on Pikk Street close to the Great Coastal Gate, can be considered one of the city’s oldest cafés.

It relocated to the corner of Vana turu and Kuninga streets in 1799.

The aforementioned Hamburg continued to be held in high esteem as a café until the turn of the century.

44 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

Introducing Tallinn’s

many years it had a tiny but very cosy rival café as a neighbour.

oldest cafés...

Narva

Maiasmokk Ask anybody in Tallinn to name their favourite cafés and you can be sure most of them will mention the Maiasmokk café and confectioners. The older generation use just one word when talking about the beautiful building housing the café: Stude. What makes the place special is its age. Claiming to be the oldest café in the Baltic States, the confectioners has been a firm favourite since 1789. A shop has operated on the premises since 1917, if not a café per se. The name Stude is associated with the place’s owner, who was active on the premises from 1864-1940. People in Tallinn remember Maiasmokk in the 1970s mainly as a confectioners and bakery in which a modest, self-service, alcohol-free café sprang up. It was like a small bar with standing room only, albeit one in which a couple of tables had been forgotten in a corner.

Pegasus

Pegasus

Palace The Palace Hotel was constructed on the site of what had once been the Peetri Hotel in1936. Since the 1960s the side of the hotel facing onto Pärnu Highway has been home to a café that has undergone many changes of name, the longest-standing of which has been Palace. On the Freedom Square side of the building was a lovely little restaurant which, in the 1960s, had something of a jazz vibe.

The Palace attracts many passers-by, on foot and in their cars alike. It offers hot meals, and coffee is included in the price. In days of old, visitors to the café were attended by a doorman.

Energia The Energia café, which was also known as a tea bar during the coffee crisis, did away with waitresses in the 1980s. Affordable and both comfortable and convenient in its way, it has stood the test of time and attracts both locals and tour-

This café has been popular among many residents of Tallinn for decades. Originally a milk store, then a bar which also served food, the café has seen some times – and survived them all. As a space it has come in for its share of criticism over the years, but each and every time it has done what it can to improve and bounce back. It is praised for its service culture and the quality of its food, and is one of the few cafés in the city to retain traditional waitresses. Opened in 1960, the Narva café has lived through very different days. In its early years it even had tables on the pavement.

Maiasmokk

Pegasus has always been rather original, and in that sense worthy of its name. The café has a bohemian atmosphere, with its interior design adding a touch of spice. It is famous for having once been home to a pianino it is said no one was ever allowed to play. It may have been needed for art and literature evenings. In its early days Pegasus was both a café and a club, but it later opened its doors to just about everyone. Known for its philosophical feel, it was an offshoot of the Tallinn café, as a result of which it lacked a confectioners of its own.

The 1960s and 1970s are considered the golden age of the café. For quite a few years now it has had more of a contemporary restaurant feel.

Tuljak

Tuljak

ists. Memories of the café are associated with its glamourous white curtains and its jukebox, although back in the day the range of food on offer left rather a lot to be desired compared to the fare provided today.

The self-service café has always been a people-friendly place. For

The Tuljak café was opened in the late 1960s and quickly gained in popularity, not only among people from Tallinn: it would routinely draw in people from further afield.

Its appearance and atmosphere were influenced by its location and the flower pavilion next door. In its day it played host to live music evenings and was a venue for many live television broadcasts, especially on New Year’s Eve. In time the Tuljak café regenerated into the Carina restaurant, which itself has long since ceased operating.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 45

Authentic Thai tastes can be enjoyed in the Kingdom And fortunately, also at Tallinn Old Town!

Wondering what to do to spice things up on your dinner table or offer something truly special when a friend comes round? Go out in search of help! You’ll find it in an eye-catching Art Nouveau building in the historical heart of Tallinn that is now home to NOK NOK – a restaurant offering nothing but the best and most authentic flavours of Thai cuisine.

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uch a high level of expertise is offered by few. At Estonia or elsewhere. It is safe to say that the restaurant is as good as the best eateries at Bangkok. How is that possible? It’s simple—the leading lady of the kitchen has eagerly immersed herself in Thai culture and the country’s multi-faceted culture since childhood.

The Bangkok native Chef Pensiri Pattanachaeng (or Siri for locals) is without a doubt one of the best Thai cuisine specialists. She has been trying her hand and honing her skills with her family’s ancient recipes since she was little. Thus, you can expect nothing but the best from this restaurant. One by one, the table is laid with delicacies that have been made just like they have been in Thai homes for generations.

Before Siri arrived at Tallinn Airport with her suitcases, she managed

to perform great deeds elsewhere.

For example, the Time Food Awards simply had to recognise her work at restaurant Shakahari in India with the title of best Asian restaurant. Three years in a row!

The cooking in the South East Asian kingdom is special in a number of ways. It stands out for its wealth of flavours: these are dishes where spiciness, sweetness, sourness and saltiness meet in perfect balance. Even Thai street food is bursting with healthy ingredients. Taste and colour are added with vitamin-rich vegetables and seafood, as well as cuts of meat that are low in fat – good news for those watching their figure! Thai food makes for an exciting change from local fair and is always popular among tourists.

But that isn’t all! Things get exciting when all manner of herbs and the

motley crew of spices come into play.

These characters get the party started. Yet, people who enjoy less fiery experiences will not leave this restaurant hungry either. Everyone is welcome. Even children, as the most exciting ingredient in the kid’s menu is garlic. And even that is mild.

Even though some of the dishes offered may be familiar, you can spot some fascinating elements of foreign cultures in the interior design. Nordic minimalism is skilfully combined with eye-catching limestone, while the Thai accessories are the cherry on top. The dominating sand-coloured walls make the rooms bright and warm, owing to which many visitors don’t notice that the main and largest hall out of the four available is deep inside the building. NOK NOK will be opening its summer terrace in June, nestled in a private courtyard that can only be accessed from within the restaurant. It is the perfect place to soak up the summer sun in great company.

When you’ve had enough of goodies, the eatery’s seminar room equipped with all necessary accessories allows you to talk business on the spot. On Fridays and Saturdays you can enjoy delicious cocktails at the bar, accompanied by pleasant rhythms played by a DJ. Give the devil an inch and he’ll take a mile. The same goes for Thai cuisine. Once you’ve tasted it, there’s no going back. Some of you may be at a loss as how to proceed. There’s nothing to it—like master Siri, one must learn and experiment tirelessly. A great opportunity to do this is at the culinary school housed in the same location— about twenty “addicts” can hone their skills under the instruction of the restaurant’s brilliant chef.

NOK NOK’s doors are open to all those who love Thai food for its authentic and delicious flavours.

Restaurant NOK NOK awaits visitors who feel there’s something amiss with their body or soul.

Thai cuisine works wonders!

Vana-Posti 7, Tallinn www.noknok.ee

46 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

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bout six years ago life was quite meagre for vegans here. Finding vegan dishes, let alone gluten-free dishes, was like searching for a needle in a haystack even in the most progressive restaurants. And so, it seemed to the now owner and chef of Inspiratsioon Toomas Laigu that it was time to take matters into his own hands.

Having just returned from long travels in Southeast Asia, his head was fittingly full of ideas. In order to gather some more thoughts, he embarked on a journey in Europe to find a catchy name for the restaurant, among other things. The journey was slowly coming to an end when Toomas had a Eureka moment–as it was inspiration that he had gone looking for and found in abundance, Inspiratsioon (Estonian for inspiration) seemed like a perfectly suitable name for a restaurant.

Menu full of well-known dishes in vegan form Some cannot imagine their life without meat, unaware that this is largely a stubborn habit that should be challenged every now and then.

And for this reason, many meat lovers, men and women, have found their way to Inspiratsioon. If you try something new, it should be done with people who know about the subject in depth.

And there is more than enough knowledge here–from the kitchen to the pleasantly knowledgeable waiters and waitresses. No ques-

A refreshing vegan oasis in the heart of Tallinn Old Town Restaurant Inspiratsioon, which has been operating in Tallinn Old Town for some time now, has become the flagship of the local vegan scene. In addition to a permanent menu full of rich flavours and a wide colour spectrum, they also have delicious daily specials for their clients.

Pagari 1/Lai 44, Tallinn +372 5851 6232

tion remains unanswered here.

Therefore, those who do not know or think too much about veganism should also come to enjoy the exquisite culinary skills at Inspiratsioon. The mission of this vegan restaurant is to inspire people to eat with more awareness. And they have done an excellent job.

There are good old friends on the menu–different burgers, wraps and pizza–as well as more mysterious dishes, for example, exciting poke bowls. To find out what a dish is like or consists of, you should go see for yourself. It is worth a visit also for those who enjoy Estonian classics, such as potato salad, ham roll ups or black bread that is proudly acting as a bun around a tasty burger. All of this is vegan, of course, and made from mighty local components as much as possible.

Naturally you can indulge your sweet tooth here. Those who prefer something milder should start with a smoothie or raw cake.

But those who are into a serious sweet-rush should definitely try the spotted dog. While thirst can be clenched with exciting homebrew, ciders and local lemonades, thirst for knowledge can be alleviated with books on the shelves of Inspiratsioon, which you can enjoy snugly on the big terrace to immerse yourself in the fascinating world of cookery and veganism for hours. If you are more into active entertainment, you are welcome to demonstrate your card or board game skills.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 47 SCHNAPS

Sõstar & Suits,

i.e., what happens when an actress makes spirits At the beginning of the year, a small batch of liqueur from Tiina Tauraite’s fine drinks distillery Country Spirits entered the market. Only two hundred and fifty bottles of the drink called Sõstar & Suits (Currant & Smoke) caused quite a storm in the teacup of local gourmet drink admirers. The drink rocked their socks off, to say the least, from the first “bite”.

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nd it is a “bite” because Tiina Tauraite’s liquor attracts with its characteristic dense and rich texture, which resembles creamy blackcurrant jam rather than a clamorous aperitif/digestive.

As the name suggests, in addition to currants, there is a touch of smoke in the flavour as well as pepper, vodka and time. It is the latter component that takes this quite simple drink to heavenly heights.

Tiina Tauraite, who is primarily known as an actress, has moved on from preparing pepper vodka to making liquor, still using her old tricks with the new products. This is definitely one of the most awesome drinks in Estonia right now. If you don’t believe this, try it for yourself, shops are happy to offer a bottle in exchange for some money. And if this particular type is sold out, you can try its equally excellent brother– Sõstar & Pipar (Currant & Pepper).

Winner of the maitsed.ee liquor test:

Tiina Tauraite Country Spirits’ Sõstar & Suits “At the beginning of the tasting, the room fell silent and nobody had words to describe this drink on the go. When the first mumbling and mm’ing was over, the first comment made was: a true piece of art! Tauraite has bottled one of the richest and most balanced drinks of recent times, where all nuances work together but also individually: the chilli burns your mouth while enlivening the honey sweet flavour of the liquor, the currant makes you think of the summer and is sour in your mouth, the smoke reminds of the winter, the booze makes you pleasantly buzzy and nostalgia sneaks up upon you. Swirling the liquor in your mouth, it changes with each turn, constantly giving new food for thought. It is by no means a boring drink, each taste is a new experience–either the chilli dances in your mouth or the mild currant overflows, then light smoke emerges, reminding of grandmother’s country home. A treat for the taste buds that warms your body and spirit.”

Peat smoked chilli vodka “I have made this black currant liquor from Estonian berries and mild rye vodka. Inspired from scotch, I produced a strong eau de vie from peat smoked dried currants in a distillation pot and left it to age with the liquor. The final touch in the combination is light chilli. By now this drink has matured for a long time and will keep maturing in the bottle,” writes the producer about her drink.

Tauraite grows currants in her own garden and makes liquor from these, using the production of the only Estonian spirit distillery–the Moe distillery. The actress dries and smokes the berries extracted from the liquor with peat smoke and then ferments the berry skins again. She distils the result, adds chilli peppers grown in her own greenhouse and after a short ageing-period, adds the booze to the liquor.

The lengthy process ensures that each sip and bite carry the complete mixture of flavours that represents Estonia. If there is a bottle that should fit in any travel bag, this is the drink that should be chosen to characterise Estonia.

48 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

Lauri Laan: Estonia’s leading food photographer Photos: Lauri Laan

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stonia’s foremost food photographer over the last 10 years, Lauri Laan has never put together a collection of his 10 best photos. Not that there would be no interest in his shots – he has simply never trawled through his bulging portfolio picking favourites.

Working mostly for Köök magazine and the Eesti Maitsed portal, the self-taught Laan found his way to food photography rather randomly. It requires the soul of a gourmand to capture in a picture the flavour and aroma of a dish and how it sizzles or simmers.

But get ready: Parimad Restoranid magazine asked Laan to pick his 10 best shots, and he gladly obliged!

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 49

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WHERE TO DRINK?

The best bars in Tallinn Eating is good, but you have to drink too. And often, water or tea is not enough to evaporate the stress that has accumulated during the day or calm the heated emotions even a little bit. For that you still have to pay a visit to a night pub, where spirit-lifting music is being played and intoxicating drinks are being served. Bars of Tallinn, you’re on!

Author: Martin Hanson Photo: Vallo Kruuser, Madis Veltman

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he nightlife in Tallinn has in recent years undergone a rather impressive development that has been a long time coming: young barmen, who had played second fiddle to older barmen around Tallinn, left their home pubs to create something new, distinct, and their own. A slew of pubs and cocktail bars were opened with mixologists still wet behind the ears (most of them still men, but also a strong contingent of women) behind the counter.

Most of the benefits from that separation were reaped by the cocktail-lover, of course, who was treated to a new world of tipple, a palace of options and flavours.

Various competitions, mostly World Class, deemed to be as the best among the bartenders of the world, have done much to popularise the vocation and ca-

reer of bartenders. The competitions have turned barmen into rock stars and respected members of society once again.

So where to go in Tallinn for a little nightcap?

Tai Boh / Manna La Roosa Mere Puiestee 1 “If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how long we would have to describe all the good and wonderful things we have on offer …”

Two of the capital’s eating and drinking establishments with the most unique atmospheres are located on different floors of the same centuries-old house. On both floors there are a bunch of expert barmen busy behind the counter, the choice between floors is only whether the cocktails should be classical or with a spin, meals classical or rather Thai-flavoured.

Tai Boh, Tallinn’s newest and most special Asian fusion restaurant, located on the second floor, is strictly recommended for all gourmands and those looking for an experience in interior design. The restaurant’s crazy and amazing interior and the makings of the kitchen-team, lured over from top restaurants and consisting entirely of the citizens of the Kingdom of Thailand, are both worth checking out.

Manna La Roosa and its eccentricities do not miss a step in any way compared to its upper floor neighbour, but it has a slightly more humble and relaxing tone. The menu offers fish and beef, duck and salads for a meal or a bite. The cocktail chart is long with an emphasis on seasonal drinks.

Whisper Sister Pärnu maantee 12 The cellar of Estonia’s former stock market building houses a speakeasy type bar that has taken inspiration from the world’s best cocktails.

The bar, having hidden itself cosily in the building’s cellar, includes four different rooms and atmospheres to choose from, if you want to hide from the world as darkness falls. Do not be alarmed when you don’t find signs on the building pointing to the bar and the door for entering the bar is locked. Half of the pleasure comes from merely finding at the door a small note with a telephone number which you have to call to be let inside by the proprietor of this establishment. Some of Tallinn’s best cocktails are being mixed together before everybody’s eyes and the mixologists with World Class ex-

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS perience take the risk in mixing ingredients into the shaker according to the whims of the drinker. Every cocktail is a piece of art in itself.

ing both domestic and foreign craft beer has made its home. The tab offers the newest and most aromatic worts from all over the world, the entire beer selection will certainly make your eyes pop. This is a classic speakeasy type of greasy spoon where the main focus is on beer and socialising. Enjoy a glass or two of good beer, socialise with the locals, and soon its already time for a meal.

Sigmund Freud Sauna 8 Cocktails and ego! This bar, which has been enriching the bar-scape of the capital as of May last year, is a great place for an ego-boosting cocktail (or several), a thorough psychoanalysis or just for a cosy hang-out. Support for a rowdy or less-than-rowdy evening in the bar that got its name from one of the most famous neurologists in the world is provided by a dusky atmosphere, rich cocktail selection, and first-rate client service.

Don’t be afraid to step to the counter and try to locate your ego inside your muddled brain, the barmen will gladly give you a hand. The favourite spot of every cocktail fan.

Frank Underground Sauna 2 The bar, housed at Sauna Street, at the cellar floor of a bistro of the same name, has taken most inspiration from the traditions and culture of private and social clubs in London, Paris, and New York. The low light at the bar, shadowy and dusky atmosphere, dark leather furniture, and warm tunes prepare everything for a pleasant time. And, of course, the cocktail chart, which always includes amazing mixes and surprises, brand new alcoholic beverages. For example, right now the currently trending mezcal has been taken under observation and testing. One should also point out Frank Underground’s non-alcoholic menu and their special attention to the Arnold Palmer mix of ice tea and lemonade, named after the famous American golfer.

Dissident Cocktails & Curiosity Magasini 31 Not tired yet? Fancy a little cocktail? Let’s take a taxi and ride to the edge of the city to the prison’s outbuilding. The creators of this bar, or rather a liquor lab, call this place an association of freelance-barmen. Established by a bunch of Estonian barmen as a “trial area” to sharpen their skills, turned all of a sudden into such a hot name in the local cocktail landscape that one had trouble finding a free spot in the small bar room. The bar offers to taste the best cocktails in Tallinn and raw ingredients still being tested. If you decide to pay a visit to Dissident Cocktails & Curiosity don’t be startled when the taxi driver takes you to a suburb near the city.

Everything is fine, the location is correct. P.S. Dissident Cocktails & Curiosity is open only on Friday and Saturday from 21:00, it is recommended to book places by phone beforehand.

Butterfly Lounge Vana-Viru 13 Tallinn’s oldest cocktail bar, created solely by barmen, with its primary focus on cocktails and shakers, everything else just an accessory and a garnish. Butterfly Lounge and its creators specifically are the grandfathers of Estonian pub cul-

Pudel Baar Telliskivi 60a Estonia’s first gourmet beer pub is located at the Telliskivi district, the capital’s newest and most flourishing district, which accumulates the city’s best tastes and flavours. In the middle of these a little white house with its eye-catching neon signs catches, which Pudel, a pub offer-

The inside of Tai Boh is like a mind of an LSD user, full good of weirdness.

51

ture who were giving a boost for several young mixologists who by now have opened their own small or big cocktail establishments.

Kristo Tomingas and Heinar Õispuu, the barmen owning the Butterfly Lounge with its colourful butterfly-like interior, have won more than 50 international awards between the two of them. In the evenings the bar is roaring, during daytime various dinners and main courses are being served.

Butterfly Lounge is for those who expect a somewhat glamorous evening, yet also a jolly, personal, and warm service and the capital’s longest cocktail menu. As the saying goes, if Butterfly doesn’t have a drink to your taste, it hasn’t been invented yet. So now is the time for it ... with the capital’s best cocktail shakers lending a helping hand.

Valli Baar Müürivahe 14 We are forced to believe that this local pub pre-dates even the medieval city walls and that its core clientele roamed the earth alongside the dinosaurs. One of the oldest bars in Tallinn can also be seen as a museum of drinks and people, of culture and traditions. Valli Baar is a no fuss, straightforward drinking hole where live music from a lonely accordion can make you smile or weep. A lot of the people you’ll meet here have been coming to Valli Baar for ages and quite frankly seem to have become one with their chairs.

This makes finding a seat in this place less than easy. Come see and feel the real musk of Tallinn night life.

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Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

A true pub experience at

Beer Garden

One of the cosiest pubs in Tallinn where you can pick and choose from numerous beer varieties and from where you’ll never leave hungry is located on the outskirts of the Old Town at Inseneri 1.

A paradise for beer enthusiasts Beer Garden is known as a true paradise for beer enthusiasts—its selection includes 14 varieties of draft and 25 of bottle beers. Here, you can taste Estonian brews as well as the best Scottish, US, Swiss, Belgian, Czech and German beers. Women especially like the cherry-flavoured Belle vue Kriek, while the clients’ favourites in general are Leffe Blond, and, of course, the old Estonian besties A. Le Coq Premium and dark Must Nunn. If you don’t like beer, the drinks menu is long and you can pick something else. The restaurant offers wines and spirits, cocktails and shots.

Enjoy genuine pub food with your beer You can’t drink beer just like that— you need to get a snack to go with it. Beer Garden offers both appetisers and main courses.

The chef’s recommendation for the ladies is the antipasti that include four kinds of cheese, ham and salami, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, onion-wine jam and toast. Those who want a more fulfilling snack platter

can enjoy the hot starter for four.

Still, our chef says it’s really enough even for six guys. The rich snack selection includes cheese balls, onion rings, calamari rings, chicken wings, chicken skewers, chicken pouches, crisp chicken-boletus dumplings, German sausages, potato peels and mozzarella sticks.

Main course dishes are also ample. The most popular one is the pork shank baked at a low heat with a side of sauerkraut stewed in dark beer, pickles and marinated red onion. Patrons who seek more exciting tastes can order the red deer sirloin or elk sausage.

Burger lovers can choose between three goodies: BBQ, Caesar burger and the house burger with a 280 g beef patty.

Apple-cinnamon dumplings with vanilla ice cream and cocoa-pistachio pie with pink peppercorn are worth mentioning from the dessert selection.

One thing is certain—you won’t leave on an empty stomach!

Come and watch sporting events with your friends Beer Garden is not only a beer restaurant—it is also a sports bar. Patrons who enjoy following sports events can take advantage of the large screens and projector that allow them to view sporting events or other important broadcasts live.

It’s no problem for Beer Garden if you arrive without notice with a company of 30 to 40 people—there is plenty of room for everyone. You can organise corporate parties, birthdays and conveniently order a three-course group menu for your event at the restaurant. Booking live music or asking the chef to cook something special is also no hassle—you only need to ask.

In summer, Beer Garden has an outdoor terrace where you can bask in the sun, drink excellent beer and watch the tourists bustling around nearby.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 53 COFFEE CULTURE

316 years of café culture in Tallinn: the first local café was established

by Alphonso Tellado Carvallido, a Spanish gentleman.

Tallinn’s café culture will celebrate its 316th birthday this July. The first known café in Tallinn was opened in 1702 by a Zaragozan called Alphonso Tellado Carvallido, most likely at the address Raekoja plats 12.

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he word kohv (coffee) is thought to have been borrowed into the Estonian language from Low German, which is odd because at the time when coffee reached this land, Low German had receded to the status of a dialect-like spoken language in Estonia. Be as it may, the word originates from Arabic and refers to the kingdom of Kaffa in Ethiopia, home of the coffee plant.

Coffee and coffee houses reached Europe in mid-17th Century via Turkey. The first cafés appeared in harbour towns: in Paris in 1643 or 1672, in Venice in 1645, in London in 1652, in Marseille in 1654, (1671), in Vienna as late as in 1683.

The first café proprietors were usually Armenians (in Vienna, Paris), Greeks, Sicilians, Spaniards, at whose homeland coffee had been introduced earlier than elsewhere.

In Germany, the first cafés were opened in Hamburg in 1679 and in Leipzig in 1694.

Coffee is first mentioned as an imported commodity in Tallinn’s ship books in 1694. In the following years, coffee was ordered from Holland increasingly more frequently and in larger amounts; precious coffee grinders and other items connected to coffee (cups, pots, etc.) started to be imported.

The first Estonian coffee house was opened in 1697 in Narva. The

first records of a café opened in Tallinn date back to 1702. While we know practically nothing about that café, more information is available about the owner.

Alfonso Tellado Carvallido and the first café in Tallinn On 29 July 1702 Alfonso Tellado Carvallido from Zaragoza, Spain, submitted a petition to the Tallinn town council to receive citizenship rights.

On 21 October 1702 Alfonso became a citizen of Tallinn; for that, he had to reject Catholicism and accept

the Lutheran faith. He is identified as a café proprietor in the citizens’ ledger (Caffe Schenker, a proprietor of a coffee house, pourer of coffee). Already in the same month, Alfonso was married to Christina Påhl, a Swedish lady, at the St. Michael’s Swedish Church. Christina died the next year in October. In 1704 Alfonso remarried and took Catharina (née Wernitz), widow of sailor Tõnnis Tiesen, as his wife at the Tallinn St. Olaf congregation.

At the same time, Alfonso requested a permit for opening a coffee house in town and asked for an exemption from paying contributions (war taxes) to the town. The Tallinn town council probably did not provide an exemption from paying war duties to Alfonso in 1702 and it most likely wasn’t even authorised to make such a decision. In March 1705 Carvallido submitted a petition to the king of Sweden through the governor’s office and requested to be exempted from the obligation to provide accommodation for the military that was a great burden on the burghers at the time. The café was opened on the town hall square despite all the hardships.

In the town of Tallinn (the area surrounded by the city wall), the main entertainment establishments were wine cellars. Coffee was a new thing, just like the custom of drinking coffee, as it began to spread only in the last decade of the 17th Century. Unfortunately, we don’t know how the company exactly functioned and what was offered there in addition to coffee, but it has been mentioned together with the town’s wine cellars in the town’s orders. For example, the town government of Tallinn emphasised on 2 January 1703 that “no coffee house or wine cellar may be open after 10 o’clock in the evening upon pain of arrest”.

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Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

A slice of genuine Mexico

on the outskirts of Kadriorg Park

Right in the heart of Kadriorg, on the corner of Weizenbergi and Poska St, there is a cosy spot that offers nice and spicy Mexican tastes and culinary experiences. The eatery was established back in 1997, which probably makes Cantina Carramba one of the oldest restaurants that still operates in the same location in Estonia.

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hile most of the local establishments have taken the safe route and feed the hungry with dishes from Estonia’s neighbouring states, Carramba is a refreshing exception, as it treats clients with Tex-Mex delicacies and Mexican cuisine.

As we know, Mexico is a large country and therefore it is quite complicated to clearly define its cuisine. Each state offers their personal vision of national dishes. Just like the local soil conditions, climate and vegetation allow. One thing is certain—the entire party revolves around beans, corn and chilli. The versatility of the dishes that can be made of this golden trio is astonishing! Simply open Carramba’s menu and see for yourself.

Tortillas are also one of the undisputed favourites of this tem-

peramental nation. While Estonians accompany almost every meal with a slice of bread, Mexicans do the same with tortillas. It is not rare to use this tasty thin bread made of corn or wheat flour with various fillings instead of a knife and fork.

Those who think all Mexican dishes are spicy are entirely mistaken. Chilli may be the reason behind that misconception. It is actually possible to make delicious delicacies that contain this wonderfully warming and mood-enhancing seasoning with various degrees of spiciness. Consult your server or pay attention to how many red chillies are marked next to a dish in the menu to select the food you’d enjoy best.

In addition to the most famous Mexican dishes, Carramba also offers Tex-Mex food that has been

somewhat adjusted to our Nordic tastes. The Tex-Mex phenomenon is a hybrid created on the border of Mexico and the state of Texas that involves all kinds of burritos, tacos, tortillas, chilli, beans, avocado and corn from the Mexican side and melted cheese, grilled meat and cumin from the Texan side. This results in really badass dishes: chilli con carne, chilli con queso and fajita.

Every client has their personal favourites. However, we can’t deny that stuffed jalapeños, quesadillas, avocado cream soup, burritos with various fillings, enchiladas and fajitas have been the hits of the establishment throughout the ages. Grilled beef has also been praised by the customers. Similarly to North Mexicans, the chefs here fry it on open fire on a lava stone grill. To achieve the perfect result, Carramba offers sauces and dressings with various levels of spiciness that have been cooked and prepared on the spot. Many patrons have also highly recommended the tea and coffee drinks with fascinating extras as well as the margaritas.

You don’t need to go on an exhausting trip that lasts twenty hours and involves endless connecting flights to get acquainted with the Mexicans’ boisterous and cheerful temperament and cuisine.

Just go and visit restaurant Cantina Carramba to taste this distant culture in a stylish Mexico-inspired establishment amongst the cacti and sombreros.

More information is available at http://www.carramba.ee/.

Bienvenidos a Carramba!

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 55 GRILL RESTAURANTS

Fiery flavours and sizzling sensations

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ummer has got off to a blistering start, which means that everyone in Estonia has gone into barbecue overdrive, grilling away from dawn till dusk. It is a well-known fact that every single person in the country has their own barbecue (in fact several of them), and they have long since undergone their annual baptism of fire, with kilo upon kilo of meat and sausages already sacrificed to the flame.

Quite how much Estonians love barbecuing is difficult to put into words. Which is why we express it using flavours instead.

At some point in spring, restaurants add grill dishes to their menus. Some of them transfer the cooking of dishes that are already on the menu to the barbecues outside.

Others take the whole thing so seriously that as summer approaches they slough off their old skin and change their entire concept.

At one such place, reborn as a grill restaurant , the two head chefs seem to sum up everything that we Estonians love about barbecuing. Situated in the heart of Tallinn is The Grill House, where chefs Martin Ludvig and Robert Piho are convinced that where Estonians are concerned, summer simply would not be summer without dishes grilled over an open flame. Luckily, people in the country have moved beyond grilling nothing more than chunks of meat marinated in vinegar, and are also chucking plants, root vegetables and fish onto the barbecue.

Piho says that the unseasonably good start to the season weather-wise has kick-started the annual grill-mania and that not only are meat and sausages flying off the supermarket shelves like hot potatoes, but those eating out are already showing a preference for all things seared in flames. This, he says, is one of the reasons why the

restaurant formerly known as Mehed Köögis has rebranded itself The Grill House for the summer season.

New name, same love for meat “What can you do?” Piho shrugs.

“Estonians are a grilling nation.” The restaurant uses a unique Mibrasa barbecue – the only one of its kind in the country – to grill its food. The barbecue is renowned for making it technically possible to achieve world-class quality in grilling.

Piho reveals that his one true weakness is seafood. “And when you throw seafood on the barbecue it’s absolutely crucial that you get the timing right,” he says. “Rubbery prawns or fish that have been grilled to death are every chef’s, and for that matter every backyard barbecuer’s, worst nightmare.” He explains that prawns need no more than a minute-and-a-half each side and should be taken off the grill as soon as they attain a good pink colouring. “If you squeeze a bit of lime or lemon juice on them you should bear in mind that it’ll help cook them as well, so there’s no need to worry that they’ll still be raw,” he adds.

The Grill House’s other head chef, Martin Ludvig, has tips for those grilling meat. “The one thing you need most of when you’re barbecuing meat is patience,” he says.

“You can’t just take it out of the fridge, chuck it on the barbecue and then tuck straight in.” He advises leaving the meat to stand at room temperature for half an hour before putting it on the barbecue and then for a further 3-5 minutes after grilling so that the juices are retained.

In addition to seafood and meat the newly monickered restaurant has something for vegetarians, since the chefs say demand for such dishes has also grown enormously.

“Our barbecued cauliflower steak’s been a big hit,” Ludvig reveals.

Tallinn’s top five grill restaurants 1. Pull Rotermanni 2, Tallinn Pull is owned by renowned master-barbecuers Enn Tobreluts, Hanno Kuul and Andres Tuule, who opened the restaurant in 2016. Tobreluts is an internationally recognised trainer in barbecuing and grilling. Kuul and Tuule have also been working in the catering and restaurant industry for years, with a great deal of experience between them in food preparation and serving alike.

Pull aims to offer the best-quality steaks, meat grilled at low temperatures and a delicious range of grill dishes. Naturally, excellent wines and other beverages have a place in the restaurant, too. The team uses only the best raw ingredients from leading farms all over the world, including local meat from the island of Saaremaa. Fire plays a major role here – the majority of the dishes are grilled over an open flame, and some even within the charcoal itself. One of the restaurant’s signature dishes is Tobreluts’ famous dirty steak, which is cooked in this way.

56 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 4. Estonian Burger Factory Pärnu mnt 41a, Tallinn Estonian Burger Factory’s story began in Kadriorg in Tallinn in 2012 when the guys behind it started grilling burgers in their yard, with customers generally buying them to take away. Their reputation as some of the best burgers in the city soon spread throughout the capital. In 2014 they opened their first restaurant proper, christening it the Estonian Burger Factory.

It became the first restaurant in the country to apply for the ecolabel designed for catering companies by the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board. It exclusively uses local organic beef and lamb for its burgers, steaks and other products. As the team themselves say, the Estonian Burger Factory holds local produce in high regard.

2. The Able Butcher F. R. Kreutzwaldi 23, Tallinn The Able Butcher’s story starts at a Black Angus ranch in Creekstone, Kansas. Black Angus beef is dry-aged for 28 days before being stored in the restaurant’s aging room, where it is left to improve further before being used. Before it is grilled, the meat is marinated in a mixture of herbs and other seasonings created by the restaurant itself. The highest-quality, masterfully prepared steaks and grilled fish as well as the traditional desserts will tickle the taste buds of everyone who dines here. The Able Butcher offers a wide range of wines, with a particular emphasis on reds. The wine room by the entrance stands as testament to the restaurant’s unwavering dedication to quality wines.

In summer the restaurant opens a sunny, oasis-like terrace, where the beautiful views over the neighbouring park and towards the city are the perfect accompaniment on a warm summer’s evening to a refreshing glass of champagne. If you want meat, The Able Butcher is the place to come to.

3. The Grill House Pärnu mnt 2, Tallinn Since May, the restaurant formerly known as Mehed Köögis has gone by the name of The Grill House. It is home to the same skilled chefs, the same friendly team and the same cosy space, but has a new, simple and delicious menu. A love for grilling and a shared wish to treat diners to some true taste sensations are the ideas behind the new restaurant.

Leading the team are head chefs Martin Ludvig and Robert Piho, who have pulled in other good friends of theirs to help them out. Together they are filling the kitchen with masculinity, masterliness and ingenuity. The focus is on meat and fish, straight from the barbecue.

5. Goodwin The Steak House Viru 22, Tallinn Goodwin is the only restaurant in the Baltic States and Scandinavia based on the experience and traditions of a classic American steakhouse. It was started by true experts in their field, who know exactly what an authentic steakhouse should be like. Having familiarised themselves with the concept over many years in the United States and Australia – the pioneers in beef steak culture and countries where steakhouses have achieved nationwide cult status – the team can rightfully claim that the dishes they offer are every bit as good as anything you would get at an American steakhouse, with all of the features you would expect them to have. Goodwin’s success can be attributed to both rational factors, those being its professionally prepared steaks made from the highest-quality beef, as well as the emotional aspect of its concept, as reflected in the restaurant’s name.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 57

Stenhus Restaurant Combines Romantic Cosiness with Exquisite Culinary Delicacies

2018 marks 20 years since Schlössle Hotel and its accompanying Stenhus Restaurant opened their doors to offer guests impeccable service and gastronomic delights. In this charming and intimate restaurant located in a historical merchant’s house, guests can enjoy a crackling log fire and timeless atmosphere during the winter season and one of the city’s greenest and quietest outdoor terraces in the summer months.

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pened in 1998, Schlössle Hotel was the first accommodation facility in Tallinn to offer five-star service and remained the only one of its kind for the first five years of operation. The accompanying Stenhus was also one of the few fine dining restaurants in the city at the time, which is why its popularity was quick to grow.

Now, 20 years later, the hotel and restaurant continue to offer the same flawless five-star service they are known for.

The 23-room boutique hotel situated in a 14th century merchant’s house has been skilfully restored to preserve its historical value and the dignified nature of the 500-yearold building can also be felt in the restaurant.

The interior design highlights the original details and glimpses of the classic slate architecture reflect the archaic nature of the medieval

merchant’s house even today, with soft lighting and romantic ambience complementing the look.

Medieval roof beams, restaurant tables donned in white cloth, soft light emanating from candles and

the fireplace create a unique atmosphere, which can only be found in Stenhus. The restaurant’s intimacy and timeless romantic ambience has helped to maintain its popularity over the years.

During the autumn-winter period, the restaurant operates inside; in summer, guests are welcome to the private summer garden behind the building where they can enjoy quiet greenery right in the heart of the city.

Guests can treat themselves to a tasty summer menu, drinks, live music and pop-up barbecues where delicious dishes are prepared right in front of them.

Chef Timofei Monakhov’s recipes are inspired by the works of world-famous artists. This is also reflected in the menu, which is presented as a picture gallery where each artwork reveals the look of the dish, its ingredients or other details that relate to the food that is being prepared.

However, guests can soon explore an entirely new art gallery. In addition to international classics such as foie gras torchon, the new spring menu includes delicious dishes made of local Estonian ingredients: Estonian roe deer fillet with wine and barberry sauce, surf and turf consisting of roe deer tartare complemented by mackerel and goat cheese & honey ice cream are only few of the delicacies featured in Stenhus’ spring menu from March onwards.

58 Attention! This is alcohol. Alcohol may be hazardous to your health!

The glamorous giftbottle of Vana Tallinn liqueur.

tory of Tallinn, which is now called Liviko. This sweet drink that tasted totally unique back then still consists of Jamaican rum, vanilla, the essential oils of various citrus fruit and other ingredients. The exact recipe is kept a secret. The key persons in creating Vana Tallinn were Liviko’s legendary head liqueur distiller Ilse Maar, head of the bottling department Bernhard Jürno and the factory’s head distiller Jaan Siimo.

“Even before the war, Siimo tasted a special liqueur in France and dreamt of creating something similar in Estonia,” distiller Maar said in an interview some time ago.

Why Vana Tallinn?

SCHNAPS

The Legend of

Vana Tallinn Rum-based liqueur Vana Tallinn (Old Tallinn) is definitely the drink that has contributed the most to introducing Estonia in the world for more than 65 years. Historically, one sixth of the planet (the Soviet Union) considered this a window to the West; while on the other side of the Iron Curtain, the liqueur was like a silent and intoxicating envoy from the icy North.

Author: Martin Hanson Photo: Liviko

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hy has a liqueur blended from tastes and ingredients entirely alien to Estonians (rum, vanilla, aniseed) achieved the status of legend, if not Estonian archetype? Bland and tame on the outside, hot, reveling and boisterous on the inside. More

than 120 million bottles of the drink have been launched from the factory line in Tallinn on Sossi Hill.

The birth of the “Oldy” The production of liqueur Vana Tallinn started in September 1962 at the then Liqueur and Vodka fac-

In addition to the name “Vana Tallinn”, other possible options included Vana Toomas and... Kevade Uim (Ecstasy of Spring). We’re not joking! Fortunately, Vana Tallinn was the most popular moniker. The city traditions, cobbled streets, romantic lanterns, mystery and towers, i.e., the special and unique Old Town of Tallinn, the Paris of the Eastern Bloc, gained the upper hand.

Not only a drink but also a condiment Vana Tallinn is not only an alcoholic drink. The Oldy has many more nuances than it seems at first glance.

This sweet but richly flavoured liqueur is also wonderful for seasoning meat dishes. Vanilla, aniseed and the crispness of rum are wonderful additions to, e.g., beef marinade that is stewed for a long time. Likewise, the liqueur adds depth and character to wince sauces served with duck. One of the best combinations, however, is to use Vana Tallinn instead of cognac in making creamy pâté. The sweet undertones and spices add glamour to the liver paste.

Although there might not be many homes where Vana Tallinn is a staple anymore, we need not fear the Communist heritage of the drink’s early years. It pays to have excellent Estonian liqueur at home—if you don’t drink it, use that liquid sunshine to season food.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 59

0 % alcohol 0% ALCOHOL

What to drink in bars if you’re not in the mood for alcohol?

When you sit down in any restaurant, bar or café in Estonia, you will see that the food and drink selection is no different from other capitals in the world.

And if it is, then only in one category... non-alcoholic drinks, where we are stuck in the olden days.

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hile there are some eateries where the selection of mocktails, non-alcoholic beers, wines, ciders and other alcohol-free drinks is impressive, in most places you still have to settle with either coffee, tea or the sweetened products of the Coca-Cola Company.

In some places where they make their own lemonade, iced tea or smoothies, they contain carcinogenic amounts of sugar. And the situation is the same in venues where they offer a selection of non-alcoholic cocktails. In conclusion, no one pays attention to this segment. And the astonishing part is that people are willing to pay generous amounts for non-alcoholic cocktails, sometimes raising the profit of the bar to 1,000%. People do not know how to do business in this field.

When I tasted the 24 cocktails as a jury member at the Estonian championship of non-alcoholic cocktails that took place at beginning of this month, I realized that non-alcoholic cocktails often offer a stronger taste sensation

than the mixes based on vodka, mescal, rum or gin. When preparing water-based cocktails you have to give them the “right” taste to fool people’s senses and to offer an emotion equal to alcoholic beverages. It is possible, but right now only 3–4 top barmen in Tallinn are able to make amazing water-based cocktails.

There might be several reasons for not wanting to consume alcohol: You do not feel like drinking on a particular evening, you have health issues or you are the designated driver. But non-alcoholic drinks—mocktails, lemonades, wine, cider, beer—can also be consumed for pure enjoyment, the wish to experience different tastes.

Since the magazine is called Best Restaurants, the taste nuances are the most important criterion for evaluating these drinks, followed by their healthiness. Menus and offering an alternative to alcohol are a matter of variety.

Mocktails The fancy and playful name signifies all non-alcoholic cocktails and mixed beverages. The idea behind them is that the barman will use his full arsenal, excluding alcohol. That makes preparing the drink harder—you need to play more; the texture and foam become crucial. Those are the two elements that can make or break the drink and make it even

better than the best alcoholic mixes. There is also the question of adding some sugar to the drink, since it affects the pleasure centres of the brain and can thus offer support to the placebo effect so that you may feel a bit “drunk” after finishing the mocktails.

Non-alcoholic beers and cider The history of non-alcoholic beer is more exciting than one would assume. It originates from the United States in 1919 when the prohibition laws were put in place and breweries started looking for their niche. Beer drinkers wanted to continue their habit and the prohibition law allowed to manufacture, bottle, sell and drink beer with an up to 0.5% alcohol content. So they started making non-alcoholic beer and extracting alcohol from cider on the same grounds.

Non-alcoholic wine? Grape juice?

With non-alcoholic wine there is always the question of what distinguishes it from regular grape juice.

First of all, it does not contain sugar, secondly there is a strong presence of tannin and thirdly the tastes that are characteristic to wine, like the flavour of the barrel and other processes that wine goes through in the course of ageing. Taste it yourself and figure out whether it makes sense or is just a pose.

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Classic modern

Estonian cuisine 7ÜRTI is a small and cosy restaurant on the outskirts of Kadriorg welcoming patrons since May 2016, and its cheerful staff welcomes you with open arms regardless of whether you are here for a quick yet high-quality lunch break or have come in the evening to relax in the restaurant’s peaceful atmosphere, enjoy a glass of wine and a delicious meal with a special someone.

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estaurateur and Chef Janek Villerman has worked as a chef in various restaurants for more than 21 years, and finally got the idea of opening his own place. Janek has travelled the world, collected many splendid recipes and believes that combining various spices and raw produce as well as using these in a skilled and novel manner can reveal new, thus far unknown tastes, even in the case of dishes we know well.

Something for every taste The menu features a multitude of very different dishes of different origin, and any visitor will find something they enjoy. The patrons can also choose whether and how spicy they want their meal to be. Even in case of various dietary preferences it is possible to make substitutions and changes in the dishes according to the client’s wishes.

The chef’s experience and vision help to create the restaurant’s

seasonally changing menu, which uses as much local produce as possible. In addition to the main menu the restaurant also occasionally has some specials when an especially good and inspiring raw product is on the market.

Familiar tastes with a little twist Estonians love familiar tastes—this is why the menu includes buckwheat, beef liver, fresh potatoes, chanterelles etc.—staples still used in Estonian homes. On the other hand, such dishes provide an excellent opportunity for tourists to get acquainted with local food culture.

At the same time, foreign ingredients such as olive oil, ginger, wakame from Asia are used in cooking or bold combinations such as buckwheat with mushrooms or salmon, which enable the patrons to enjoy local food in a modern key are employed.

Herbs have pride of place The restaurant 7ÜRTI certainly values the use of herbs. The name of the restaurant—7ÜRTI (7 herbs)—derives from the fact that they use a lot of herbs and create various luxurious tastes with them.

The quality of the raw produce is also of utmost importance to the chef and a matter of principle taken most seriously, with responsibility and respect—anyone who visits 7ÜRTI can be certain that the food is truly healthy, delicious and made of high-quality produce.

The restaurant also bakes its own bread and prepares juice drinks every morning; various desserts highly praised by customers are also made on the spot.

Additional information can be found on the restaurant’s homepage www.7urti.ee or you can go and see the place yourself at J. Vilmsi 45 in Tallinn.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 61 COLUMN

Food is no longer the most important aspect of the restaurant business What makes a top-tier kitchen and how to distinguish one masterfully crafted dish from another? Naturally, the devil is in the details: flavour combinations, skilful processing of ingredients and correct execution. But how to compare restaurants as wholes—what are the most and least important things to pay attention to?

Author: Martin Hanson Photo: private collection

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n late 2017, the Nordic restaurant White Guide revealed the best Baltic restaurants of 2018 in Tallinn. The 2016 winner Vincent in Riga was left in the dust as Noa Head Chef Hall took its place as the best restaurant in the Baltic states.

The title was won fair and square and each of the 30 Baltic restaurants that received a rating showed excellent results.

However, when we look at the White Guide in numbers—restaurants receive ratings in different categories, the most important of which is naturally the food—we can spot a common denominator in these restaurants. In most cases, the winner is decided not on the basis of fine food, but everything that sur-

rounds it in the restaurant. Food and the chefs who prepare it are simply very good at their job.

As expected, the quality of the food offered by the White Guide’s best and weakest restaurants varies considerably—the best restaurant in Estonia, Noa Head Chef Hall, scored 91 points in total, including a whopping 37 for food, while Polpo in Tartu, which ranked the lowest, received 60 points, of which 23 were given for food.

If we look at the magic of numbers more closely, it becomes clear that the restaurants’ gastronomic levels are relatively equal in their own category (the restaurant guide divides restaurants in five categories: Global Masters Level, Masters

Restoran Noot

Level, Very Fine Level, Fine Level and an honourable mention). However, those who offer more than just food are more likely to win—be it a better wine list, attentive communication and meticulous service, comfy chairs, a clearer price policy, cosy lighting, softer toilet paper, comfortable room temperature, colder cocktails, more aromatic coffee or something else.

Visiting a restaurant is an event, a wholesome emotional journey centred on food, yet this is not the only and most important creator of a sense of well-being. A restaurant visit is successful when you leave with a warm feeling in your stomach, a fizzy sensation in your head and a smile on your face. This, however, is a result of a complicated equation that includes a large variety of variables and relies heavily on chance.

There are clear examples of how a restaurant with plainer food is saved by excellent service and interior design. In contrast, even the most delicious food can be overshadowed by the restaurant’s location or its serving style. White Guide and its criticism is obviously a case of fine tuning, because all of these restaurants deserve to be hailed as the best in the Baltic states for their high quality.

Five years ago, the main concern of Estonian gastronomy was the major differences in the quality of food, wine selection and service. Our food was word-class and wine selections the European average, but the service mentality was still strongly stuck in the Soviet period. The current situation is lightyears better than back then, but as the White Guide’s numbers show, restaurant service, interior design and concepts require even more attention. The key to success lies in this kind of cohesion.

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 63 TOURIST IN TALLINN

Two days: Breakfast

Day 1

Katharinenthal A. Weizenbergi 22 You could start your morning with a light breakfast in café Katharinenthal, right by the Swan Pond near the presidential palace. You can conveniently view the capital’s finest park—Kadriorg Park—with swans swimming in the pond at the centre of it from the café. The café’s mistress Angeelika Kang and host David Pärnamets opened the cosy eatery in June 2013, wanting to offer taste experiences to early birds, coffee enthusiasts and evening diners alike.

Light snack Maiden Tower Museum-Café Lühike Jalg 9a After breakfast and a pleasant walk in the park, you may want to head through the Tallinn Old Town to Toompea, the heart of the medieval city. You can stop for a rest not far from there—in the café with the best view in the entire city. Built in the 14th Century, the Maiden Tower in the Danish King’s Garden has been turned into a cosy museum-café.

From the tower’s windows, you can enjoy a fantastic view on the defence passages, red rooftops of Old Town buildings and Danish King’s Garden. Do not hesitate to ask for directions from the passing locals.

Lunch Kaja Pizza Köök Õie 33 Last year, a pizzeria unlike any other in Estonia started business in the rooms of the erstwhile Kaja Kohvik in the Pelgulinn District. Heart and soul is poured into the pizza-making process as the dough is prepared using the restaurant’s very own leavening agent. All pizzas are 100% made from Caputo flour dough (the gold standard of pizza flours) using leavening agent, but no yeast is added.

Chef Andrei Lesment, who has led an impressive career, puts the pizzas in the restaurant’s legendary Stefano Ferrara wood-fired oven. Just like in Napoli! P.S. The pizzeria only prepares 150 pizzas a day, so you are advised to get there early. The restaurant opens at midday.

what to do, where to go and what to eat in Tallinn

Our last issue featured two suggested itineraries for those looking to experience the fine fare and tipples Tallinn has to offer in a single day. Taking a sensible approach, one day is enough to dip your toe (or preferably your taste buds!) in quite a few flavours. That said, two days offers even more opportunity to bring yourself up to speed on the culinary nuances of Estonia.

The very first question of any tourist or person that arrives to an unfamiliar city for a short while is how to “see, taste and smell” the city as much and as profoundly as possible in a short time? It’s an easy ques-

tion with a tricky answer. Let us try to find a route in Tallinn that allows experiencing the ultimate amount of Estonian flavours in one day, while still saving time to see and do other things.

Light drink/snack Pudel Telliskivi 60a In order to get to Estonia’s first gourmet beer bar, you should head back towards the City Centre until you reach Telliskivi District. In the midst of it all, a small white building with neon signs stands out. This is where Pudel has settled in, offering only local and foreign craft beers. From the tap, the bar serves the newest and most aromatic beers from all over the world. However, the full selection of beers offered is surely overwhelming. It is a classic speakeasy-type watering hole, where the main focus is on beer and socialising.

Dinner Nautilus Oyster Bar & Grill Pikk 36 Oysters for dinner? Why not. This very first oyster bar/fish restaurant in Tallinn that recently opened for business is both a wine bar and seafood restaurant. You can enjoy appetising dishes in the first part of the building and then move downstairs to continue the evening with wine-tasting. Chef Riho Heinmets, who has previously managed kitchens in both Estonia and Scandinavia, offers something for everyone on his menu. Naturally, the choice is not restricted to oysters alone, although their wide selection and accompanying dishes are hard to ignore.

64 Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS

Nightlife Dissident Cocktail & Curiosity Magasini 31 Still not tired? Craving for a cocktail?

How about taking a taxi to a building right next door to the prison on the outskirts of the city? The founders of this bar (or “booze lab”) call this place Freelance Bartenders’ Association. Although initially serving as a “practise room” for a group of Estonian bartenders intent on polish-

Breakfast Sesoon

ing their skills, it eventually became such a hot spot in the local cocktail scene that it became difficult to find seats in the small space. If you decide to visit Dissident Cocktail & Curiosity, do not panic when the taxi driver takes you to the slums in the suburbs. Everything is all right—this is the right spot!

Day 2

Dinner Washoku Story

Niine 11 Located in Kalamaja District, café Sesoon is a wonderful place to start a late morning by grabbing a light meal. Sesoon, which also offers brunch on the weekends, knows the art of using great flavours to wake a person and get them “up and running” in the morning. Fresh aromatic coffee, various traditional and non-traditional breakfast options are available. What else is there to say—eat up!

Light snack Kotzebue Bakery & Charcuterie 18e Kotzebue Street This tiny craft lab came into being as the joint effort of three experienced men—Peeter Pihel, Maido Maiste and Tõnis Saar—who prepare amazing handmade sourdough brioche, various spreads and even cure sausages (elk salami, pork salami, mutton salami). Peeter Pihel previously worked in the Swedish restaurant Fäviken Magasinet, which is considered one of the top kitchens in the world, and returned with the intention to create his own cosy little curing cellar. His involvement alone is a mark of quality strong enough to carry this “meaty” load.

Lunch Depoo The food street at Telliskivi District near the Balti Station market is a unique concept in Estonia. Various cafés and servers of ethnic food have settled in shipping containers, authentic train wagons with a colourful history and even train service depots. Different food vendors scattered around like puzzle pieces form a harmonious whole unlike anything else in Tallinn or nearby regions. Depoo includes stalls that offer fish and chips, Vietnamese cuisine, muffins, burgers, kebabs, falafels, burritos and salads.

Light drink/snack Flamm Rotermanni 2 Flamm or Flammkuchen Bar is an intimate tradition-inspired wine bar, located in the so-called Stalker’s passageway (see legendary Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovski’s film Stalker for full reference) in the Rotermann Quarter. Flamm specialises in Flammkuchens—delicious pizza-like baked dishes with toppings that cook quickly in the burning hot oven. They are the best to accompany good wine and pleasant company.

Poordi 3 Washoku Story is no ordinary restaurant. It is the 13 times bigger version of Japanese Chef Hide Hirakata’s home kitchen.

Hirakata came to Estonia four years ago with the desire to open a restaurant that offers Japanese cuisine. Even as Hirakata sought for an opportune moment and fellow-minded individuals, he did not sit by idly. He started preparing the dishes he wished to serve in the restaurant, initially to friends and then to strangers as well in his home kitchen. Now that the restaurant has its own premises, Washoku Story offers a daily experience of Japanese food culture.

Nightlife Whisper Sister Pärnu mnt 12 This speakeasy-type bar is inspired by the best cocktails in the world and is located on the basement floor of the former stock exchange building. There are four different rooms and moods in this conveniently hidden bar, allowing you to get away from the world if you wish to. Some of the best cocktails in Tallinn are served here!

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 65 FOOD HISTORY

Estonians’ eating habits two centuries ago: Estonians are rather greedy “Estonians [...are] poor and ignorant when it comes to the treatment of different things,” wrote Karl Ernst von Baer, one of the most famous scientists born in Estonia, nearly two centuries ago. His doctoral thesis On Estonians’ Endemic Diseases, a new edition of which was recently published, doesn’t cover only Estonians’ ailments but also their character and everyday life. Baer seems to have thought that Estonians knew no other pleasures besides eating.

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stonians are rather greedy.

Already their boreal land easily gives grounds to assume this; yet they far outdo their neighbours that share the same geographical latitude in this.

Already as children, they are overfed and their stomachs bloated.

In winter, an Estonian eats twice a day and in summer, when he hies himself to work at first light, he sups three times: first in the morning at about nine (do not think of the light meal we are used to), then after six hours and thereafter in the evening.

When Estonians eat, they forget (if I may say so) all that is dignified and humane. It is intolerable how slow they are while engaged in this activity.

And no matter how large the gathering is, it’s almost impossible to get these quiet eaters to laugh at a joke.

Their food mostly consists of bread made of coarse unsieved flour mixed with bran; slightly sour and pleasant of taste, it is the Estonian’s principal subsistence both in summer and winter. When cereals are very costly, chaff is sometimes mixed into flour, in the case of which poor Estonians are fooled twice; firstly, they eat what is unhealthy, secondly the hard bran and particles of corn ears stimulate the stomach to such a degree that it evacuates all its con-

tents speedily before it has had the opportunity to properly digest; thus, a person’s hunger for food returns soon and the benefit gained from saving money is lost.

Besides bread, cereals also yield groats that are used in preparing porridge and soup; they make a dish called kört characteristic to them of flour and milk; it very much resembles a book binder’s paste. Cabbages and wild turnips grew and were grown by Estonians to a sufficient degree al-

Karl Ernst von Baer

ready in earlier times. It is to the credit of honest manor owners that the cultivation of potatoes is nearly widespread right now. As potatoes have great nutritional value and the crops almost never fail, this helps to alleviate the grain shortage to a degree.

Estonians eat meat rarely, almost exclusively on Sundays or holidays. They prefer pork over all else and overfill their bellies with their treats during weddings and harvest feasts. Besides that, they consume mutton, beef and goat’s meat.

Although our forests shelter a great number of wild game, it cannot be considered among Estonians’ main subsistence, since they sell nearly everything they slaughter to the Germans.

Poultry is mainly kept and fed for sale, although geese are sometimes eaten at gatherings in the autumn. Since Estonia is rich in rivers and has extensive beaches, fishing is also a source of food. Estonians prefer Baltic sprat and Lake Peipsi whitefish over other fish. Our peasants also consume other species of freshwater fish that are inferior in terms of taste compared to the aforementioned ones but which are preferred owing to their better availability. In view of produce of animal origin, milk and butter are consumed the most frequently.

The only seasoning Estonians cannot do without is salt. If there is a lack of it, like a few years ago, it does not depress them less than a grain deficiency; for if their digestive organs dull without this stimulant and fail to digest the diet that contains overly much flour, the salt deprivation is highly detrimental for the health of an organism.

Karl Ernst von Baer “Eestlaste endeemilistest haigustest”, Hea Lugu 2018

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Small Röst bakery at Rotermanni is busy as ever.

SHOPS & MARKETS

Five shops and markets you should visit in Tallinn

Much to gourmets’ delight, Tallinn’s selection of small speciality food stores, butcher’s shops, markets, spice shops and vinoteques has developed over recent years. At the same time, several of the capital’s culinary cornerstones have remained untouched.

Author: Martin Hanson

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urious tastes and new foods with a local twist are searched for both by serious food lovers as well as everyday visitors trying to find the essence of local life through food. Food is the fastest way to understand what is happening in the area, what are local tastes and preferences. In order to get a clearer picture of who Estonians truly are, we suggest visiting these five food epicentres. Each of these offers something that will knock your socks off.

Without further ado... five shops and markets you should visit in Tallinn.

Tallinn Central Market (Keskturg) The heart of Tallinn’s markets, a trading hub with preserved Soviet aura—visiting this market is like travelling back in time. It still has the cacophony of stalls and goods, the smell bouquet—flowery and fruity in summer, fishy and slightly raucous in winter—, candid bargaining traditions and all sorts of curious foodstuffs, from meat to fish, from apples to cloudberries. Polish chocolates past their best before date, homemade canned mushrooms and other preserves also have pride of place. It must be said that the Tallinn Central

Market is not for the weak of heart, but visiting it is obligatory for a food lover—this market, founded in 1947, is more akin to the best trade centres of South Europe.

Here you can find fresh meat, including unusual offal. Should the customer request it, the marrow-containing bones can be split in the back and cut to sizes perfect for roasting. The market has both kosher lamb and chicken, as well as Armenian shashlik. Fresh and smoked meat is on the basement floor, boiled meat on the ground floor. One must not forget the neat fish stall, which offers everything local that swims. There is also a fascinating side room that offers cheap squid, snapper and even sturgeon.

Everything is paid for in cash, as it is at markets, accompanied by cheerful bargaining and tasting. All is how it is supposed to be: honest, natural and real.

Russians call this market “поле чудес” or the Field of Miracles—a

Tallinn & the best RESTAURANTS 67 place where you can find anything your heart desires. ‘

Kotzebue Bakery & Charcuterie

“Time has shown that in order to find the right path, all you have to do is look at traditional solutions from another perspective. Turn the map upside down. This way, you get a different view, a new journey can begin and the result is much more special and memorable.” This is how a new baked goods and cured meats store, Kotzebue Bakery & Charcuterie, which recently opened in the Kalamaja district, describes itself. It is a new and unique addition to Estonia’s already overpopulated food landscape. An important addition to a fragrant visit to Kotzebue Bakery & Charcuterie is a chance to wander in search of it through the incredibly romantic Kalamaja low-rise district of Tallinn. Right now, this is the go to area.

The tiny craft lab is the work of three experienced men: Peeter Pihel, Maido Maiste and Tõnis Saar and it makes delicious craft sourdough brioche, butters and cured sausages (elk salami, pork salami, mutton salami). Pihel, hailing from Sweden’s top-tier Fäviken Magasinet returned home to open a little cosy curing cellar of his own and his name is a strong enough mark of quality so he could really manage this butcher’s shop himself. Pihel is assisted by two of his colleagues from previous times—Maiste from

Kotzebue Bakery & Charcuterie

Fäviken and Saar from Pädaste kitchen. When you’re looking for an evening snack to take to your hotel or eat at a park, head to Kotzebue Street—either on foot or by bicycle.

Röst bakery In Rotermann City, on Tallinn’s newest food street, there’s a lovely fragrant and delicious newcomer—Scandinavian bakery RØST [röst], situated in Rotermann’s historic wheat mill.

Röst’s experienced bakers prepare sourdough bread, pastries for all tastes as well as mouth-watering and interesting sandwiches using natural, deep-flavoured leaven.

Tired and thirsty visitors are also offered coffee made of beans from the best micro-roasters in Estonia and abroad.

Umami spice shop The Umami spice shop, which grew from a Tartu-based online store into a real shop with doors and windows, till and shop assistant, is located in the new market of the Baltic Station.

This compact little shop opens up a whole new world of tastes, smells and possibilities. The shop’s founder is Juta Raudnask—a self-declared incorrigible travelling and flavour nut, who opened the store to share the unique flavours and foodstuffs she encountered on her many trips and travels in the world.

Since spices were expensive to order or ship in small quantities, Juta did what any Estonian would—in or-

Umami spiceshop at Balti Jaam market.

der to be able to cook her favourite goodies at home, she opened a shop and started sharing these tastes with everyone. Umami shops, both physical and virtual, are meant for everyone for whom food is not merely sustenance, but an opportunity to experience something new, get experiences and benefit both body and spirit. Umami shops offer flavours, spices and herbs from all over the world, health and gourmet foods Estonian stores sorely miss.

Alcohol store eDrinks Its name might suggest otherwise, but this is a physical chain of stores that offers a wide selection of the world’s finest wines, beers and spirits. Recently, some snacks and non-alcoholic drinks have been added to the product selection. Visiting eDrinks is a good idea because of the shop’s rather unconventional selection and the favourable prices of the drinks, especially wines. The shop also has some expensive, topshelf wines, but the most exciting things can be found in bargain boxes and shelves holding wines under 5 euros. The shop’s strength lies (in addition to sure-fire wines) in its selection of often obscure seasonal goods, the joy of which lies in experimentation—we all have our favourite wines and regions, but the store’s good prices allow us to try new ones as well. Always fresh, always at best price.