So, here are some great places to eat in Tallinn, along with the food-porn photos.
In no particular order:
We ate at Leib Restaurant for lunch. It is located off the cool-sounding Uus Street, in a garden behind the city walls. We ate outside in the sun as it was sheltered from the wind, but when the sun went behind the clouds we were pretty chilled. You can eat inside, so I included a photo of the charming interior.
They cooked my quail, and the steaks, right outside on a grill, so it smells wonderful as well.
Leib takes pride in their traditional Estonian black bread. Gail had broth with spinach soup, and a baked cheese salad nicely topped with a viola flower. My quail tasted excellent, and I enjoyed the sauce and potatoes, so I was not so picky about the presentation which was a little sloppy. But let’s put that in perspective: when I finished the plate was clean except for two polished little leg bones.
The Gloria Veinikelder (wine cellar) was a real find. We just stumbled across it as we were out walking, and a warm glass of red wine, somewhere inside out of the wind just sounded like a great idea.
Were we in for a surprise.
Entering this cute wine cellar, we had a choice of six open bottles this day, and we both picked the 2012 Vidal-Fleury Côtes du Rhône. Great so far, but then when we looked at the menu and saw that for €6 we could get four bruschetta: cheese, pork, roast beef and pesto, we were hooked. They led us into this charming wine cellar slash library, where we had the most fantastic, simple tasting experience. What a surprise. You have to look at the photos, and try to enjoy the beauty of it, as we did.
It was the best looking and tasting food so far.
We returned here for dinner, two nights later. They started us out with a glass of Divici Prosecco, and a treat from the chef: a crisp with pesto, sun dried tomato and horseradish. The tomato really popped with the wine.
Gail had halibut, paired with an Austrian Grüner Veltliner.
I had the three course prix fixe meal. It started with a beef and foie gras terrine.
The main course was duck breast in grape sauce. This was paired with an Italian Appassimento, from Puglia. The grapes are left on the vine a little longer, to add to the body of the wine. What a great pairing. Dessert was a cranberry parfait, with café macchiato.
All in all it was an excellent meal, and a good value at €80.
Our server and wine hostess, Anna-Maria, then gave Gail a shot of Vana Tallinn, the "clear schnapps" kind, not the Bailey's creme kind. It is really an excellent drink. Kind of herby, crisp and sharp.
This is where it gets fun.
Anna-Maria tells us about a local drink, called "Tallinn on Fire." It is a flaming drink made with Vana Tallinn.
First order of business: find a store that sells the little "sample size" bottles of Vana Tallinn to take home. Wrapped in toilet paper, in your clear plastic bag, they look just like shampoo. At least that has been my experience. We found the store and bought a couple.
Second order of business: get a Tallinn on Fire!
We went to the Labor Bar, and ordered one up. Here is how she made it:
one shot glass
One third Vana Tallin (the cream kind) or Bailey’s, on the bottom.
One third Vana Tallin (the clear schnapps kind) floated on top.
Top third is triple sec.
Light with a match.
Drink with a straw (so you don’t get burned) fast, before the straw melts!
Here is a link to another recipe.
It was so cool that we ordered a second one for me this time!
The cost: €3,50 for both.
Crazy flaming cool!
UPDATE 18 June 2016
Gloria Veinikelder has put us on their Facebook Page. Click here to see them.
We stopped at a small wine and cheese place next to our hotel, the Marco Vino. It was a really small, sit down place with two tables.
We decided on a cheese plate and crostini. The cheese plate had a young piave cheese with olives. I liked the aged, hard piave, which was kind of like a parmesan. There was a strong but smooth Gorgonzola, and a salty goat cheese. The crostini had ham, cheese, tomato and mustard. It was all paired with a nice Toscana wine.
I was surprised by the Vegan Restoran V because I am 100% a meat-a-holic. I don’t even pretend to be a healthy vegitable muncher. I am a “more rounded,” eat-what-you-want person.
That said, it was a cold, rainy afternoon, and what is better that soup? The specialty in Tallinn is pea soup.
I hate pea soup.
Everybody has it.
But… the Vegan (that is the actual name of the place, by the way) had a truly wonderful, soul-satisfying smoked tomato and cheese (I thought Vegans do not eat cheese, but hey! Not my rules!) cream soup with greens, croutons and swirl of basil oil.
And, with all due respect to Leib, this was the best black bread in the city. We bought a bottle of their French Syrah from Languedoc, and took it back to our room to finish.
A smaller dinner at Von Krahl Baar. He has two restaurants and a theatre on the same street, and we went to the one attached to the theatre, where the giant razor blade is stuck in the wall.
We had the pancake rolls, which were really like crepes. You get either one or two crepes, filled with your choice of shrimp, tuna, pulled pork minced meat or roasted veggies. Then you choose a sauce (we both got the spinach aioli) and a side. Gail had coleslaw, I had the salad.
A good glass of French or Italian white wine, and you are set to go.
We wanted to get a cake for dessert, and Gail wanted to try the local liquor, called Vana. It is supposed to be schnapps, but really is kind of like Bailey’s Cream. So we stopped downstairs in the “lobby” of our hotel, at the Café Mademoiselle.
This was a treat: a great place to hang out, sit and read, while enjoying some kind of chocolate yummy cake thing with a cafe macchiato.
The famous sweet and pastry shop is called Maiasmokk, but we walked in and were not inspired by the selection, nor the vibe. It seemed a little to stiff for us.
We went into the cool-looking Hell Hunt Pub. The only thing good about it is the logo. The food was worse than forgettable.
So, a lot of the places we ate were along Rataskaevu street. Good alternative foods area. Three or four places in a row, near intersection of Pikk.