Estonian Food.
Apr. 14th, 2011 03:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
motodraconisThere's a bit of a medieval vibe in the Old Town of Tallinn... this is the Krug Inn, medieval food, medieval prices, medieval service...
I stumbled into here after the cold of the Bastion tunnels, desperate to try the Worthy Elk Soup.
Which was thin but hit the spot, I also tried one of their meat pies and ended up going back for a second fish pie it was so good, as well as some dark beer. (They do have veggie pies too.) All food is 1 euro, all booze 2 euros. There's free giant gherkins in a tub for anyone up for fishing them out, but I was so distracted by my tasty pies I forgot to grab myself a gherkin. This place definitely recommended and right in the middle of the main square so easy enough to find.
At the other end of the price range is Olde Hansa, which if you're lucky, will have minstrels playing and singing for you as you eat.
Now if you're feeling flush and have at least 2 hours to spare they do grand feasts, one of which includes "Bear Marinaded in rare spices and cooked over a fire in honour of Waldemar II, the King of Denmark." Alas, I didn't have the purse (or the space in my belly, at least not without having skipped food all day in anticipation) for a feast, but I did want to try their food, which is (allegedly) carefully and painstakingly researched to be properly medieval.
I settled for the Reval's plate for tasting...
Click the image through to flickr for notes telling you what everything is, followed by...
Honourable Cook Frederic's game sausages, made of BEAR,* wild boar and elk. I asked the waitress if the sausages really did have bear in them, I think she might have been slightly offended that I would question this, and assured me that they contained Real Estonian Bear, from local forests, but that the meat was mixed in with the other meats (not pure bear!)
Again, click through for notes. This dish involved smoked sauerkraut (groan) which while not my favourite thing in the world I would have eaten it all had I been hungry, but after the massive starter I was getting quite full so had a few mouthfuls of it and the swedes and left the majority of those on my plate, but asked a (shocked) waitress if I could have a bag to take away the last sausage and the onion jam, which I scoffed for breakfast the next day. Cold or hot, the sausages were bloody good!
At the Golden Piglet I finally got to try full-on wild boar (not mixed into sausages or burgers)
This was cooked in a creamy juniper berry sauce, served with veg and boiled potatoes. It smelt great, but the meat itself was disappointing. Maybe there's a reason pork is favoured over wild boar, and not just for a less dangerous animal. The Golden Piglet is also worthy of note for serving up bread rolls baked with chunks of bacon inside, which was utterly divine but might come as a bit of a shock for vegetarians.
Roasted sweet almond stall...
For those in need of something cheap and hearty, (meat, not or sweet) Kompressor does great pancakes.
But on, on to my Cakes of the world Quest! I ended up at Pagaripoisid which is more Estonian than tourist led, and sells cakes for 0.4 or 0.7 euros - cheap!
My first sample was this, a cake I'd been intrigued to try ever since seeing similar in Krakow.
I feared it would be horribly creamy, but the middle turned out to be more of a cheesecake filling, beautifully matched with the sharp real berry and jelly topping. Shortbread-type biscuit base. Delicious and not sickly or over sweet, and a bargain at around 50p.
8 out of 10.
It was while polishing off said cake I was accosted by 2 Russian sailors from Vladivostok, sitting at the next table.
The one on the right was polite enough, but the one on the left insisted on talking to me, even though I spoke no Russian and he spoke no English, so communication was conducted via charade type hand gestures and arm waving (on his part.) He bought me a drink...
Which I did not decline** though I asked the waitress if it was strong and Estonian, and she confirmed it was. Not anything I couldn't cope with! I think it might have been Vana Tallinn. On finishing my tea, booze and cake, and a polite modicum of conversation, I wanted to move on, but the Russian got a bit familiar, blocking my exit, and I had to give him the Stern Face and the I'm Towering over you Matey so you'd better Step Aside look to make him back off, which he did. (Much eye-rolling at his antics from the Estonian waitress I noticed.)
Second visit to the cafe yielded no mad Russians but a chocolate cake for 70p.
This I feared would be too sickly and over chocolatey, but it had a layer of booze tinted truffle, nicely set off with a layer of tart red jam below. Not bad at all!
7 out of 10
Finally, (though it is questionable that this counts as food,) the Marzipan Museum.
Y'know, painting this stuff and then leaving it to gather dust in shop windows or display cabinets for a decade or so is really the best thing you can do with marzipan. (UGH! Marzipan! Can't stand the stuff!)
* It's possible that some American readers might be saying at this point, "so what? I've eaten bear, and squirrel etc" but for me, coming from the UK, the chance to eat bear is a big deal and pretty rare, even if all I could afford were the sausages.
** Lannisters never decline, graciously or otherwise. Lannisters take what is offered.
I stumbled into here after the cold of the Bastion tunnels, desperate to try the Worthy Elk Soup.
Which was thin but hit the spot, I also tried one of their meat pies and ended up going back for a second fish pie it was so good, as well as some dark beer. (They do have veggie pies too.) All food is 1 euro, all booze 2 euros. There's free giant gherkins in a tub for anyone up for fishing them out, but I was so distracted by my tasty pies I forgot to grab myself a gherkin. This place definitely recommended and right in the middle of the main square so easy enough to find.
At the other end of the price range is Olde Hansa, which if you're lucky, will have minstrels playing and singing for you as you eat.
Now if you're feeling flush and have at least 2 hours to spare they do grand feasts, one of which includes "Bear Marinaded in rare spices and cooked over a fire in honour of Waldemar II, the King of Denmark." Alas, I didn't have the purse (or the space in my belly, at least not without having skipped food all day in anticipation) for a feast, but I did want to try their food, which is (allegedly) carefully and painstakingly researched to be properly medieval.
I settled for the Reval's plate for tasting...
Click the image through to flickr for notes telling you what everything is, followed by...
Honourable Cook Frederic's game sausages, made of BEAR,* wild boar and elk. I asked the waitress if the sausages really did have bear in them, I think she might have been slightly offended that I would question this, and assured me that they contained Real Estonian Bear, from local forests, but that the meat was mixed in with the other meats (not pure bear!)
Again, click through for notes. This dish involved smoked sauerkraut (groan) which while not my favourite thing in the world I would have eaten it all had I been hungry, but after the massive starter I was getting quite full so had a few mouthfuls of it and the swedes and left the majority of those on my plate, but asked a (shocked) waitress if I could have a bag to take away the last sausage and the onion jam, which I scoffed for breakfast the next day. Cold or hot, the sausages were bloody good!
At the Golden Piglet I finally got to try full-on wild boar (not mixed into sausages or burgers)
This was cooked in a creamy juniper berry sauce, served with veg and boiled potatoes. It smelt great, but the meat itself was disappointing. Maybe there's a reason pork is favoured over wild boar, and not just for a less dangerous animal. The Golden Piglet is also worthy of note for serving up bread rolls baked with chunks of bacon inside, which was utterly divine but might come as a bit of a shock for vegetarians.
Roasted sweet almond stall...
For those in need of something cheap and hearty, (meat, not or sweet) Kompressor does great pancakes.
But on, on to my Cakes of the world Quest! I ended up at Pagaripoisid which is more Estonian than tourist led, and sells cakes for 0.4 or 0.7 euros - cheap!
My first sample was this, a cake I'd been intrigued to try ever since seeing similar in Krakow.
I feared it would be horribly creamy, but the middle turned out to be more of a cheesecake filling, beautifully matched with the sharp real berry and jelly topping. Shortbread-type biscuit base. Delicious and not sickly or over sweet, and a bargain at around 50p.
8 out of 10.
It was while polishing off said cake I was accosted by 2 Russian sailors from Vladivostok, sitting at the next table.
The one on the right was polite enough, but the one on the left insisted on talking to me, even though I spoke no Russian and he spoke no English, so communication was conducted via charade type hand gestures and arm waving (on his part.) He bought me a drink...
Which I did not decline** though I asked the waitress if it was strong and Estonian, and she confirmed it was. Not anything I couldn't cope with! I think it might have been Vana Tallinn. On finishing my tea, booze and cake, and a polite modicum of conversation, I wanted to move on, but the Russian got a bit familiar, blocking my exit, and I had to give him the Stern Face and the I'm Towering over you Matey so you'd better Step Aside look to make him back off, which he did. (Much eye-rolling at his antics from the Estonian waitress I noticed.)
Second visit to the cafe yielded no mad Russians but a chocolate cake for 70p.
This I feared would be too sickly and over chocolatey, but it had a layer of booze tinted truffle, nicely set off with a layer of tart red jam below. Not bad at all!
7 out of 10
Finally, (though it is questionable that this counts as food,) the Marzipan Museum.
Y'know, painting this stuff and then leaving it to gather dust in shop windows or display cabinets for a decade or so is really the best thing you can do with marzipan. (UGH! Marzipan! Can't stand the stuff!)
* It's possible that some American readers might be saying at this point, "so what? I've eaten bear, and squirrel etc" but for me, coming from the UK, the chance to eat bear is a big deal and pretty rare, even if all I could afford were the sausages.
** Lannisters never decline, graciously or otherwise. Lannisters take what is offered.
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 03:47 pm (UTC)Some of the architecture looks fabulous, though - and so do the sausages :) You can keep the chocolate cake, though, so long as I can have the marzipan.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 04:22 pm (UTC)As for the shop, the stuff inside was presumably for sale and eating, though why any sane person would want to eat solid hunks of uuurgh defeats me!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 04:28 pm (UTC)Given the choice, though, it's the sausages I'm really jealous of!
Presumably bear is a perfectly normal thing to eat if you're Estonian? I usually try to eat anything I haven't met before, if offered the choice, unless it seems a bit ehtically dubious (I declined whale in Iceland).
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 05:09 pm (UTC)Dunno much about the bear, it seems to be a speciality meat that only rich Estonians might eat on special occasions.
Oooh, holiday piccies
Date: 2011-04-14 04:01 pm (UTC)Glad you're having a good time.
Re: Oooh, holiday piccies
Date: 2011-04-14 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 04:36 pm (UTC)Too bad various factors had other ideas and I never got round to joining you. :o(
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 05:05 pm (UTC)also fwiw I'm a pretty adventurous American eater and I've never had bear! that's pretty crazy!
Tasty bear!
Date: 2011-04-14 05:13 pm (UTC)Re: Tasty bear!
Date: 2011-04-14 08:17 pm (UTC)Squirrel I have had, but I was young at the time so I was mostly grossed out by it, XD
Re: Tasty bear!
Date: 2011-04-14 10:38 pm (UTC)*The guy I bought rook from
Re: Tasty bear!
Date: 2011-04-15 09:50 am (UTC)I suppose if it comes to it, I could be forced to cook my own pie if need be. Hmmmm.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 06:42 pm (UTC)Do they speak English reasonably well?
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 07:34 pm (UTC)Mind you, it's surprising how much you can say when no one speaks the same language, as I discovered with those 2 Russians.
I speak French and a tiny bit of German, and between the 3 languages (English too) it's surprising how much you can cobble together (such as in Central America, I started to find Spanish more intelligible.)
The only place I've yet had language terror that could potentially land me in real difficulties was China. That's one place I'd really recommend you go with a guide or in a tour unless you've been raised with the required dialects.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 06:46 pm (UTC)Mind you, whenever I've eaten wild boar it's been tasty and good. Dunno what they've done with theirs...
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 04:09 pm (UTC)Wonderful posts - thank you so much.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 06:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 09:14 pm (UTC)And! No Cepeliniai! Hurrah! (Them being the greasy sausagemeat-stuffed potato *things* from the Vilnius pictures...)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 09:23 pm (UTC)I saw no potato things of woe, but that isn't to say they're not lurking!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 09:51 am (UTC)Baked bacon bread goods are just too good!