Tallinn: An overview - Part 9

Eating in Tallinn

Tallinn’s Old Town has a wide selection of largely interchangeable and mostly tourist-oriented places to eat. The prices here are geared towards the tourist and you will pay Scandinavian prices with the average main dish costing €15 to €20. If you want better value, then walk at least a block or two off the main routes. Here you can find good food at what seems like silly prices. At most of the places below you should be able to get a three-course meal for around €20. Some restaurants have good value lunch specials so lookout for the words päeva praad. If you are looking for really top quality then watch for restaurants with an Astu Sisse! label in the window. This is, sort of, the Estonian equivalent of a Michelin star is awarded to just 50 restaurants each year. Generally in restaurants tipping is not required, but if you have had good service then round your bill up by 5-10 percent when paying.

If you had travelled to Tallinn five years ago then it would have been hard to find authentic local food. However Estonian food has become trendy along with the places serving it. It is best described as a hearty Northern mixture of meat, potatoes, root vegetables, mushrooms, dill, garlic, bread, and soup. Pea soup is a local speciality. You usually get a few slices of bread as a free, automatic side dish. A typical pub snack is Estonian garlic bread called küüslauguleivad, it is deep fried strips of dark rye bread smothered in garlic and served with a dipping sauce. Estonia’s Saku beer is good, cheap, and on tap in most locations. It’s also worth trying the nutty, full-bodied Tume variety.

Eating in the Old Town

Restorant Aed is an elegant almost gourmet, health food restaurant which calls itself “the embassy of pure food. ” It is not vegetarian but is all about serving organic, seasonal, modern Estonian cuisine in a woody, romantic setting. You can choose to eat your meal in any of four locations: under old beams inside, down in the cellar, out front on the sidewalk, or out back on the garden terrace

Vanaema Juures, which means “Grandma’s Place”, is an eight-table cellar restaurant. It serves traditional Estonian meals, such as pork roast with sauerkraut and horseradish. This is a good place to try local cuisine but because of the size reservations are normally needed.


Continued in part 10