Estonia - Foodie Alert

Hello there!

One of the advantages of staying in Finland is that there's many ferries operators in Helsinki, thus its rather easy to travel to other countries such as Russia, Estonia, Sweden and many more.

If you dont already know, Sandinavian countries have rather higher cost of living compared to the rest of the Europe, so it's rather common to hear people commenting on how cheap it is to live in Estonia or Russia. Being a typical Singaporean couple, we had to go to Estonia for a weekend trip to check it out for ourselves. Of course, that's not the main reason that draw us to Tallinn, Estonia, but it's quite a significant factor.

In this post, i would like to share all my dinning experience with you, good and bad. Hope it'll help you to plan your trip here.

1. Rataskaevu 16

Please refer to my previous post for this specific restaurant review. It was so good that it deserves a standalone review. I had my best and most worth-it dinner here. Must eat when you're in Tallinn. More photos in my previous post!

Tip 1: Make your reservation early, at least two week in advance. Could do it either by email or facebook message.

Tip 2: If you really forget to make reservation, try your lucky on Sunday night, it's usually the least crowded night of the week.

Total damage: 45.70 Euros (~S$72)

Address: Rataskaevu 16, 10123 Tallinn, Estonia

Phone:+372 642 4025

Website: https://www.facebook.com/Rataskaevu16

2. Dereku Burger

Located at a carpark, this little café would be make it an ideal place for a quick meal or take away meal. As the main entrance is facing the carpark at the basement, if you’re not sharp enough, you’ll most probably missed it.

In this cozy café, there’s about 10 seats available, so I’ll advise you to come during non-peak hours, unless you’d like to take away the burger and continue touring around Old Town.

I had beef burger and fries for lunch. The beef patty was thicker and juicier than the typical kind of beef burger, the grounded beef patty made all my money worthwhile. Apart from the patty, the salad inside the burger was extremely fresh, making my burger a little crunchier.

Fries was surprising good, it’s actually potato wedges not the kind that we had in Belgium or Amsterdam. What makes it good was the special seasonings used on the fries, slightly sticky but rich in flavour.

TIP 1: Look out for a rundown shelter of Dereku Burger or the carpark when locating the café. It should be on your right, if you’re walking/travelling from Old Town.

TIP 2: Opt for dine in if possible, the portion served would be slightly bigger.

Total damage:

Address: 10111, Aia 8, 10111 Tallinn, Estonia

Phone:+372 5567 2010

Website: https://www.facebook.com/DerekuBurger

3. Estonian Burger Factory

Another burger place out of Old Town, it took us 15 minutes to walk there from Old Town. I’m not sure why, but it seems like Estonia’s burger restuarants are not as easy to spot. So, when you’re there look out for a vertical sign from the top of the grey building as shown in the photo below.

Main entrance of Estonian Burger Factory

I had ‘Angus & Black Bread’ and ‘Homemade fries cheesy’ that day.

Angus & Black Bread was huge, I couldn’t take a whole bite. The black bread refers to typical Estonian’s bread, it similar to wholemeal bread, but it is a lot firmer and has a distinct smell. Within these two black breads, there’s cheese, tomato, red onions, pickles, frillice salad, Angus beef burger and finally dressed with homemade burger sauce.

Angus & Black Bread

Damage: $7 Eur

Homemade fries cheesy refers to cheese on seasoned fried potato slices. Honestly, the quality of potato used by Estonia Burger Factory is defintely good, fries was fried at the right doneness, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The cheese was disappointing though. Generally, would defintely recommend you to try this burger place.

Home made fries cheesy

Damage: 2 Eur

Open kitchen concept.

Total damange:

Address: Pärnu maantee 41a, 10119 Tallinn, Estonia

Phone: +372 5908 2626

Website: https://www.facebook.com/EstonianBurgerFactory

4. Kolu Inn

Kolu Inn is the main restaurant at the Estonia's Open Air Museum, which was 1 hour drive away from Tallinn's city center. Due to the limited time i had in Tallinn, i didn't managed to make a trip there. Luckily, we chanced upon a festival market and Kolu Inn set up a pop-up store there.

They were serving only one food dish along side with many other alcoholic drinks. I just had to order the Hecnesupp, a typical Estonia kind of vegetable soup. It was unique, but not to my liking, there's this one herbs smell that i couldn't accept it very well, but Nic found it nice. Guess personal preferences do play a big part. Apart from the soup, the lady who served us, offered us free Estonia bread to pair with the vegetable soup.

Total damange: $2 Eur ($3.20 SGD)

Address: Vabaõhumuuseumi tee 12, 13521 Tallinn, Estonia

Phone:+372 654 9118

Website: http://evm.ee/eng/home

5. Kompressor - Pancake house

This little pancake house serves pretty decent pancakes at affordable prices. Most of them are below 5 Eur per serving. Would defintely recommend you to go there for breakfast! Nic and I ordered 1 pancake and a cup of coffee each, but we couldn't finish them. We ended up digging out the fillings and left the pancakes to the bins. We should have shared one pancake, but there's were just to many varieties and couldn't come to a conclusion. Guess thats the trade off between variety and wastage.

Nic had Pannkook suitsukalkunitaidiasega, which is pancake with turkey filling. This pancake filling was extremely creamy and it paired well with the Turkey bits inside. The pancake was so fluffy and soft, best pancake we had. Damage: $4.90 Eur

Pannkook suitsukalkunitaidiasega

Damange: $4.90 Eur

Being both a garlic and cheese fan, i wont give Pankook juustu-kuuslagutaidisega a miss. It is one pancake with cheese and garlic filling. It was damn awesome with rich and generous filling wrapped inbetween the one huge pancake. I got to admit, it was a bit overwhelmed by the cheesy taste and got sicked of it after finishing half of it. That is when sharing occurs, managed to do a swap with Nic. Heh.

Pankook juustu-kuuslagutaidisega

Damage: $4.50 Eur

Coffee was normal, i wanted to get some caffine and this cup did get me that.

Latte

Damage: $2 Eur

Wifi: Kompressor

Password: kook ja moos

Just in case you're there early, just this to tap on the wifi while you queue or wait.

Total damange: 13.40 Eur ($20 SGD)

Address: Rataskaevu 3, 10123, Tallinn, Estonia

Phone: +372 646 4210

Website: http://www.kompressorpub.ee/?lang=en

6. Vapiano

This chain restuarant serves mostly Italian food, ranging from pasta, pizza to rissottos. When you first enter the restaurant, you'll receive a Vapiano Card where you'll use that to buy your food. The card will store all the billings from your orders and you'll only need to pay them right before you leave the place. Hassle-free and especially good if you go in a large group. Remember the times when you have to calculate and split the cost among your friends, this payment process helps to eliminate all the trouble, you'll just pay for whatever you ordered.

To be really honest, this restuarant serve decent italian food at affordable prices. I had tomatoe risotto, while Nick ordered his favourite Prawn Aglio Olio.

Total damange:

Address: Rataskaevu 3, 10123, Tallinn, Estonia

Phone: +372 646 4210

Website: http://www.vapiano.ee/

That's all from me. Do feel free to comment or drop me an email to share with me your experience there.

#Tallinn #Estonia #FoodieAlert #Europe