Like to take risks? Go for Estonian culinary specialties and opt for appetizers...unusual, at least for French palates! The fish hold the top of the podium, smoked or salted, from herring to mackerel via eel. Fish roe blinis borrow from the Russian tradition for a richly flavored cuisine, as does seljanka, a meat soup. And what about borsch, the famous beetroot soup? The sült, a pork in jelly, also takes pride of place among the specialties, as well as the hapukapsa, a soup with… sauerkraut.
More meat than fish despite its maritime access, Estonia displays pork on the menu of all typical restaurants. The seapraad hapukapsaga cooks it as a cutlet, accompanied by sauerkraut. Game can offer unfamiliar specialties, from wild boar to bear, served with a riot of potatoes:fried or in patties, with sour cream or with wild mushrooms. Prefer chicken? Opt for the biifsteik or the kana, and if you come across shashlik, know that it is an Estonian-style marinated kebab. As for the soups, again, they reign on the menu with a panoply of original combinations and boiled vegetables!
Craving some sweets? Estonian cuisine has made a specialty of semolina cake, mannapuder, accompanied by berries. Pancakes with jam and fruit salads also offer more than tasty seasonal options... Pastry lovers, also try the pagariäri! These cream cakes will delight sweet palates. It remains to wash down the meal without excess with local specialties, beer at the top of the menu. Aquavit, for its part, plays its role of legendary eau-de-vie, accompanied by various fruit liqueurs. Finally, on the champagne side, make way for champanskoye, a Russian drink inherited from the Red Army!
