hidden europe 21

The exotic Baltic

by hidden europe

Summary

The best chicken soup this side of the Volga? Look to a Kazakh restaurant in Vilnius! The Baltic States are not just meat and potato country. You'll find exotic restaurants aplenty from Uzbek to Armenian, Georgian to Azeri.

The principal legacy of empire is often food. The great Soviet experiment of the twentieth century led to huge numbers of people shifting, not always voluntarily, between the various Soviet republics. Soviet tanks may long since have left Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania but the cuisine of a dozen former Soviet republics remains. The best lunch we have ever eaten in Tallinn was at an Azeri restaurant called Bakuu. Succulent lamb, simply grilled. Hard to beat.