The Best Places To Eat In... Tallinn, Estonia's 資本／首都 of history, culture and pork 製品s

By Priscilla Pollara
Updated: 13:38 BST, 8 December 2011

When news of its vastly cheap alcohol began spreading through Europe a handful of years ago, the 以前は Soviet-占領するd country of Est onia succumbed to 存在 known for one thing: stag parties.

These days, however, this Baltic Sea-encircled 明言する／公表する, whose landscape is 支配するd by 厚い 植林学, lifeless Eastern 圏 組織／基盤／下部構造 and 中世-looking thatched-roof villages, 誇るs far more than idiosyncratic nightlife. After all, it was the 今後-thinking Estonians who invented Skype.

And in Tallinn, the country’s picturesque 資本／首都 (which has also been one of the European 資本／首都s of Culture for 2011), it is the culinary scene which is 栄えるing.

Not so Soviet now: Tallinn has a 際立った 中世 外見 in its historic centre

What's the 取引，協定?

The central Raekoja Plats is lined with a host of vivacious restaurants come 日光 or 降雪 ? while it seems as if nearly every 国籍 (Brazilian, Greek, Argentinian, a host of African styles) has its food 代表するd on the streets of the city’s most 密集して-居住させるd parts.

Kuldse Notsu Korts, part of the Hotel St Petersbourg (www.hotelstpetersbourg.com), is 据えるd within the 塀で囲むs of the Old City ? whose red-turreted and orange-roofed Hanseatic merchants’ houses make for a charming step 支援する in time. This is an eatery where diners come for a slice of authentic Estonian culture.

Its 指名する translates as the 'Golden Piglet Inn'. And the speciality, unsurprisingly, is pig. Pig knuckle, pig tails, pig ears ? while the ‘Estonian 血 sausage’ (verivorst) and ‘血 dumpling’ (verikakk) tend to be the other most ordered menu items.

Washed 負かす／撃墜する with a pear cider or a Saku Estonian beer, a meal here will 始める，決める you 支援する a reasonable-ish ?40 per person. And with 地元の music 業績／成果s, 木造の （法廷の）裁判s, kaleidoscopic rugs, pastel-coloured 塀で囲むs and wagon wheels hanging 負かす／撃墜する from the white-bricked 天井s, there is no better initiation to Tallinn’s energy and tradition than this oink-centric restaurant.

奮起させるd: the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral overlooks the centre of Tallinn

What else is good?

ーに関して／ーの点でs of food, the ロシアの restaurant Nevskij (also part of the Hotel St Petersbourg, and a place where you find a chatty 居住（者） parrot, Misha), is another must-visit. 推定する／予想する to be served exquisite beef stroganoff, zavarka (ロシアの 黒人／ボイコット tea), ikra krasnaya (red caviar) and 注目する，もくろむ-watering vodka.

Its sister hotel, the boutique Schlossle Hotel (www.schlossle-hotels.com), is an award-winning, 独特の place to stay, its staff kitted out in 伝統的な Estonian garb. There are ワイン-tastings in its cavernous candle-lit restaurant, a sun-罠（にかける） terrace caters for the summer months, and roaring スピードを出す／記録につける 解雇する／砲火／射撃s in each of its armchair-filled 歓迎会 rooms look after the colder corners of the calendar.

Low beams and 塀で囲む-draped tapestries hang in each of its bedrooms, making the Schlossle the perfect place to 避難所 from the city’s 脅迫的な winter 天候. Its central 場所 is one of its best features ? it sits minutes from the Raekoja Plats and a few steps away from the Kalev Marzipan Museum (where Estonians believe the almond-flavoured confectionary was born).

Market 魔法: Tallinn basks in a Christmas glow in the winter

Why Tallinn?

Today’s Tallinn is a new city. 認めるd, much of what you see in the Old Town has a historic tale to tell, but then, this is a country whose inhabitants were still be ing 軍隊d to 列 in snaking lines for overpriced groceries little more than 20 years ago.

In the years since the Soviet Union’s 落ちる, Tallinn has been eager to make use of its independence.

進化 and modernisation has been 重要な to its change, yet stark 思い出の品s of the ロシアの 占領／職業 remain.

The Sokos Hotel Viru (www.sokoshotels.fi) continues to be a 広範囲にわたって-enjoyed tourist 目的地.

It was from this hotel that 国家保安委員会 officers ? who had made it their 商売／仕事 to wire rooms and illicitly listen in on other people’s conversations for several １０年間s ? fled on the night of the Union's 崩壊（する）. They left behind two untouched rooms (now known as the ‘国家保安委員会 Museum’) 十分な of 器具／備品, cigarette butts, 文書s and other such paraphernalia.

Here is a haunting 思い出の品 of how different life was for ordinary Estonians for much of the 20th century.

Of course, if you do grow tired of your 週末 in Tallinn, remember that the old 資本／首都 of the Tsarist empire, St Petersburg, is 217 miles away by one of the さまざまな フェリー（で運ぶ） 大勝するs 利用できる.

The Finnish 資本／首都 Helsinki is closer still ? just 53 miles away.

Travel Facts

率s for a Superior 二塁打 room at the Schl?ssle Hotel (www.schlossle-hotels.com) start from ?174 (£149) per night, buffet breakfast 含むd.

Estonian 空気／公表する (www.estonian-空気／公表する.com) 申し込む／申し出s flights to Tallinn from Heathrow and Gatwick.

More on Estonia at www.visitestonia.com