Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

The Victim: Dad

The Damage: Unknown! Dad paid.

The Background: I had narrowed down dinner to two locations and asked the concierge for the deciding vote. Troika it is! Particularly, I was excited because all the write-ups mentione pelmeni–and I have a soft spot for pelmeni after visiting Russia with my friend Aileen in 1998 and eating lots of delicious pelmeni everywere we went. Pelmeni, btw, are dumplings…they are like pierogi, or gyoza, or pot stickers, or well just dumplings.

The Entrance: I like it. It is busy and loud and fun. There’s live music and singing coming from somewhere. Our server asks us if we’d like some vodka and pickles–we say yes immediately because my dad’s new best friend–the server at Gloria–told us that we must have the vodka and pickles.

The Drinks and Starters: The vodka arrives and our server puts on quite a show pouring it for us. He raises the bottle about three feet from the table and pours the vodka in. It’s a cool display. Now the pickles…I am not a fan of pickles…but give me some pickles, honey, and sour cream, and you’ve got me, maybe forever. Our server at the Gloria wine bar had arleady told us what to do—take a sip of vodka, dip the pickle in the honey and then in the sour cream, eat. And drink some more vodka. This was a clever little trick. Too bad it wasn’t free! You can tell we liked this dish…

The Mains: My pelmeni were boring. They were served with three types of sour cream that were just not so very exciting. My dad’s fish was only okay. We were disappointed.

The Service: The service started off well, but quickly went downhill. It took forever for our mains to arrive, and our server just wasn’t so very charming. After the service at Olde Hansa and Gloria–which was just so very very good–we were disappointed.

The Verdict: Eh. Although off to a good start, Troika didn’t deliver.

The post Restaurant in Tallinn, Estonia: Troika first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, May 15th

The Victim: Dad

The Damage: Unknown! Dad paid.

The Background: I really am the BEST daughter ever. My father (likes to think he) is a simple man: he likes red wine, fish, and the cha cha. Knowing his fondness for red wine and my appreciation of a comfortable venue, I made the Gloria Wine Bar our destination, cha cha aside.

Now you must imagine me guiding my father down a half-deserted street in Estonia, looking for Number 2. He is VERY cranky. He is convinced that I do not know where I am going. He doesn’t want to walk anymore. He wants to stop and go back and go somewhere else. (History has taught me NEVER to let give in to pressure and let him take me to the first place he sees. It will no doubt be awful, utterly charmless and with disasterous food.) I have never heard an adult man whine so much.

But there, off in the distance, is the entrance to the Gloria Wine Bar. I enter, my father behind me. It’s so wonderfully lovely, he immediately stops moaning and complaining. (The moaning and complaining, however, is immediately replaced with the phrase "I am very impressed." Repeatedly. Non stop. Parents…sigh.)

The Atmosphere: The Gloria Wine Bar is settled in a little bit below street level, so there are lots of low ceilings and nooks and crannies. Wine is stored everywhere, and the wine list is impressive. I think they could probably offer a few more wines by the glass, but it was entirely acceptable. Oh, and I really could have used some nuts or something, and there were no snacks to be had. Sigh.

The Service: The young man who served us was awesome…chatty, interesting, informative. He told us all about the background of the riots a couple of weeks earlier. My father peppered the poor kid with questions, but he answered them all with aplomb. This guy is a keeper, for sure.

The Verdict: Absolutely lovely. Would go back in a heartbeat.

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Date of Last Visit: Tuesday, May 22nd

The Victim: Dad

The Damage: Unknown! Dad paid!

The Background: In my endless quest to keep my father amused, I took him to Tallinn for a few days. I am the best daughter ever. OK, I wanted to go too.

All the guidebooks say you have to try Olde Hansa. It is, apparently, the Hofbrauhaus of Tallinn. But classier. Being a sucker for the Hofbrau, I marched Dad over to Olde Hansa for lunch.

The Service: My father dropped his plan to find a Korean girlfriend, and instead decided to find a nice Estonian girl instead. Really, our server was super sweet and charming.

The Drinks: We started off with a little schnapps, which was quite nice. It was called "Monk’s Bride" and was meant to keep the monks warm in cold months. From here, Dad switched over to wine and I ordered an Olde Hansa spiced beer, which was quite nice.

The Food: A notch above pub fare, but below gourmet. It was interesting and different. I had the mixed sausages–wild boar was one of the sausages on offer. My dad went with the salmon. We were both very pleased with our lunch. Nothing too fancy, but just a little bit different enough to keep things interesting. 

The Atmosphere: Truly lovely. Olde Hansa is lit almost entirely by candles…even the loos are candlelit!

The Verdict: I’d go back! This assumes I go back to Tallinn at some point, of course.

The post Restaurants in Tallinn, Estonia: Olde Hansa first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.