Tartu Restaurants

Maailm means "world" in Estonian. This bar / cafe / restaurant tries to create a global atmosphere in its premises, i.e. selling different countries' specialties, calling their drinks Dalai Lama, playing great music in numerous languages and displaying some ethno objects in their rooms. Maailm is a great place to hang out after a long day, its atmosphere is interesting and creative (the only bar with swings to sit on!!). The walls use newspaper cuttings as tapestry.

Favorite Dish: garlic bread was good, and i also enjoyed the Dalai Lama fruit cocktail

Wilde and Vilde were writers - the former Oscar Wilde was Irish, the latter Eduard Vilde was Estonian. For whatever reason, this place included them both in its name and theme. Statues of the writers (who have never met each other) are found in front of the building, sitting on a bench. But let's get to the place itself. First of all, it's actually two places - a cosy cafe downstairs and a lively bar and restaurant upstairs. While I opt for the cafe during daytime (for instance for one of the Vanaema Koogid (Grandmother's Cakes)), the bar is a perfect spot for hanging out at night (and have some garlic bread or one of their tasty main courses). You usually meet a lot of foreigners in here, and English seems to be spoken more often than Estonian... But this place has existed for ages and is featured in literally every travel guide about the Baltics. Anyway, Wilde is a must-visit - great food, nice atmosphere, friendly staff, a wonderful outside terrace, and the best apple-cake (Vanaema Ounakook) I've ever eaten!
Something they proudly announce on their website (which, btw, is very well organized) is the "Wilde Super Burger" - if you're able to finish it by yourself within one hour, you win a case of Saku Rock beer!

Favorite Dish: Vanaema Ounakook - maybe that's why I've come back to Tartu...
Apart from that, their garlic bread is pretty good, although the last time I had it, it was fairly dry. Other food is good, too (and very international... Irish, Indian, Chinese... you name it!)

2 more images

At the ground floor there is a cafe and a bookstore. We went upstairs to the Irish Pub, where we had a nice lunch. Ambience is cozy, food is good and the staff is friendly. There is wireless internett access.

Outside there is a sculpture of the Irish author Oscar Wilde and the Estonian author Eduard Wilde. But there is a third Wilde, the founder of the printing and publishing business that was situated in the building from 1766.

There is more to the place than just food; concerts and exhibitions take place there, too. And if you want to have a VT meeting, this is the place to go: The owners are VT members.

Favorite Dish: I had the lunch of the day. I do not remember what it was, only that it was very good and relatively cheap :-)

This café cum bookstore has taken it's name after the famous Irish writer. Unlike many combos like this, it does not feel like sitting in a mall with shoppers trafficing around you. No this is a proper cozy cafe with soft chairs waitreses and a full menu of sandwiches, salads, pancakes etc. We had a Greek salad, a ciabatta and a pancake with curd cheese or kohupiima, which the Estonians love to mix with anything. I will not be surprised if they serve a Kohupiima Martini. In fact Kohupiima, Kaluha and Vodka should be called a "White Estonian"

Right, back on track: The prices are very reasonable and the food was delicious.

To top it all off they have free Wifi. The German guy next to us was talking to friends back home on Skype, so it must be pretty good too.

Nerd fact: The red brick building it's all located in was previously a printing and publishin business opened by Dr. Peter Ernst Wilde in 1766.

p.s. It's supposed to be an Irish pub, which luckily didn't show very much. Whats the big attraction in Irish pubs? I don't get it...

p.p.s. This just in: Apparently the Irish pub is upstairs from the cafe and bookstore, so there you have it.

4 more images

In 1768-1778 a new gunpowder magazine was built in the moat below Toome Hill. The vaults under the hill served for military purposes first, later as storage, and the university used them as laboratory for a while. In the 1980s a first cafe and restaurant opened here. The present brewery pub and restaurant has opened in 2000.

The vaulted halls and rustic atmosphere are enjoyable. The waitresses are dressed in cute traditional clothing. Regular visitors have their own beer steins with their names on them which are put up in long rows on the walls.

They serve an abundant selection of Estonian dishes in good quality. We were with a party of about 20 people and everyone was happy with theirs. Many of their dishes have funny names. Bring someone who speaks Estonian and can translate, otherwise you'll miss the jokes. The menu in English is on their website and the menus at the restaurant have descriptions of the food in English, too, but without the funny names!

Later in the evening the restaurant mutates into a pub and club with karaoke events and dancing and occasional live music.

Favorite Dish: "Suudle mind veel" ("Kiss me again") deserved a tip of its own - this is the name they gave to their roasted garlic bread with garlic dip, a popular starter in Estonia.

As main dish I had a lamb casserole with potatoes and vegetables, very good.
And their beer deserves a honourable mentioning, of course!

3 more images

Estonians have a faible for the yummiest cakes and pralines and sweets, and they know how to make them. Better not be on a diet when you visit this country. Among the many fine goodies I tried in many places those of Café Pierre deserve more than a honourable mentioning. Their chocolate cake was to die for. (No worries, I am still alive.)

The cafe is conveniently located in town hall square. The atmosphere is cosy and this is a great refuge on a rainy afternoon.

House-made pralines are on sale per piece. A pack with a selection makes a nice gift to your dears at home.

Ladies - don't miss the toilet... (photo 3)

1 more image

The general theme to eating in Tartu was one of hunger while waiting a lifetime to be served and then for the food to arrive. This place was no exception.

The restaurant / pub stretches over four floors, with a pool trable area in the basement. It seems to have a good reputation in town though I can't say I was so impressed.

The menu is very extensive indeed in Estonian and English and while it's ostensibly a Chinese restaurant, they also have Indian food on the menu.

It does get very busy in the evenings here so booking recommended if you're going to eat. Groups of more than two or three people should probably go straight to the top floor. Surroundings are quite trendy so it's a good place to pop in for a beer if you don't mind waiting ages for it to arrive.

Favorite Dish: The hot and sour soup was actually very nice and spicy the way I like it. We ordered 3 dishes but only two arrived. They were a bit average, though fried rice was nice, the main meat dishes were a bit bland even though they were noted on the menu to be spicy.

As well as the additional Indian food, you can also get sushi or American style fare. Perhaps if they shortened the menu they could concentrate on actually serving people.

1 more image

Having tried to get some food elsewhere in Tartu without success I eventually had to settle for eating in my hotel. Unfortunately the service here was absolutely dreadful and this somewhat tarnished any recomendation I can make about it. I'm not sure if our waiter was new, but certainly something was wrong. It also seemed as if they only had two waiters on duty and only two menus between the entire restaurant.

It took half an hour and physically following a waiter round in order to get a menu and then another half hour or so before the food turned up. The meal as a whole took about 2 and a half hours to finish. While the surroundings were nice enough it was also absolutely freezing in there.

As this is also a bar they bring the cutlery and glasses to you table only when you've ordered. Well, if they remember. I noticed that people who had reserved a table seemed to get served faster so maybe that's the secret to success here.

Favorite Dish: A bottle of cava here cost only 90 krooni which was half the price of the wine and which I would have enjoyed more if I wasn't almost delirious with hunger.

I ate the salmon and cucumber soup [37 krooni] which was nice though slightly too rich. Roasted elk with sauteed potatoes at about 140 krooni was one of the more expensive things on the menu but was rather nice and made for something a bit different. The herring starter also got the thumbs up for 40 krooni.

If the service was only passable rather than atrocious, this place would be worthwhile.