Riga Restaurants

It's a tea house, it serves tea. I went for the gunpowder and was not disappointed.

The decor theme is very strongly turkish / middle eastern. This is the reason I ticked the above category (and why is tea house not on the list ? It's only the oldest form of drinking establishment in the world). The street level rooms feature huge bed-like furniture that would seat at least eight to ten normal people (or two average Americans). The downstairs rooms are similar but even more ethnically dense with tapestries, carvings and hubble-bubble pipes for groups to chill 'til their frozen.

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Walking from the hostel where I stayed I often passed a Coffee Time, a café on wheel, standing in the corner of Vermanes Gardens. I never bought anything there , but when I visited the Ethnographic Museum for a festival, and had been walking around in the snow mud for more than two hours I was happy to see one. It had not been there when I arrived to the museum (before all people arrived), but during the festival a wagon on wheel was there selling hot drinks to frozen visitors. I bought a yummy big hot chocolate with chocolate pieces in it for 1.50 Ls (December 2008). It is a good place to get a coffee, tea or chocolate to go.

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Laima chocolate is well known in Latvia, but is also exported to Europe and North America. It has been made in Riga since 1870. The chocolate can be bought at Laima shops/cafés around in Riga but also at supermarkets.

I had some time to spend before I had to go back to the hostel and pick up my bag and go to the airport. I decided I should try the famous Laima chocolate, so I went to the café/shop on Audeju iela. I had entered this café once before but then went to look for a better place to sit down in. Now I went to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate. The size of the cup was the same as at Emihla Gustava, but there the resembles stopped. The chocolate was not as rich and it was sour and tasted awful. I did not even finish the cup, and I’m normally not fussy. Maybe it had that taste because it was late in the afternoon and the container from where the chocolate was poured was almost empty. The hot chocolate was 1.00 Ls.

Emihla Gustava is a heaven for chocolate lovers. I drank a delicious hot chocolate here, which was served in a small cup together with a glass of water. It was like thick melted chocolate and I had a good taste in my mouth long after drinking it. Really yummy! It was 1.50 Ls (December 2008).
At Emihla Gustava they make handmade chocolates and the pralines and truffles are great gifts to bring home.

There are several branches of Emihla Gustava in Riga. I visited the one in Berga bazaars. It is open between 9 - 21 on Mondays - Saturdays, and between 11 - 20 on Sundays. There is also an Emihla Gustava on Aspazijas 24 (opposite the opera) and in some shopping centres.

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At Wilhelms in Old Town you can get some good pancakes. It is self-service so you put what you want to eat on your plate and then you pay. There are plain pancakes and pancakes with different fillings, cottage cheese, sour cream and jam. This is what I ate (very yummy) and what I paid (December 2008):
Pancake with meat filling: 0.60 Ls
Pancake with cheese filling: 0.60 Ls
Pancake with banana filling: 0.45 Ls
Rasberry jam: 0.25 Ls
Kefir to drink: 0.35 Ls

I had waited for a VT-member for 30 minutes, but she didn’t show up. I was hungry and cold so I didn’t want to spend too much time looking for a nice place where I could eat. I had passed T.G.I. Friday earlier and knew it was nearby so that’s where I went immediately.
I ordered a big burger, with cheese and bacon, and a beer to drink. It all tasted very good and the portion was big. And the sofa was comfortable. That was all that I needed! On the menu you will find the usual things they have at T.G.I. Friday like burgers, ribs, steaks and nachos.
The burger with cheese and bacon was 5.90 Ls (December 2008) and the Latvian beer, 0.5 litres, was 2.50 Ls.
The restaurant is open between 12.00 - 01.00 and they also have home delivery.

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Outside this restaurant there were signs in both Latvian and English for special offers. There were two soups to choose from and I had the chicken macaroni soup. Then there were three meals to choose from and I had pork chops with mashed potato. To drink I had a glass of coca-cola. The cost was 4.90 Ls (December 2008).
The restaurant is situated in the basement in a building near the castle. It is a nice place and the food was good so this is a place I can recommend.

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Double Coffee is a chain with cafés all around Riga. The menu is big and in it you will find lots of different coffee drinks, tea, hot chocolate and cocktails. To eat there are cakes, sandwiches and some meals. There are also breakfasts. Some of the branches open early and in Old Town there are cafés that are open 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays.
I visited the cafés on Skunu iela 15 (near Doma Cathedral) and on Vecriga laukums (near St Peter’s Church) and they both had good sofas where it was comfortable to have a rest from sight-seeing.
I tried the hot chocolate with whipped cream and it was 1.60 Ls (December2008). That chocolate is made of milk and powder, but there is also a small cup of thick, melted chocolate on the menu. I also had breakfast one morning. On the menu there are three different choices of breakfast; French, English and European. I choose the French breakfast which consisted of two croissants, cream cheese, crab cream and black coffee or tea. The coffee, which was lukewarm, was served before the rest of the breakfast came. I rather have had some warm coffee after. The breakfast was 2.70 Ls.