Tallinn offers plenty of flavours to get you salivating when it comes to food and drink, and Falstaff looks at the must-visit bars and the cocktails worth traveling to Tallinn for.
Tallinn may not be the most convenient place to travel to, but it is a city definitely worth visiting. The capital of Estonia, Europe's greenest country, is primarily known for its medieval Old Town or eye-catching Winter Market on the Town Hall Square. There’s plenty to see here, and in addition to the eye candy, Tallinn also offers plenty of flavours to get you salivating, with high-quality and tasty food along with local craft drinks and cocktails.
Fotografiska bar: from leaf to root
Fotografiska photo museums are located in Tallinn, Stockholm and New York, with Berlin, Miami and Shanghai soon to be added to the list. Fotografiska’s photo exhibitions are eye-opening and thought-provoking, but the same applies to the food in the museum's restaurant in Tallinn and the cocktails in the bar.
The principle of Fotografiska restaurant and bar is zero waste: for each raw material, everything from the leaf to the root is used. Estonian nature offers endless tasty gifts; just pick them up, and that's exactly what the Fotografiska bar staff do every season. The wild mushroom broth offers a unique taste, with the restaurant team using a range of ingredients: dandelion, stinging nettle or any other weed offers flavours that have not been experienced before in the form of an infusion or crumble.
Look carefully at the descriptions of all the cocktails on the menu before you order something, that way you will definitely find the most interesting and unknown flavour combination for you.
Botaanik: foodie's own bar
Andres Siem is not an ordinary foodie. Hunters of food and drink experiences are occasionally tempted to open their own restaurant or bar, and Andres made it happen. After acquiring professional knowledge at the European Bartender Academy and gaining valuable work experience in London's best bars, Andres searched for a suitable venue before opening the most unique bar in Tallinn.
The botanist is squeezed into 35 square meters in Tallinn's old town, the one-man show preparing cocktails in the first half of each week and serving them in the second half of the week: mostly in the kind of vintage glasses that you can't find anywhere else. Andres often comes up with ideas for cocktails while eating something distinctive, with his Whiskey Sour said to be like a runny curry drink because of the Indian spices used. The idea of the Cep Martini was born while eating a dish of wild mushrooms.
Visitors to Botaanik quickly become acquaintances, friends and regular guests of the bartender, with personal communication rewarded. Online reservations are not possible; you can get a seat at the bar when you call in.
Whisper Sister: not a well-kept secret
Years ago, Whisper Sister opened as a speakeasy; although there is still no sign on the building and the bar’s front door is always locked, Whisper Sister has become one of the most famous cocktail bars in Estonia. They don't try to keep the veil of secrecy that much anymore, and you can reserve a table at the bar online, but for the door to open, visitors have to phone ahead to be allowed entry.
Tallinn, a small city on the edge of Europe, is certainly not a cosmopolitan place, but Whisper Sister certainly is. Foreign languages are spoken here rather than local ones, with applications for jobs in the bar more often received from those who reside outside Estonia. For Tallinn (and especially compared to Botaanik), the extremely large bar is always crowded. Every cocktail that the bar offers is a new emotion, emotions that need to be experienced.
Signature Cocktails of Whisper Sister: One Fine Thing (Smoky, floral, complex), Love Letter to CPH (lactic, Umami, milk clarified).
Cocktail Tchaikovsky in the Hotel Telegraaf
It is said about the composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky that he liked to enjoy strong tea with lemon instead of vodka with French cognac. His music was considered too Western for Russian critics, with the French-Russian cuisine restaurant Tchaikovsky in Tallinn inspired by the composer and his music. A Tchaikovsky cocktail is served in the restaurant or the lobby bar of Hotel Telegraaf: a mix of organic dill-infused Hōbe vodka, dill oil, lime juice and sugar syrup is served with Osetra caviar.
Pisco Sour in the bar of the Puri restaurant
A pisco sour can be enjoyed anywhere in the world, and those who have drunk a lot of them will notice that the version in the Puri is special in terms of its highly refined taste and the drink’s execution. It creates a crisp Nordic mood, with the panoramic views of the picturesque sailing marina adding flavour to the cocktail.
Cocktail Foxtail in the restaurant's NokNok bar
Foxtail cocktail, which contains the flavours of whisky, pumpkin, carrot, pineapple and ginger, is one of the winning cocktails in Tallinn Cocktail Week. NokNok Bar has won this competition twice, with Tallinn Cocktail Week an event held every year in August, where the city's best cocktail bars offer their most creative inventions. The jury of the Estonian Bartenders' Association selects the winner from among them.
