Rannahotelli Restaurant

Pärnu Rannahotell is one of Estonia’s most impressive hotels, its opening caused local newspapers to claim the hotel “is unrivalled in [sic] half of Europe”. The octogenarian establishment has seen good times and bad, from wax museum-quiet to limelight-loud and the restaurant has always played a significant part in the ups and downs. Nowadays, the majority of the guests are regulars, if they return or not, depends most often on how well they enjoyed their food.

The key members of the kitchen brigade might be some of Estonia’s youngest, but this doesn’t mean they’re inexperienced, on the contrary, their skills are as sophisticated as the interiors are fancy, their craft demands attention. The menu includes dishes such as the Vegetable Patch, a visual and gustatory feast of bread “soil” sprouting with parsley and radish, watered with whey-cream sauce, and an apple-celery soup with goat’s milk and wood sorrel, the lot paired with lesser-known beverages well worth discovering. The hard-won status of strong restaurant in town seems irrelevant to this crew.

It’s clear that they’re aiming higher, their hearts set on surpassing half of Europe, and why not the other half too, while they’re at it. The restaurant brings the hotel into yet another period of vivid youth, of never looking back while proudly going forth. The Rannahotelli restaurant is poised to be the talk of the town for quite a while.