African Kitchen, Tallinn

Sorry, bad pictures. This atmospheric restaurant, African Kitchen,  is located in the old town of Tallinn. I'm not sure how original it really is, because I've never been in Africa, but this restaurant gets my points in atmosphere, drink list and super friendly staff. Especially the staff gets big heart, they are smiling all the time (even then, when one of them just broke five cocktails, we had ordered). 

Food, is good, but the tastes are not very strong. Portions are huge and late night dinner might be a bit hard to finish there. It's definitely one of the places to visit in Tallinn. 

PS. If you are not hungry, you can also go there for a drink. They have a good list for cocktails. 

Kompressor pubi, Tallinn

In this small minimalist restaurant you get the biggest and the most well filling crepes in Tallinn (and Northern Europe). The dish is very simple: inside of these crepes there are mostly two different filling: a cheese and some vegetable or cheese and some meat. Also some dessert version, but we have never been able to get that far - the salty crepes have been so big. The atmosphere in this restaurant is as the food - straightforward. 

We warmly recommend - this is the place we always go, when we visit Tallinn, Estonia. 

2h+k, Tampere

2h+k in Tampere is an interesting restaurant. It's good, it could be very good, but there few minor (but extremely important) things, which could be done better. 

First of all let's talk about the place. Nice and cosy, it kind of feel like in a 2 rooms +kitchen appartment (except that we would love to be able to fit that many people in our flat); Anyway good points for the general atmosphere. The staff is very friendly and concerned about your confort (maybe a bit too much...).

The card itself is simple but with some very tempting choices. Here was our table choice:

Entrée: Escargots à l'ail

Well well well, our 3 pairs of eyes were first excited about the dishe. Excitement was short time feeling. First of of the snails were served (and most probably cooked) without the shell resulting a very mild taste of garlic. Then the plate was covered by a cheesy crust, not bad at all but a bit surprising. anyway that was a good way to start the diner.

Plats de resistance:

_Chanterelles Risotto

_Roquefort Pasta

_Shrimp lobster tagliatelles

Here things started to be a bit funky. First of all, there has been hardly 3 minutes from the time our starter plate disappeared until the meal were served...a bit too fast for the full enjoyment of the meal and maybe also a bit too fast for fresh cooking...unless the meal are prepared way ahead and simply warmed up...

Anyway risotto was quite good! Not the best ever but definitly on the top of the basket. 

Roquefort Pasta were tasty even if it felt a bit like home made food; but home made food can be so good! The problem started realy with the shrimp&lobster tagliatelles. The Tagliatelles happened to be...fusillis and thus without any explanation from the kitchen. The meal was good but, something was missing.

After all this we still had a small hunger, and also some wine to finish so we went for a 3 cheeses plate. The selection of cheeses is short but interesting. The only thing is that it is served to you without any explanation from the waiter which cheese is what!? So read carefully your cheese encyclopedia before you book a table;)

But the most shocking thing was probably the absence of bread with the cheese, which was served with...crackers! Come on, do we look like Wallace and Gromit?! Only Brits can eat cheese with crackers, civilized people eat cheese with a good slice of bread!

As a conclusion, and despite few bad points, 2h+k is a very good value, probably one restaurant I would recommand in Tampere.

7/10

Pizzeria Napoli, Tampere

Once we've driven 400 km to eat these pizzas - Pizzeria Napoli in Tampere is famous for their pizzas, at least among the Tampere citizens. This restaurant has slightly kitsch decorations, their pizza list is the longest in Finland (100 different pizzas) and their pizzas are good - some versions excellent. For example a pizza with artichokes, forest mushrooms, asparagus and rucola is very tasty, though the pizza with cold smoked salmon tend to become a bit too fat and boring.

Lovely place to enjoy pizza!

Pyynikin Näkötornin Kahvila, Tampere

You would like to walk a bit in the fresh air, enjoy the forest, ridge landscape and some beautiful old wooden houses in Tampere? You wouldn't mind, if you got a cup of coffee and a pastry after your hike?

Well, go to Tampere, look for Pyynikki and a tower there. From that small cafe downstairs of the observation tower you will get the best coffee with munkki (Finnish doughnut) in Tampere. The munkki is maybe the best in the whole Finland. 

Pyynikki Observation tower cafe