ESTONIA - Scandinavia - page 1038

Young Estonians eat well and affordably at pubs. In some pubs, you go to the
bar to look at the menu, order, and pay. Then find a table, and they'll bring
your food out when it's ready.
Hell Hunt Pub (“The Gentle Wolf”) was the first Western-style pub to
open after 1991, and it's still going strong, attracting a mixed expat and local
crowd with its tasty food. Consider making a meal from the great pub snacks
(€2.50-€4.50) plus a salad (€5-6). Choose a table in its convivial interior or
in the rustic courtyard across the street (€4.50 soups, €6-10 main dishes, daily
12:00-1:00 in the morning, Pikk 39, tel. [phone]).
Von Krahli Baar serves cheap, substantial Estonian grub—such as potato
pancakes (torud) stuffedwithmushroomsorshrimp(€5)—inabig,darkspace
that doubles as a center for Estonia's alternative theater scene; there's also
seating in the tiny courtyard where you enter. It started as the bar of the theater
upstairs, then expanded to become a restaurant, so it has a young, avant-garde
vibe. You'll feel like you're eating backstage with the stagehands (€4-7 main
dishes, Mon-Sat 12:00-22:00, Sun 12:00-18:00, Rataskaevu 10/12, a block
uphill from Town Hall Square, near Wheel Well, tel. [phone]).
Budget Eateries
(See “Talinn Hotels & Restaurants” map, here .)
Eat, a laid-back, cellar-level student hangout with a big foosball table and a
book exchange, serves the best-value lunch in town. Its menu is very simple:
three varieties of pelmeenid (dumplings), plus sauces, beet salad, and pickles.
Youdishupwhatyoulikeandpaybyweight(€2-3/bigbowl).Askforanedu-
cation in the various dumplings and sauces and then go for the complete ex-
perience.Enjoywithabandon—youcan'tspendmuchmoneyhere,andyou'll
feel good stoking their business (Mon-Sat 11:00-21:00, closed Sun, Sauna 2,
tel. [phone]).
Balti Jaama Kohvik, at the end of the train station near the Balti Jaam
Market, is an unimpressive-looking 24-hour diner with no real sign (look for
a red awning and Kohvik avatud 24 tundi —“café open 24 hours”—on the
door). The bustling stainless-steel kitchen cranks out traditional Russian/Esto-
nian dishes—the cheapest hot food in town. While you won't see or hear a