InStudioVinum

Well, people recommended it and they were given a "Silver Spoon" award so I decided to give it a try. Actually- a second try , since I had walked through their door once before. As it turned out the times given on their front door are mainly for the store and not for the restaurant. OK, I got in this time. I would like to explain why I have not been overly eager to frequent this highly regarded restaurant. See it's in a basement and it's not that I'm claustrophobic,well maybe just a little, but I'd rather spend extended periods of time in rooms with windows.

The first impression was a pleasant one, a friendly smile with a greeting and it turned out to be our waitress. Somehow being greeted by a person who brings you food and who you communicate at least on some level for the rest of the night always tops a dedicated host or hostess.

InSudioVinum presents itself as a restaurant meeting a wine cellar and they always have a Sommelier on site. The regular person was not there that night, but the guy helping us was pretty competent and friendly. We ended up with a bottle of Pouilly Fusse and several reds. What kind is slipping my mind right now mainly because of the fact that there was several of them.

For start I chose Buffalo Mozzarella with Tomato Confit. It's basic and a classic at the same time.
I love classics and truly believe that classics should stay classics. There is no need to fool around with them unless you are a absolute genius.

Unfortunately looking at menus nowadays there seems to be a lot of geniuses around. The tomato confit was too sour and I'm not sure if the addition of beets to the whole thing was a good idea. But what really killed it was the pesto. There was no way to taste the mozzarella or anything else for that matter because of it. A miss.

For the main meal I opted for Burgundy style stew. Talk about classics. It was good, maybe even excellent, just the way it should be. Nothing new added, and no pesto. By the way just so you don't get a wrong idea, I like pesto a lot and if anybody's interested in Daniel Boulud's zucchini pesto recipe(one of my favorites) call me up.

For dessert I got ice cream. It was a selection of coffee-chocolate, calvados and Grand Marnier. It was good and creamy, but lacking taste. I asked my companions to taste it and they couldn't even determine which was which. OK, the coffee-chocolate was self-evident. But that's not good, if you can't tell what flavor ice-cream you are having.

All together the experience was a enjoyable one. Friendly and competent service, place was filled with people-at least by Tallinn standards and really good Burgundy Stew. My friends kept raving about their choice - rabbit. There's always next time and there will be next time.

InStudioVinum is good restaurant with a good staff and the prices are not out of this world, so I will be back and so should you.