Bogdan

This is somewhat off the beaten track. Bogdan is located in the heart of Soviet era projects and not that easy to find, but it is definitely worth the effort.

First of all it doesn't break the bank since the most expensive dish on the menu is just 110 EEK's and most wines are less than 400. They do have their very own trophy wine listed, something that sounds really cool "Krõmvein Krasnõi Krõmskii 1958" for 1500EEK's. I have no idea what it is, but hey...that's cool.

Now the interior is nothing special, but it's nice and clean plus the the girls are quite friendly and polite. Yes it is a simple place, but simple can be good and the food here is good. Some of it downright excellent.

Now here's a warning - do not go to Bogdan if you're not a fan of garlic, I think everything on the menu has tons of in it. Then again the cuisine is Ukraine and that's the way it's supposed to be.

Last time I started with Potato Pancakes with Lox and it was delicious, followed with Borscht, and that was good. I remember being torn between the Bcorscht and Okroshka, I'll have that next time. Now even thought I was pretty stuffed I managed to extend my stomach for Stuffed Cabbage that was, how would I put it...ahh - made with Love.

All in all highly recommended, just try to remember - simple is beautiful.

Dominic

This is a place that looks great, has a great location and has a positive word of mouth going for it. So I stopped by for lunch.

Dominic has a really nice vibe about it. Interior is pleasantly unassuming, specially on the cafe side, it just makes you feel comfortable.

I was greeted with a friendly "Hello" as soon as I walked in and altogether the service was great throughout the lunch.

I got a fresh salad to start with and was perfectly happy with it. Everything was truly fresh, it looked nice on the plate and was finished with a pretty well balanced vinaigrette. Oh and they brought fresh baked bread to the table that seemed to be baked in house. One was with sun-dried tomatoes and the other one with walnuts I think. Nice.

Then I got a pasta dish Du Jour and that's when everything went wrong. It was brought to the table and I got suspicious right away. I've never seen pasta sauce that color before, it's hard to describe. Maybe blueish-greenish-grayish would do it justice. It tasted as repulsive as it looked.

I'd like to think that I was just truly unlucky and I will give them another shot. It's just that so many other things about this place I do like. Then again food in restaurant business is king, so it'll be just a shot.

La BOTTEGA

Trattoria Enoteca La Bottega opened this past Wednesday night and considering that places are closing left and right, opening a new restaurant right now could be considered either an act of madness or courageous endurance. So of course I couldn't help myself and I stopped by for lunch.

First of all it looks great. The medieval space has been meticulously renovated, then everything tastefully designed and decorated, theme being that of a trattoria. Don't be fooled though it's a real nice restaurant with some simpler trattoria style dishes on the menu.

It's not cheap, but they consciously set the price limit. Nothing on the menu is over 300 EEK's, some do come close... as close as 290 EEK's close. I think a lot of people will appreciate the fact there are quite a few things that are affordable on the menu. Once again it's not cheap. For example only one pasta dish is less than a 100, most of them are around 150-160.

Now to the food. Chef de Cuisine Nicolo Tanda deffinetly knows his stuff and thank god his not one of these "I'm an ARTISTE" chefs. He's a mechanic, but a truly great one at that. I had Bruscetta, then Gnocchi with Sweet Pepper sauce and then Grilled Sardines. All of it simple, all of it delicious and all of it good looking. No silly looking little sculptures on the plate here.

The staff was friendly, polite, maybe still working things out a little bit, but then again they've been open for two days. Plus they apologized to me in case everything wasn't perfect. Perfect.

Best Italian food in Tallinn right now. Possibly my new favorite place. What it needs now is people, that of course will not be an easy task to accomplish these days. Go now, who knows for long we will have this chance to enjoy high quality culinary offering without any of the bullshit that seems to come with it in Tallinn.

NB! The address is VENE 4.