NEH is the infamous Pädaste Manor’s seasonal kitchen in Tallinn Estonia. Unlike it’s more traditional country restaurant in a large romantic and historical manor, NEH is more of a bistro style eatery. They call NEH a home for foodies, those who care about organic, fresh ingredients that is. It turns out that NEH was where I had my first meal in Estonia when I arrived in mid-April. While the restaurant is in the city, the ambiance feels almost Provence like, with long wooden tables and a quaint courtyard that leads out to the street through a thick wooden door with an old fashioned iron latch.
Did I mention the freshness and diversity of their breads? This was served with herb remoulades, dried carrot, parsnip, bread thins with poppy seeds, cheese and pepper. They also brought out spelt white bread, Karja raisin and hazelnut bread with Bornholm rapeseed oil and rasberry vinegar.
Imagine other such delicacies on the menu, such as ostrich with horseradish and crunchy vegetables, a Kalamatsi dairy goat cheese with fermented vegetables from Rautsi farm & Gotland´s limpa bread, Moose tartare with homemade horseradish vodka and a smoked baltic herring with alder chips and homemade butter.
For mains, they have a beef cheek with onions and a red wine sauce, a Kohlrabi spaghetti with yummy apple celeriac cream, Lepiku farm lamb, served with wintery carrots from sand and ramson cream, spring morel sauce and burnt onions (shown below) and Järveotsa farm quail, served in a salsify compote & offal sauce. They also offer artisanal cheese from the Nordic Islands, which they serve with Bornholm cumin crackers and Pädaste spiced apple jam.
They also dished up a Beetroot pesto with leak ashes, chicken liver pate, smoked cod pate, homemade butter, spiced Baltic herring on dark Muhu bread with spring green onion, smoked lamb, cured duck, cured venison, pork skin snack, fermented beetroots and carrots.
A sorbet in between courses to freshen up the palette and a Rhubarb Bellini.
Over lunch, we sampled a 2011 Riseling Qba dry organic Klumpp from Germany and a Reserva Selecta Campillo with a 2005 Spanish Rioja. Luckily, the chef was on-site when we dined there for lunch so I took a little visit to Neh’s kitchen for a look around….
As I mentioned, the charm isn’t just in the food but the rustic ambiance of the restaurant, both inside and….out.
Note: I was hosted by the Estonian Tourism board but all opinions expressed here are my own. For more on Estonian food, visit our Estonia Restaurants & Food & Wine Section.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
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