Vegan/vegetarian restaurants in Tallinn?

[Tom Söderlund]

Hi,

Coming soon for a business trip to Tallinn and would like to support a vegan restaurant in Tallinn by having a lunch. Are there any vegan restaurants yet?

Second choice would be having a vegan lunch in a lactovegetarian restaurant. Are there any such restaurants yet?

Third choice would be having a vegan lunch in a lacto-ovo-vegetarian restaurant. Are there any such restaurants yet?

Fourth choice would be having a vegan lunch in a normal restaurant. From other threads it seems that this is possible in several places. Would most likely pick the african one.

But please let me know if there are any vegan or vegetarian restaurants. That way my money would not directly contribute to unnecessary violence.

Thanks for any info!
-Tom

[annika]

Hi Tom,

good to hear about your interest in local vegan/vegetarian restaurants!
Unfortunately Tallinn is one of those cities that does not have a place like that However, there are some restaurants that serve good vegan food. One of them is African Kitchen that you mentioned, but there is also Aed (Rataskaevu 8, in Tallinn Old Town) and F-Hoone (Telliskivi 60a, near the train station).

Welcome to Tallinn!

[Tom Söderlund]

Thank you so much Annika. Any idea of the violence degree of these three mainstream places (African Kitchen, Aed, F-Hoone)? Maybe vegans working in some of them? Maybe some of them using organic ingredients mostly? It seems there is a bhakti temple (hare krishna -people) in Tallinn, do they provide any food to outsiders on weekdays? So there aren't even any underground animal activist vegan punk bars? -Tom

[annika]

As far as I know Aed is an organic restaurant.
(I don't know about the temple though. And underground animal activist vegan punk bar is probably a dream we all share around here )

[kirsitort]

Aed is a very good option indeed. Chefs there are all very keen about keeping food clean and vegan (though due to customer demands, they still do serve animal products), i can assure you that they take care of keeping all sidewaste as minimum as possible.
There are some asian restaurants serving vegan food also, but who wants to go to one of those while traveling Or even better, maybe one of us, forum users is up for cooking you a nice meal!
Good luck and enjoy Tallinn.

[Tom Söderlund]

Thanks, good to know! While desperately searching for a vegan/vegetarian-only restaurant there was this photo from 2009 in the search results, claiming to be taken at 'the only vegetarian restaurant in Tallinn'. Does this place still exists, is it really vegetarian-only? Best regards, so glad for your help! -Tom

[erplander]

[haisuli]

We have had good experiences from African Kitchen (visited several times) and Elevant (been there once)

It's good sign when the waiter knows what term "vegan" means in practice. In Elevant they made vegan Naan-bread spontaneously before we even asked it etc.

[kirsitort]

Yah, Elevant is also a very very good option, tasty also, only it's a bit expencive but once in a whyle why not

[lumehelves]

I've also heard only positive comments about Elevant's vegan options.

[Tom Söderlund]

Thank you all so much for your kind help. One friend told me that also at Biocafe there might be some possibilities to get vegan food. What do you think? http://www.facebook.com/pages/Biocafe-m ... 529?ref=nf

[annika]

I haven't been to Biocafe. But their latest status update says that today's specials are:

Soup with meatballs 2.25
Meatloaf 3.55
Lamb shashlik 6.50
Minced meat sauce 3.85
Roast beef 5.50

:-/

[Coccinella]

[whitemagik]

I wouldn't really recommend ... I did once eat something veg*n over there (think it was the spelt pasta), but the food wasn't anything special and although we were the only customers, the service was really bad and for some reason I just didn't like the place in general.

As others have pointed out, African Kitchen definitely is worth visiting! They've got good food, the place is sooo cosy and the service is great! Ooh, and they've got THE creamiest hummus in the world!

There's also a restaurant called straight in the Old Town and they offer authentic Indian food with many veggie options as well. I haven't been there myself though but it seems like a nice place.

[kirsitort]

Truly amazed about whitemagiks reply about Aed For me it's one of the best places, with wonderful atmosphere and service, what i especially enjoy is that i can eat in a real white tablecloth restaurant for a good price and have pure food also.

Anyway, i would like to hear more about that Chacra place, seems interesting. They have huge windows to the kitchen so I have been sneaking some looks inside, looks all clean and nice..

[whitemagik]

Maybe we just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time... For me, the atmosphere was ok but I was annoyed by the random radio channels playing random pop music in a place that is called "The Garden" - I expected nature sounds or classical music or something more... thematic The waitress most likely had had a bad day (or something else irrelevant that could affect the quality of average Estonian service.) But of course, I've been there *once*, so my experience probably is inadequate. And sorry for being a snob. Can't help it

[Tom Söderlund]

Thanks for the updates. Was there today! Chose Aed this time and was quite pleased -- easily managed to avoid direct support of milk and other animal products which was the main goal. Took salad, pumpkin soup with nuts, beet root cutlets and some Estonian herbal tea, and everything, including the bread, was very delicious, nutritious and nicely serviced. Very prompt staff. (The random pop didn't disturb me but certainly created a noticeable contrast to the peaceful surroundings.) Maybe next time African Kitchen, hopefully soon! Enjoying Tallinn so much.. -Tom

(Btw, some of you might be interested in a happening in Helsinki this Friday and Saturday for the anniversary of a local animal welfare/rights organization Animalia. Free movies, discussions as well as art, recycling and veggie product developers and suppliers, etc. In the city centre (Bio Rex venue at Lasipalatsi on Mannerheimintie). Mostly in Finnish but some in English too. And a finishing club (12€, Korjaamo) on Saturday night. More info: http://www.animalia.fi/el%C3%A4in )

[annika]

[haisuli]

Also we're trying to visit there tomorrow (Saturday) if possible.