Estonian Restaurants Рестораны Эстонии


		The internet-guidebook Restaurants of Estonia

Close Your eyes and try to catch the associations caused by a word-combination " autumn in Paris ". Perhaps, it is some kind of a view from the window of an apartment under a roof: a square with century, now yellow chestnuts, a small street cafe with little tables on the sidewalk, the elderly Frenchmen reading the newspapers, the quiet music of the French accordion, and the smell of a batch and onions soup... The morning coffee... The French biscuit... Are You already grieve? It is not necessary! Autumn in Tallinn and other cities of Estonia is beautiful nonetheless, for their beauty and romanticism do not concede to Paris ones. And about French cuisine, no problems, we can easily take it and cook it. "We shall take and we shall be going!" Our today's conductor on the culinary - Victoria Umjarova, the owner of the French Cafe with an intriguing name “Mata Hari “,which is situated in the heart of The Old City in Tallinn, on the street Suur-Karja.

- Having once visited Paris, I have become very fond of this city forever; its silent streets, small cafes, the French cuisine. I wanted to transfer all these to our Tallinn, gloomy and grey sometimes, to present my friends this atmosphere of romanticism, love and silence.

- Absolutely, the Frenchmen are obviously fashion-makers not only in clothes. Their cuisine is considered as one of the best and most valuable in the world. However, everything that is “the best”, as we know, demands work and patience.

- Depends on what “the pearls” mean for you? For example for me, a simple dessert, prepared by the special recipe or a sandwich , containing an unusual combination of products, can be so refined, as well as dishes of the best restaurants of the world.

- There is a standard opinion, that the French cuisine has the meat dishes at the first. However, I would like to inform you, that the French cuisine is an abundance of vegetables. The potato, siliceous, string bean, various grades of onions, spinach, cabbage of various kinds, tomatoes, eggplants, celery, parsley, salads and etc. All these are widely used for preparation of the snack, the first and second dishes, and as garnishes or dressings. And certainly, the French cuisine has the cheese. There are more than five hundred types of cheese produced In France, and a dishes with cheese and green salad are necessarily submitted before the dessert, practically at any restaurant or cafe. There is a unique recipe for cheese preparation in each French village.

- As for the first dishes or starters, the Frenchmen prefer rather soups, for example such as the cream soup made of onions, called by Russians as "luk-porej", with potatoes or filled with cheese. The Provencal dense fish soup - "bujabes" is also widely known.

- For preparation of the basic dishes the Frenchmen use all kinds of meat: veal, beef, mutton, bird, game. Dishes from the sea and fresh-water fish are very popular: crashes, halibut, pike, carp, and as from such seafood kinds as oysters, and shrimps...

- Having been preparing a lot of dishes, the French culinary specialists put a small bunch of grasses in a saucepan, which gives to dishes the unique, truly "French" aroma. It refers to " a bouquet garni " and consists of a parsley and a bay leaf. After the dish is ready, this bouquet is taken out. Certainly, there are other kinds of seasonings that are also used, such as some grades of pepper, vanilla, and cinnamon.

- Firstly ,the Frenchmen are experts in desserts. For example, the cherry pie Klafutti, delightful tarte tatin - open pies with fruits and, certainly the well-known "cream - brule" - the cream baked with caramel by a crust. By the way, the word "biscuit" is a French word too.

- First of all, I want to correct you. "Creperie" is the more correctly name for us.

- It sounds so strange, but pancakes are truly a French dish. And the French pancakes are made from buckwheat flour and can be with various staffing.

- We don’t want to surprise our visitors. On the contrary, we want to be as conservative as possible - both with an interior and the menu. We enable you to have a rest, to have a tasty meal at a convenient price, to drink some coffee, to read newspapers, to communicate with friends. That is all that must be put in the concept of the French cafe.

- Well, let's now help our readers to arrange the French cafe at their kitchens themselves. What shall we prepare?

- The traditional onions soup about which heard practically everything, but very little known how to prepare it.

3 bulbs, 60 g of butter, 1 cube of broth to 1 litre of water, 80-100 grammes of dry, white wine, 200 g crackers of white bread, 200 g of cheese.3 large bulbs is cut half-and-half and crushed. Slightly we fry onions on a butter and put them in a saucepan with a ready vegetable broth, lead up to boiling and then removed from a plate. Then add in the received soup of dry white wine. Preliminary, we prepare crackers of a white roll, spill soup on plates, add crackers and grated cheese. The dish is possible to submit.

- Victoria, thank you very much for inviting us and sharing your experiences with our readers. We wish Creperie prosperity and a lot of clients.

- We are always glad to see you, so is our chief - cook ,who can always answer all your questions and please your desires. Welcome! Bon appetit!