Dining Platter

Platinum Platter
awards
By Howard Jarvis
Platinum Platter
awards
Dining
awards for
excellence
Run
n
Platter
Aqua Luna,
2014
Stargorod,
p
su
er
Platinum
B E S T N E W R E S TAU R A N T
Uncle Vanya
3 naži, Valtera
Quite a number of great new restaurants
have opened in Riga over the past year, but
we think Uncle Vanya has the edge. Like a
staging of Chekhov’s famous play, its interior
is furnished like a 19th century Russian rural gentry homestead.
Latvian designer Gunta Lapiņa created the homey ambiance, which
evokes scenes from Tolstoy or Pushkin. Dishes and refreshments
are almost entirely homemade including kvass, beer, liqueurs,
bread, pickles, bacon and more. Recipes from cookbooks dating
from 1895 to 1910 inspired the menu. All the old favorites are here
but in the best possible renditions, from pancakes with sturgeon
caviar to a sumptuous cabbage soup. It’s not often you see lard on a
menu but, boldly, here it is, smoked and rendered together with traditional salted bacon and toasted rye bread. Vodka comes in chilled
shots, and the sound of clinking glasses accompanies Russian
romance songs as clients occasionally burst into joyful song.
restorāns, Mio
5th year!
Expert Jury
B E S T G O U R M E T R E S TAU R A N T
Bernhard Loew
Ronald Smithjes
Vita Jermolovica
Howard Jarvis
General Manager,
Grand Palace Hotel
District Director
Radisson Blu Hotels, Baltics
Board Member, Riga Tourism
Development Bureau/LIVE RIGA;
Riga City Council Deputy
Editor, RigaNOW!
8
T
his is the fifth time RigaNOW! has unveiled
the winners of the Platinum Platter Awards.
And it’s the second time we’ve assembled a jury of
experts to help us reach our decision, adding objectivity to the results.
The restaurants were judged on a number of criteria, including taste and presentation of the food,
service, the wine list, design, style and comfort, and
value. Important too is the flexibility to innovate
and surprise, so we looked at any developments at
the restaurants over the past 12 months.
Accommodation criteria included location, quality of the guest rooms, staff and service, food and
leisure facilities, ambience and design. Criteria for
entertainment and shopping included (where applicable) uniqueness, quality, creativity and décor,
quality of the bartending and staff, drinks and food,
cleanliness and safety, and value.
Bibliotēka No 1,
Vincents, Le Dome
Chef Raimonds Zommers is young but
Fish Restaurant,
already has many international and local
Degustare, Pinot
awards since launching his career eight years
ago. He’s cooked for everyone from the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly to the Spanish royals,
and he carries on Kaļķu vārti’s tradition of innovative
twists on nouvelle Latvian cuisine. On the new spring menu enjoy
butter-fried turbot fillet with bean ravioli, slow-cooked suckling
pig or duck, and buckwheat chocolate cake. Kaļķu vārti has been a
fixture of the Old Town for as long as anyone can remember, yet it
continues to be one of Riga’s very best restaurants.
B E S T O R I G I N A L R E S TAU R A N T
Runn
e
3 pavāru
up
rs
RigaNOW! and its Expert Jury
have decided on the winners
of the Platinum Platter
Awards 2014. These awards
are presented to what we
consider to be the most
outstanding restaurants,
hotels and entertainment
and shopping venues in
Latvia.
Ru
n
up
rs
ne
Kaļķu vārti
International SV
A little way out of the center, International
SV pulls off the trick of creating a wide
range of dishes from various countries that
are modestly sized and affordable enough for
customers to try several in one sitting. The dishes
are expertly prepared by executive chef Andrei Shmatchenko and his
team. Red king crab sushi nori comes with tempura and an aromatic
mango yuzu dressing. Beef Wellington has a small but unmistakable
ring of chestnuts, mushrooms and Parma ham between the perfectly
cooked beef and puff pastry. Siberian pelmeni are filled with a blend
of elk and venison, with a dash of beef to make the meat softer. The
French section boasts Fine de Claire oysters, Burgundy snails and
fresh-seafood filled bouillabaisse. There’s much to enjoy on what
becomes a voyage of discovery. A new International SV has just
launched in Jurmala, and a third restaurant specializing in desserts,
Afters, will open very soon. Watch this space.
restorāns, 371,
Dārzs, DaDa
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Platinum Platter
awards
Platinum Platter
awards
B E S T R U S T I C R E S TAU R A N T
B E S T I TA L I A N R E S TAU R A N T
Ru
n
up
rs
ne
Rozengrāls,
With fresh beer, heaps of food and a
Bistro Priedaine,
full evening’s entertainment, Stargorod
Fazenda, Nometne
blends microbrewery, filling feasts and
gardēžiem,
a historical riverside location. Millions
Māja
were spent on breathing life into this 300year-old former barracks with its tunnelshaped redbrick interior. Now it’s one of the
most popular new restaurants to open in the city over the
past year. Big appetites are welcome. Dishes like crispy pork
knuckle are served medieval-style on a spit brought to the
table. Or go for half a roast duck served with baked apples and
buckwheat.
Il Sole,
up
rs
ne
Stargorod
Ru
n
Portofino
Riga’s finest restaurants are not just found
in the Old Town. Portofino has a locaCo., Monterosso
tion on the edge of the city’s splendorous
Art Nouveau district, the Jugendstil design
extending to four massive arched windows
and a magnificently restored indoor staircase rising to an optional secluded mezzanine for private meetings.
Portofino is not exactly chef-driven. Here the creative
essence comes from the owner’s experience in the restaurant business and ideas inspired by travels in Italy. The
menu boasts excellent soups, possibly the best pizza, risotto
and pasta dishes in Riga, and dishes with rib-eye steak, rabbit, tuna, salmon and tiger shrimps and a regularly changing menu inspired by seasonal products.
Da Sergio, Riviera,
Olive Oil Trading
B E S T S T E A K R E S TAU R A N T
Run
n
Zilā govs
B E S T O R I E N TA L R E S TAU R A N T
s up
er
Baku
If there’s a niche waiting to be filled on the
Riga dining scene it’s for a genuine steakRibs&Rock
house serving prime cuts by weight. Lots of
restaurants serve fine slabs of meat, but just
a tiny handful offer a variety of steaks. The
most popular dish at Zilā Govs (“blue cow”)
is the house’s own eponymous steak served on a hot stone.
The cow has been around for a while, but creative head chef
Rolands Rudzats makes sure the menu is refreshed at least
twice a year and exploits seasonal products like berries and
mushrooms. Try his chanterelle and white-mushroom soup
with black lentils and red wine, or pearl barley rolls with
smoked Baltic sprats and lamprey in herb-cream sauce. Zilā
Govs took on some reconstruction last year, expanding to
its atmospheric basement, while in summer the terrace with
live music is an Old Town highlight.
Steiku Haoss,
Run
n
p
su
er
Indian Raja,
It’s hard to find, the service is not for the
Uzbekistan, Sato,
impatient, and the décor is Soviet kitsch.
Aragat,
But go with company you enjoy, write off
Tokyo City
the whole evening, and authentic Baku
will start to make sense. Reserve a table
and while you’re at it, book ahead for plov,
cooked specially in a traditional kazan, or sadzh,
a meat dish that cooks for five hours inside a loaf of bread.
Set inside a mansion just beyond the high-rise city limits,
Baku serves up Caucasian and Central Asian food. The real
taste of Azerbaijan can be experienced in dishes like mangal
salad with grilled spicy eggplant, tomatoes and peppers.
B E S T R E S TAU R A N T I N J U R M A L A
Ru
n
Le Dome Fish Restaurant
10
Runn
e
up
rs
Despite some launches of fishy eateries last year
Le Dome is still ahead of the pack. Set on
a quiet cobblestone lane in the Old Town,
from the outside this could be an Italian
or Cornish fishing village. But Le Dome is
the well-appointed restaurant of the deluxe
Relais & Châteaux boutique property Dome
Hotel & Spa, where head chef Māris Astičs
prepares alder-smoked local lake eel and the
richest fish soup in Riga.
Gastronome,
Riviera,
Fisherman’s
Son
Giardino
Its slogan “Where taste matters” is key.
Finally
Jurmala has a memorable dining
CAVIAR CLUB, Light
alternative to 36.līnija. We loved our last
House, Estrāde,
visit to this exceptional ristorante, which
Pinxto
is as suitable for family Sunday brunch
as it is for a romantic evening’s journey
of tastes. Chef Vincenzo di Grande has a
background in three-star Michelin restaurants but he’s also
inspired by his grandmother’s recipes. Taste the best burrata
in the Baltics, juicy quail in a rich black truffle sauce, homemade pasta with duck sauce, roulade of sea bass and shrimp,
the finest Monte Veronese & Pecorino cheese soufflé, and a
dessert with five different chocolate flavors. A wine matches
each dish, so go for the whole splendid evening.
36. līnija,
up
rs
ne
B E S T F I S H R E S TAU R A N T
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Platinum Platter
awards
Platinum Platter
awards
BEST CHEF
BEST B&B
Lauris Aleksejevs,
photo: ieva čīka / leta
Heinrich Erhards,
A wild card, this one. Latvia is home
Mārtiņš Rītiņš,
to the Baltic region’s finest chefs, from
Svetlana Rižkova,
Lauris Aleksejevs at 36.linija on the
Raimonds Zommers,
sandy Jurmala coast, to Heinrich Erhards
Māris Jansons
who deserves this award for Bistro
Priedaine and the recently relocated HE’s.
But Latvian-American Kārlis wins with sheer
youthful passion and spontaneous energy, for his infectious
and unpretentious love of food. He’s used to banquet catering
and entertains groups with interactive cooking lessons. But he
always surprises, launching 371 between pavilions in one of
Europe’s biggest indoor market spaces, Riga Central Market,
and Tvaiks inside a traditional Latvian sauna. He’s also developing his dream project, a mobile catering business.
B&B Riga
Runn
e
Homestay,
up
rs
ers up
nn
Ru
Kārlis Celms
Jakob Lenz
A central location not far from the Old
Town, clean and spacious rooms, timberframed ceilings and a freshly baked breakfast set B&B Riga apart.
B E S T C O U N T R Y S I D E A C C O M M O D AT I O N
Sventes muiža
BEST LUXURY HOTEL
R
ners up
un
Grand Palace,
Hotel Bergs
Riga boasts many small but special
hotels, none of them too big to feel
Hotel
anonymous in, many of them instilling
a strong sense of individuality. That’s
exactly where Hotel Bergs excels, in its
powerful sense of individuality. A member
of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World collection, its
location in the upmarket Bergs Bazaar shopping area, its
exquisite design adorned with art from the owner’s private
collection, and its excellent restaurant, guest rooms and
quality of service push it out in front. Everything comes
with consistent quality. Crucially, it also has the city’s most
professionally run and coolest looking conference rooms.
Dome Hotel &
SPA, Gallery Park
Ru
Annas Hotel,
Kukšu Muiža,
Kārļamuiža,
up
ers
nn
Accommodation
You should’ve seen this place a few years
ago. Built in 1912 for a well-off family
in Latgale, like so many manors in the
Baltics it was sorely neglected during the
Soviet period but resurrected several years
ago. It’s now the most elegant place to stay
near Daugavpils.
Dikļu pils, Rūmenes
muiža
Entertainment & Shopping
Ru
n
Taka Spa,
up
rs
ne
ESPA Rīga,
Park Spa, Spa at
Opera Hotel
B E S T S PA
Aqua Vila
Everything to soothe body and soul
can be found in this Old Town day spa.
B E S T 4 - S TA R / M I D - R A N G E H O T E L
Wellton Centrum Hotel
& Spa
un
R
Neiburgs, Old City
Boutique Hotel,
Justus
BEST BAR
Bar-Ber Room
Barber by day, massively enjoyable and
innovative bar by night.
Run
n
B-bārs, Cuba,
Skyline Bar,
s up
er
12
Radisson Blu
Hotel Elizabete,
p
rs u
ne
Newly unveiled in 2013, Wellton Centrum
Hotel & Spa already has a reputation as a
spacious hotel with a premier Old Town
location, friendly staff, a modest but reasonably priced spa, and a fast response if
guests have any qualms. Let’s hope the ambitious owners, who run several new properties
in Riga, keep it up.
Chomsky
13
Platinum Platter
awards
Platinum Platter
awards
BEST NIGHTSPOT
B E S T E N T E RTA I N M E N T V E N U E
Illu Zion
Bites Blues Club
R
Newly re-launched in a cool location
with atrium seating around a massive
stage, welcome to the best live blues
and jazz venue in the Baltics.
Studio 69, Kaņepes
Kultūras centrs
Palladium,
Splendid Palace,
Arēna Rīga,
Ziemeļblāzma
Culture Palace,
ers up
nn
Ru
Moon Safari,
s up
ner
un
Bursting onto the scene, IZ conjures
tricks as daytime eatery and daring
nightclub.
Mai Tai, SUITE,
Spīķeri Concert
Hall
BEST FASHION SHOPPING
Apranga
Run
n
p
su
er
Podium,
Stockmann,
Spice
Ru
up
ers
nn
Galerija Centrs,
BEST CAFÉ
Building Elizabetes Street as a fashion venue, this Lithuanian company
brings Burberry (right), Zegna,
Armani and the multi-brand Nude
to shoppers in Latvia – and more is
to come.
Innocent Café,
Mākonis, De
Gusto, Mierā,
Kūkotava
371
Kārlis Celms’ latest project is ideally located between pavilions in
the central market, turning fresh
ingredients from the stalls into
tasty and reasonably priced dishes
and snacks.
LUXURY
BOUTIQUE
FOR
SALE
BEST ART GALLERY
This little shop in the Old Town
exhibits handmade Latvian jewelry
you can buy and often hosts delightfully offbeat exhibitions by artisans
from around the world.
ВЛАДЕЛЕЦ БЕЗ ПОСРЕДНИКОВ ПРОДАЕТ
ЭКСКЛЮЗИВНОЕ ТОРГОВОЕ ПОМЕЩЕНИЕ ДЛЯ
BOUTIQUE В СТАРОМ ГОРОДЕ. ВОЗМОЖНОСТЬ
ЗАРАБАТЫВАТЬ 5% ГОДОВЫХ.
ЦЕНА 205.000 EUR.
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Arsenāls, Gallery
XO, Istaba,
Daugava
BEST WINE BAR
VĪna studija / Stabu iela
Runn
e
ROMANS MASLOVSKIS
R.MASLOVSKISINBOX.LV
up
rs
49кв/м дизайнерский интерьер + все торговое оборудование. Внутри
маленькая квартира и PATIO c отдельным входом.
Дом памятник UNESCO
Rīgas birža,
p
su
er
Putti
Run
n
D'Vine, Tinto,
Check Point
Riga
Dozens of imitators don’t quite match the
original trailblazers. Vina studija combines bar and retail at several spots, and
at one of them bonds with elmāro, an
excellent restaurant.
GSM + 371 29958975
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