The last couple weeks I’ve been running through Eastern Europe –
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – and the standard of cooking here really
has blown me away. Latvia is easily the best country I’ve run through
so far in terms of food.
In fact if you’re a bit of a foodie and are looking for somewhere
different to go for a weekend break I couldn’t recommend Latvia more –
to be precise,
Malpils Museum.
It’s about a half hour drive from Riga into the countryside, very cheap
and easy to fly into from the UK. I found the restaurant here by
accident. There’s no advertising whatsoever, and Malpils is a very small
town. It’s actually the only restaurant in town, and just so happens to
have the winner of the best traditional-Latvian chef of 2012 as head
chef!
The restaurant is on the ground floor of a museum set in a giant
manor house with stunning grounds. Earlier in the day I’d run past
chapels and caves carved into cliff sides in hill top villages.
Prices in Eastern Europe are great compared to back home. In most
places you can get a main course for well under a fiver, and it’s
generally good. When I stumbled upon the restaurant I was just looking
for something quick to eat. When I realised how smart the place was my
heart sank at first, being a sweaty mess in my running kit. I definitely
looked out of place and was worried I’d be turned away but my main
concern was it looked like a very expensive place (ie. well out of
budget for a guy running around the world).
I ordered the rabbit dish. When it arrived I was stunned to find the
presentation was fine dining standard and it tasted as good as it
looked. My waiter spoke very good English and was incredibly welcoming.
It was chatting to him later when I learnt about their head chef having
won the national award for best chef in the category traditional food.
So, did this amazing meal cost my budget dearly? No it was equivalent to
£7 for the main course!
Often I tend to camp but through Eastern Europe I’ve found guest
houses/hotels from £7-£15 on average, which is far more comfortable than
camping illegally in someone’s field. As it was close to getting dark I
asked if there was a guest house nearby. This is when I found out that
the museum, as well as housing a restaurant, is also a guesthouse. There
was no inkling of this from outside or inside, and later I brought it
up with the waiter – “why are there no signs to say restaurant/hotel on
the building or on the main road (which bypasses the town)?”. He said he
had also wondered this when he started work there, but now knows all
their custom is through word of mouth!
If you fancy a weekend away somewhere different then here you’ll have
a fantastic room in a manor house for £40 (I took the ‘kids’ room for
£15!) a night and a fantastic restaurant downstairs. It’s one of the
first places I’ve stayed at along my route where I know I’ll definitely
plan to return to one day on a mini break.
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Mālpils
muižas Kungu māja ir valsts nozīmes arhitektūras piemineklis. Muiža
tika atjaunota, maksimāli saglabājot tā vēsturisko, klasicisma stilam
raksturīgo arhitektonisko veidolu. Muižā var apskatīt atjaunotus vecos
kamīnus un podiņu krāsnis, tumšos ozolkoka paneļu griestus, atjaunotu
svinību zāļu zvaigžņu parketu, ozolkoka kāpnes. Muižas interjers
papildināts ar antīkām klasicisma un bīdermeijera stila mēbelēm:
kumodēm, krēsliem, dīvāniem un spoguļiem, latviešu vecmeistaru gleznām,
vēsturisku klavesīnu, svečturiem un citām vērtīgām greznumlietām.
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