Hello and welcome (back)! Riga is one of those places that amazed me almost the most this year. It is such a beautiful city with stunning architecture, friendly people, and some super delicious food! It seemed almost cruel to me, to just add a tiny section about food to my guide to Riga post, so I decided to write its own post. This is my food guide to Riga!
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Which Dishes Should I try?
First of all let me give you a first glance at some Latvian specialities that we discovered during our time in Riga. Later I will continue to gives you the name of each place that I got to visit.
Sklandrausis
This is a typical Latvian dish! You missed something, if you didn’t at least try this. Sklandrausis are made with bread from rye flour and are filled with a mixture of vegetables, fruit & cream. It is shaped like a small tart and has its unique orange color. Latvians have it either warm or cold and best with milk and tea!
Blackbalsam
Blackbalsam is a traditional Latvian Liquor that tastes a bit like Jägermeister. You can have it in different ways. Some of them would be to drink it ice-cold pure, or with an herbal tea or as a cocktail with some coke.
Besides that, there are also different tastes that are offered by Riga Black Balsam. We had the traditional one but there are also options with cherry, black currant, or a new limited edition. For further information, check out their website.
Hot chocolate
The next two points are not something that is typical Latvian but I found the following quite often in Riga and if Latvians love it, it might be also worth a try for you.
Hot chocolate is not some hot cocoa, this means actual hot chocolate. Liquid hot chocolate in a cup. And it is so delicious! It might make sense to share a serving as it can make you feel full!
Eclairs
I was surprised that there were so many eclairs in Riga! I found them in almost any café in Latvia. But to be honest I had the feeling that Latvians love pastries in any form. And I have to admit that I love this as I am a huge fan of pastries myself. And as you are on vacation here, just enjoy all the pastries you can get!
So that’s it for now with the types of food you need to try but now let’s come to the fun part, where I tell you where to get them!
Not Sure What to Have? Try a culinary tour through Riga!
Where should I eat them?
Kalnciema Street Market
This food guide to Riga wouldn’t be complete without this place! The Kalnciema Street Market is a wonderful place and was almost the highlight of our trip! It is a market that features all wonderful types of Latvian food! I had pumpkin, the Sklandrausis, pancakes, Latvian cookies, quail eggs, and cranberries. I guess you can tell how full I was afterward.
Pienene Café
When walking around a city I always lookout for the cutest café I can find. We found the Pienene right after I was shooting with a bow and arrow for the first time. At first, I didn’t expect it to be a café as it is a cute souvenir shop in the front. But in the back there waits for this cute little café with one of the cutest interiors that I came across in a long time. We spent a long time there having a nice cappuccino and relaxing. It was indeed so amazing.
V. Kuze
The V.Kuze is on top of almost every ranking of the best cafés in Riga. But we stumbled over it as we were looking for a toilet. And it was urgent. So do not use the toilet without actually buying something, we sat down and had some macarons! They were pretty delicious. Furthermore, you can get great pastries and hot chocolate there too. And on top of that the V. Kuze has the best vintage / retro interior that I found until today. Please make sure, not to miss it!
96% Dark
I already told you about hot chocolate. Well, we are sure that we had the best hot chocolate that you can find in Riga. It was at the 96% dark. It had us at hello because it has a chocolate fountain inside of its window. So we got in and ordered this tasty cup of liquid luck. It came with a marshmallow and some strawberries to dip in, what made it even better!
They also have delicious pastries and beautiful pralines and chocolates. It is definitely worth a visit if you didn’t already have your hot chocolate at another place.
Mileni Muki
Now we have been talking a lot about cafés and places where to get sweet pastries. Now let’s talk about a place where to have your lunch or dinner.
The first place that I can recommend is the Mileni Muki. It is the place where we had our “yay-we-are-in-Riga-dinner” which should be something extra nice. And we were so amazed by the delicious food that looked and tasted great.
Kas Darza
The second place that I would like to recommend for having lunch or dinner is the Kas Darza which is a nice restaurant located directly next to the canal. We loved the cozy interior which invited us to relax there for a while.
They serve an amazing menu which great veggie options. We decided to have a burger and it was so delicious.
So these are all my tips about eating out in Riga. But I bet there are many more to consider! So again, if you know a place that is missing on this list, drop me a note and I will add this!
If you want to read more about Riga, make sure to check out my post about what to see and to do in this amazing city!
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7 Responses
This all looks so yummy! I want to try it all but especially the hot chocolate from 96% Dark and the Sklandrausis.
Oh yes! Especially the hot chocolate was a special highlight!
Yum! All this tasty looking food makes me want to go back to Riga. I had a really really delicious fancy meal in Riga that was expensive, but relatively inexpensive for what we got. It was at a place called Vincent, so if you’re looking for a special occasion restaurant there, I’d highly recommend it.
Hey Sarah! This is so amazing! Thank you for the tip. So wonderful that you enjoyed Riga as much as I did!