A Taste of Riga

By
Last fall when we visited Riga, we ate dinner at this restaurant. The interesting thing is that we now live across the street from this same restaurant. I wrote last week about the facelift of the building holding this place. Unfortunately, most of the painted murals were covered over by the new paint.


We loved this restaurant last fall, so I'll reintroduce you to a gem from here. Tucked into a small alley in Riga, we discovered a tiny restaurant called Lasite.


 The building housing the restaurant was actually build in 1454 as part of the ancient fortification of the Medieval city of Riga.


In 1975, while Latvia was still under Soviet rule, the building was turned into a cafe. The architect tried to maintain the spirit of the Middle Ages with its arches and stained-glass windows.


The paintings on the outside walls made the quaint cafe very eye-appealing and inviting. But once we entered the restaurant, we were transported back in time.







People have to stoop through the low arched doorways. Walking past the suit of armor in the corner makes one look twice. The cozy atmosphere was conducive to conversations.



The wall was decorated with a wolf skin and swords. We enjoyed taking in the surroundings as we ate the Medieval-type cuisine with our fingers. It was a very different experience.


You can choose from rabbit stewed with vegetables, stewed pork tongue, Latvian homegrown lamb knuckle, roasted quail or other delicacies. We shared the authentic Middle Age meat, poultry and fish platter with marinated vegetables. That's the one served without any utensils.


Be sure to come visit us now that we're living here. We'll take you with us to check out Lasite, since it's right across the street. It's a place you won't forget.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Golden Domes of Riga

By
Image
Orthodox Cathedral - Riga  The golden domes of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral stand out above the trees near Old Town Riga. We walk past this large building in the park not far from our apartment.  The domes shine out to the citizens on sunny days. Surrounded by the trees in the park, the walls of the cathedral are not easy to see in summer, but the size is undeniable. Of course, the golden domes tell everyone that this is a Russian Orthodox Church. After living in St. Petersburg, that is easy for us to define with the Russian style architecture. This cathedral was built between 1876 and 1883 when Latvia was a part of the Russian Empire under the reign of Tsar Alexander II.  Main Door This is the largest Orthodox Church in the entire Baltic area. A massive tower rises toward the sky when a visitor approaches the front door.  Entryway painting I visited several orthodox churches during my years in Europe. The thing that they have in common is that the interiors are covered with images
Read more

Kazan Cathedral

By
Image
Last summer we took the time to visit one of St. Petersburg's famous cathedrals. This impressive building is the Kazan Cathedral. It serves as the "mother cathedral" of the Russian Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg. Built in the early 1800s, the church is modeled after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome with two wings spreading north and south of the main cathedral. At the time it was constructed, the Russian Orthodox Church strongly disapproved of the idea that their cathedral would be built in the shape of the Catholic cathedral in Rome, but the Czar's courtiers applauded the design since it resembled a European structure. The cathedral was dedicated to "Our Lady of Kazan" the most venerated icon in Russia. When we visited the cathedral, the line leading up to the icon snaked around the interior of the church. We watched the people inch toward the icon. As their turn arrived, they climbed the one step to reach the icon and then would stop and pray
Read more

WHAT WAS THAT NAME AGAIN?

By
Image
This week brings a big change for us. We are moving from our temporary apartment to our permanent flat across the city. That means packing everything we brought plus the extra food, etc we've accumulated since we arrived. At least, we don't have to get it into the six suitcases this time. But however many boxes and bags, we need to move this all ourselves by Friday morning. We are moving from a street called U Libenskeho pivovaru. When we first saw that name our first reaction was WHAT? How do you begin a name with the letter U all by itself. And why is the name so long? After we were here for a couple weeks, we found out that the letter U by itself is a preposition meaning "on, at, near". The area of Prague that we live in now is called Liben. Finally, we learned that the all important word beer is "pivo". So the name of our current street means "Near a brewery in Liben". We are moving into an apartment on Bubenecska. Bubenecska is located i
Read more