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Choices of cuisine in Klaipėda
There are certainly places to snack in Klaipėda, and not only snack but to spoil the palate. Of course it would be nice that in the European named harbour city there would be even more places to drop in, especially if the so called “food tourism” in Klaipėda would have plenty of places with views and comfort. It would be nice to have places to stop between visiting the sights to get fabulous coffee or savor special pastries. You’re much luckier if you are used to getting a succulent roast for dinner or something from European cuisine – that’s the usually “genre” of the harbour city’s cafes and restaurants. If you’re curious to taste “exotic Lithuanian food” – you won’t be disappointed. In the city there are at least several restaurants, which call themselves Lithuanian food restaurants. Here you can taste the famous “cepelinas”, “vėdarai”, potato pancakes, various dumplings and so on. Only the vegetarians will be disappointed because in the “meat eaters” country – Lithuania you won’t find a vegetarian restaurant and on a café menu it’s rare that you will find barely three vegetarian entrees. Without a doubt, you will get pizza in Klaipėda, and Chinese cuisine, and Turkish kebabs. In choosing a place to dine, it will be easier if we give you some ideas.
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Several Facts About the Old Local Kitchen
Despite the fact that Lithuania is small, every one of its areas has its own individual kitchen even now, when it would seem that the preparation of food and needs would be the same. It’s not surprising that by living by the sea and the lagoon, this region formed an appropriate kitchen. In the same way the Klaipėda kitchen developed under the influence of the English, Dutch, Germans, Kurshes, Lithuanian Prussians, Samogitians and even the French (1920-1924 Klaipėda was ruled by the French). That’s how the Klaipėda kitchen was uniquely formed in its methods of preparation, its unique use of food products, its taste and aroma. Klaipėda cuisine was divided between the high and the town dwellers daily meals.
More than a hundred years ago a coffee drinking tradition existed in the Klaipėda territories. This ceremony differs from that of the other regions of the country. With the coffee were served homemade cakes with various fillings – cottage cheese, fruit. The coffee drinking tradition was upheld even in wartime. Ladies would visit each other and bring their own homemade goodies to go with the coffee.
Before the war, Klaipėda was becoming famous in all of Europe for its restaurants and its summer and winter gardens. Klaipėda’s clubs with their high quality kitchens were stunning as were the promenade paths leading to Melnragę, Girulius, Tauralaukį with cozy cafes, afternoon tea and coffee drinking ceremonies. In these cafes you could get various types of coffee – Vienna and Berlin, Paris and Athens, Turkish, Arabic, Brazilian and Mexican, as well as cocoa for chocolate drinks. The Klaipėda cuisine was becoming just as famous. Most people said that no one knows how prepare fish as good as the Klaipėda residents and the Kurshes.
It’s interesting that in this country the first turkeys were raised – even in 1742, much earlier than most European countries and centuries earlier than the Russians. Count Tyszkiewicz first fattened this delicacy, later Baron Ropas, Count Oginski, the Platers and other nobles’ estates. In Kretinga, Count Tyszkiewicz’s turkeys were specially fattened with nuts and given red wine to drink before slaughter so the meat of the turkey would obtain a delicate flavor, thus they were especially requested by the Austria-Hungary emperors Hapsburg and in the palace of the Russian Romanov czars.
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The delicious fish of the Kurshes
The local residents of the Curonian Lagoon, the Kurshes, also had their own unique kitchen. In spite of the fact that vegetables and fruit barely survived in the Curonian sands, the Kurshes knew especially well how to use the other goods of nature: various fish, wild birds and the fruits of the forest. Probably no other clan of the Balts has so many various and uniquely prepared fish recipes: fried, browned, steamed, stewed, boiled, smoked, and marinated. Quite well known and liked are the Kurshes’ cakes and rolls with special fish fillings…
Unfortunately, similar foods of such delicious taste and quality will most likely not be available in Klaipėda today, unless some family has saved their forefathers’ culinary recipes. Local cafes and restaurants, even calling themselves Lithuanian, resort to the heavy to digest potato dishes. Everything else - maybe it's good, but its not authentic. Incidentally, it is said that truthfully the best smoked fish is the tastiest from the Curonian Lagoon, and even more accurately, from Juodkrantė.
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