Baltics24: Day 7 – Tallinn

A full day in Tallinn. Started with the hotel breakfast, which was okay, a bit chaotic as breakfast buffets go, but I was introduced to the Estonian “superfood” kama, a mixture of different flours (generally barley, rye, oat, pea but others could be involved) which was mixed with milk like a smoothie. So a grainy super smoothie or something.

We then headed out to the Balti Jaama Turg market, probably Tallinn’s largest daily market, three floors of food, clothes, random stores, and weird bric-a-brac masquerading as “antiques”. The antique corner had a number of crowded stalls, jammed high with everything you could imagine: every shape of glassware, badges, soviet army surplus, cameras, Moscow Olympics souvenirs, busts of Lenin and Stalin, old records, postcards, accordions, jewellery, adding machines, typewriters, every overpriced thing you’d need to decorate an Estonian-themed pub. Need an old gas mask? They’ve got it. A crocodile-shaped nutcracker? Yup. It was fascinating to look at all of these old household items, like op shop fare, but priced a little high.

There was a shop full of Estonia’s most well known chocolate brand, Kalev, so L grabbed a bunch (I’m yet to try any, so can’t tell you what it’s like). In the downstairs supermarket i did find something I can tell you about: Karl Friedrich kali apelsin. I don’t know anything about Karl Friedrich, but he might be some historical figure for the Estonian brewery Saku. Apelsin is Estonian for orange, and kali is an Estonian non-alcoholic malt-based soft drink. I’m not sure I’ve been exposed to the right way to describe a drink that is kind of a malty Fanta, there’s the artificial orange flavour and aroma up front, then there’s a bit of maltiness, but it’s not particularly strong, and the whole thing is quite sweet. I picked it up as in the large plastic bottle it’s amazingly dark, blacker than any cola. Fortunately I didn’t buy the large bottle, just the 500 mL can, and I’m not sure I’m going to finish that. (See below for more about kali.)

We stopped for a coffee (the lady didn’t know how to make hot chocolate) and it came out in an italian espresso pot, with large chunks of crystalline sugar and actual cream. Tasted fine, but I believe it’s the first time I’ve seen coffee in that manner of presentation.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at a chocolatier next to the Depeche Mode bar, L went with something chocolatey and fudgdy, while I had what can only be described as a slice from a cookie dough roll that had biscuit pieces and glace fruit in it. It was very delicious, and as I didn’t take a picture of the name I’ll have to go back tomorrow to find out what exactly it’s called. Oh the struggle is real.

A quick rest at the hotel and then we met Simon, out walking tour guide, who took us through the last 900 years of Estonian history, a number of random places in old town (“Ivan the Terrible tried to conquer Tallinn and shot those cannonballs at us, so we used them to decorate our massive tower”; “Here’s where a noble was executed for killing a former slave”; “Here’s where an armed and drunk officer helped stop the 1924 communist uprising”; “Here’s the church where a dead noble was put on display for years to paying spectators until they raised enough to pay off his debts”; “Here’s the church where a lecherous merchant was buried at the entrance so he could perve up skirts even in death”), some great places for seeing the sights, and some wonderful food stops. At the first, a beer shop that stocks over 700 different beers, we met a wonderful employee.

But first a bit of a digression: Estonians have a wonderfully dry sense of humour; they can be very self-effacing (“The officer who fought all day all over the city to stop the uprising, he was awarded out second highest decoration; we’re yet to award the highest decoration to anyone”; “Saying something is okay is basically the highest compliment”); and can say the funniest things with a straight face in the most matter-of-fact manner.

So when I asked the beer shop employee to recommend me something, a beer that was more malty than hoppy, it went like this: Where are you from? Australia. Oh, you don’t have real bread over there, just the white stuff. Pretty much. Okay, then you want to try this beer, it’s like having good bread. The result was certainly one of the most unique and wonderful beers I’ve tasted, Bread Ale from Kabliku Brewery. Rich, dark and full of malt, 6.6%, and brewed/fermented with caraway seeds for a delightful hint of aniseed at the finish. It was very much like bread in a beer can.

Simon took us back to the Balti market, to a couple of places we hadn’t paid attention to in the morning; first a Georgian bakery where I had a wonderful flatbread filled with beef and pork mince and flavour. Then we went to one of the stands that had many types of preserved meat: there were cans of boar, beef, pork, seal and beaver; all manner of sausages including horse meat; as well as smoked meats. They also had bread, a couple of beers, and kali. This kali was sweet, malty, a bit like beer wort but also different — while I’ve tasted beer wort many times, I’ve never tried it carbonated so that might be the difference. We had some pork that was almost straight out of the smoker and it was magnificent, smoky, full of rich flavour, the fat layer just melting. There was also some delicious sausages, including a spiced one with cheese, and dark rye bread of the sort us poor Australians don’t have. The beaver was not especially remarkable, maybe it’s just that the canning process takes away a degree of the meat’s uniqueness, as it just tasted like a more mild corned beef. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t have any flavour that stood out as unusual.

On the other side of the markets was a local gin distillery, whose rhubarb infused offering impressed L, and an icecreamery that has several unique flavours of Estonia, including spruce and tar. The spruce had herbal notes, and a bit of pine, while the tar was predominantly smoky, with a slight medicinal hint, like a peated whisky minus the whisky. There was also a delightful cinnamon roll icecream that paired well with the tar.

We also tasted an Estonian milk curd treat, a bit like ricotta but with a flavoured filling that could be chocolate, berries, fruits, that are sold in little individual packs in supermarkets. Quite tasty, and possibly a little healthier than if it was straight confectionery.

I asked Simon what he felt the difference between Estonians and Latvians are. Different languages seemed to be the largest difference, Estonian is related to Finnish/Hungarian, while Latvian is more Slavic. He also feels that Latvians are a bit more Russian influenced than the Estonians, who while they have a large Russian-speaking minority, endeavour to describe themselves as more independent. I’m certainly looking forward to being able to ask a Latvian the same question. I fully understand that language is a huge factor in establishing the uniqueness of a culture/nation, it’s one of the things they drum into all Linguistics 100 students; especially how fierce groups can be at protecting their linguistic identity and fight against having their language considered a mere dialect. Estonia doesn’t necessarily feel Eastern European in the same way Poland and Hungary do, and I’ve got no real idea what really constitutes a Russian influence outside of a handful of stereotypes (Talinn doesn’t seem to have the population density to require huge blocks of flats, and its cars generally seem fairly new).

We said goodbye and thank you to Simon and headed back to the gin distillery where L had a rhubarb gin, lime, and ginger ale cocktail while we sat in some comfy chairs. Then it was back to old town, where we also stopped in at Depeche Mode Bar to check it out and have a drink. The walls and tables are covered with DM memorabilia, there’s a large rug with the Violator design when you enter, two large screens show clips of DM live, and all of the cocktails are given song titles. I went for a Personal Jesus (vodka, lemon and tripel sec), which was good, while images of Dave Gahan flashed in my face. It seems like a fairly cosy bar. It’s certainly not the craziest thing anyone’s ever done in their love of a musical artist.

Tomorrow’s another full day in Tallinn, so we expect to do more shopping, I’ll try to sample some more Baltic porter, and who knows what food and adventure awaits.