Tallinn Autumn Trip Part 2:

Mushrooms, Pavlovas, Food Fairs & the Magic of Old Town

Onward for more Tallinn adventures! 

Thanks to that burst of late summer weather combined with an abundant menu of things to explore and experience, here are some more highlights from our recent Tallinn trip — following up on Part 1:

1. Magic of Old Town

The number one tourism attraction in Estonia? Tallinn’s Old Town and for good reason:  It is pure fairy tale magic. I feel like I am both time traveling and walking in a movie set simultaneously wandering both the main square and wandering cobblestone roads and courtyards.

With roots that date back to the 13^th century starting with a thriving merchant history, most of Old Town – vanalinn in Estonian -- fortunately did not suffer extreme damages when Tallinn was bombed by both Soviets and Germans during WWII, and is now preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

While sure you’ll find your tourist-catering restaurants and shops, the historic ambiance and charm dilute any kitsch. Our last visit was serendipitous with the first (but now annual) Pikk Street Festival, a special Sunday September afternoon when this historic street (the name literally translates to “long”) bustles with music, art, food and history.

These types of events are common in Estonia, often called variations of avatud päevad – open house days – where everything from a small rural town to an urban enclave like Pikk Street come together and literally open their doors, tapping into the “welcome factor” to boost tourism and local economies. Individual art studios were open to tour and musical interludes popped up as we wandered the cobblestones, including this sweet youth violin concert from the Vanalinna Hariduskolleegium Music School:

Another common (tasty!) feature at these open house days are these “home cafés” where local residents open up their home kitchen and sell pastries, small bites, coffee and drinks.

Yes indeed you heard that right:  Selling prepared food from your home kitchen.

After decades of fighting for cottage food rights in the US and the ability to sell a cookie in Wisconsin, I am still in my shock and awe phase of the comparative simplicity to occasionally sell such items without the burden and expense of commercial licensing. 

Am I personally intrigued by this concept? Absolutely. John and I have been checking out home café’s like at this Pikk Street festival for ideas and inspiration to create something like this at Tamme.  More to come!

2. Mushroom Education

While Estonia is one of the most secular countries in terms of organized religion, over 50% believe in spirit or life force and this often stems from a deep-rooted connection to nature and pagan cultural roots. Needless to say, I fit right in on those standards!

Knowing that it is not surprising what Estonians do embrace with religious fervor:  seenelkäik, which means “mushroom-going.” Mushroom hunting in the woods is as common a pastime as watching American football in the States, but I’d argue much more tasty and productive. 

Needless to say again, I fit right in with a seemingly genetic love for mushroom hunting that I never knew I had. I need to process more and will share on the whole experience as it truly has been a spiritual and one for me connecting with the majestic forest (literally across the road – where I first bonded with blueberries).  All senses go on overdrive, from the colors to the smells and textures – wrapped up in the serendipitous fun of the hunt and never knowing what you find.

But on that note of finding the right (edible!) mushrooms:  my first stop I realized needed to be knowledge on what is safe to pick. There are over 7,000 identified mushrooms in Estonia with 400 of the main edible and 200 poisonous. I am on a learning curve.

Lucky for me, our Tallinn trip was timed to catch the annual (61st year!) mushroom exhibit at the Küsige Loodusmuuseumist, Estonia’s nature museum right in Old Town.  This worked fabulously as a first educational step for me as this outdoor exhibit brought together live mushrooms that you were encouraged to touch and smell. The fresh mushrooms only last a day so a dedicated group of volunteers restocks every day.

Honestly, this exhibit is understandably designed for school kids to learn and connect with their mushroom culture, which was absolutely perfect for me, the true beginner.  I even found  the väike õppetek — a preschool education tent designed for “small people” just the right size of basic information (and adorable, small stools).

My goal was to keep things simple and have four key main, abundant mushrooms I could readily identify, and my new one (which I have seen in the woods but wasn’t sure about till now), the kitsemampel.

I’ve already been readily finding the legendary including the legendary kukeseen, the Estonian chanterelle, which has graced our Tamme table often in pasta:

Been using this easy Alfredo sauce recipe all summer

I have a lot more to slowly (and safely!) learn on the mushroom front. We may have a few more weeks here and I am pumped for my 2025 season.

3. Pavlova

You know I can’t have a trip to the big city without a pastry run! 

There are so many fabulous bakeries in Tallinn that this will be a lifelong quest, but for this trip I embraced the illusive pavlova. With undetermined roots in either Australia or New Zealand over 100 years ago, the name came after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova apparently inspired by her billowing tutu. 

Typically a small block of baked meringue, the perfect pavlova has a crispy crust while being soft and light inside and traditionally topped with whipped cream and fruit.

Speaking from experience, a good much less perfect pavlova is super hard to make as baking temperature, climate, humidity, etc. play a big role. So, when a Tallinn friend in the know literally brought perfect pavlovas to Tamme as a treat (bless her heart) and told me there is are cafés dedicated to only this treat, I was all in the next time I was in Tallinn.

My visit to the Pavlova Café delivered:  indeed a perfect fluffy yet crispy and not overly sweet experience, like eating a fairy cloud. As much as I love baking experiments (like with currants), I am not going in the pavlova territory.  Too much pressure.  Just like my (brief) entry into beer-making in Wisconsin, some things are much better left in the able hands of professionals.

Traditionally served with fruit on top, the cafe just has one of each on display and then they are made right when you order them to keep the crunch.

And a personal serendipitous bonus: I experienced this magical pavlova on 24 September (need to keep leaning the European date format! ), my mom’s birthday. Grief and missing my mom pop up in different ways since her passing at 95 almost two years ago now (which — cue the Circle of Life — opened up space for this new Estonia adventure), but with her birthday always being a special fun family day with multiple cakes (you can see where my baking genetics come from ha ha), relishing this treat on her special day gave me comfort and a smile.

While we’re (of course!) on the food topic, I had a couple super tasty (maitsev in Estonian!) lunches in Tallinn with local cafe’s daily specials — or päevapakkumine.  An in-the-know local turned me on this site where these café’s list their daily specials.  Turns out there are many small, family run spots tucked away in office buildings or places like Liam’s Tal Tech campus where there are several that just serve lunch; different meals every day served until they sell out.

Sure there are lots of pricey tourist spots around Old Town, but I learned if you wander a little off the main drag and eat with locals (you’ll know a good lunch café because it will be crowded!) and the value multiples.

At Viktus, they always have a fish special which I found a great value for 7 Euros (about $7.60), which included all the homemade Estonian bread you could eat (priceless).

4. Tallinn Food Fair

And still on the food topic, I happened to see an ad on a tram advertising the Tallinn Food Fair, the annual Estonian restaurant trade show for the food industry. With our visions of home cafes and B&Bs to come, we extended our trip a few days to catch this event. 

Pre-COVID, John and I regularly attended the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago as media covering food trends, which took three days to cover as it was so huge. The Estonian version was a refreshing contrast as it had all the flavor and fun but much more manageable as we could cover it all in a few hours.

The food show experience exemplifies a lot of the themes of this new chapter of life for John and I: 

Be open to serendipity

This event wasn’t on our radar but – poof – there it appeared with golden opportunity.

Small is good.

Honestly, I didn’t miss the National Restaurant Show zoo of an event.  It was fun at the time but for this life phase, a half day of eating and sampling and learning is perfect.

Go with the moment.

I need to (sniff — sad) sell and leave my beloved commercial Kitchenaid mixer behind in the States as the voltage wasn’t EU compatible. I knew I wanted to get a new one but that was way down on the priority to-do list until this show popped up and there was a Kitchenaid EU commercial booth and everything was on special pricing and you see where that is going.

Not only did I get my commercial mixer back, but also now have the spirazlier attachment (too much fun – more to come on that!) along with the Kitchenaid commercial food processor. More to report on that front.

And also on the “more to report” front: We formed an Estonian OÜ, Kivikari, which loosely translates to an LLC in the States but with a bushel more tax advantages and simplicity.

Check out more photos (and ordering options) from John D. Ivanko on Alamy