I wasn’t terribly sure what to expect of the food when I visited Latvia in late November, but my aunt and I were so pleasantly surprised by this modern Latvian restaurant we stumbled upon in the center that we actually visited it twice.
The menu is quite vast and varied, and on our first visit, as it was still a bit too early for a heavy dinner, we opted for the “Latvian bruschetta” – an intriguing fusion moniker that actually revealed a delicious assortment of tastes.
The platter featured three different “bruschetta”: a liver mousse on dark bread with a jam topping…
… pickled Baltic sprats, herring, and cream cheese with quail eggs…
…and my personal favorite: Riga sprats, red onion, and trout roe.
We paired it all with a glass of surprisingly delicious Latvian sparkling rosé.
And we gilded the lily by splitting a plate of tasty potato pancakes.
The following evening, we attempted to get into a few restaurants, including one we ended up actually visiting on our final night in Riga. But after facing off with one too many maîtres d’ who merely shook their heads at us when we asked for a table sans reservation, we hoofed it back to Melna Bite for a second night of tasty contemporary Latvian fare.
As on the first night, we started things off by digging into a platter of freshly baked bread, including the rye-studded one in the middle I simply adore.
We opted to share three dishes, including a fried potato, duck, and cheese concoction I unfortunately have no appetizing photos of that was something a bit akin to a Latvian tartiflette and was very, very good. I did manage to snap a few of this skillet of beets, walnuts, maple syrup, and cheese, which was lovely, if a bit lacking in acidity.
We also sampled this pork belly with sauerkraut and cranberry sauce. It was extremely rich… but also extremely delicious.
Melna Bite – AudÄ“ju iela 13, Centra rajons, RÄ«ga, LV-1010, Latvia