Basque Street Food in Fine Dining Style
Teksti Susanna Poikela Kuvat Fume, Susanna Poikela
A new à la carte restaurant, Fume, has opened in the Golden Gate building located between the Port of Tallinn and the Rotermann Quarter. It is part of top chef Tõnis Siigur’s restaurant chain, Siigur Restaurant Collection. The group includes the one-Michelin-star restaurant NOA Chef’s Hall, and NOA Restoran, which has received a Bib Gourmand distinction. Fume’s head chef is Heinrich Liis, who previously led the kitchen at NOA Restoran. Without further ado, we step inside Fume.
Fume’s interior is elegant. Dark tones dominate the colour scheme: mustard yellow, black, and gold, while large mirrors, delicate furniture, green plants, and the high ceiling bring lightness to the space. The lighting creates a cosy atmosphere suitable for dinner. Details have been carefully considered, from the coasters to the serving dishes. Sitting on Fume’s comfortable sofa makes it easy to leave everyday life behind and dive into a world of flavours. But what were those flavours like?
We started with pintxos topped with Cantabrian anchovies. The dish brought a breeze from the seaside taverns of San Sebastián to the table. The second appetiser was a flamed beef tartare, listed on the menu as boeuf tartare au flame. The tartare was served in a long dish and sprinkled with chives and roasted onions. The meat had a pleasant tang and just the right amount of spice.
For the main course, we chose grilled Argentine king prawns with aioli and roasted lamb with blood sausage gratin. On the side we were served grilled and marinated red pepper slices and artisan fries. The marinade was flavoured with wild garlic, a spring delicacy, and parsley, a staple herb of Mediterranean cuisine. Whether the fries could truly be called artisan is open to debate, but the sauces were clearly given more attention.
The lamb roast with blood sausage gratin was beautifully arranged on a bed of fried onions. The meat was melt-in-the-mouth tender, and no flavour was dominant over others. This dish received full marks from both diners.
The grilled prawns were also delicious, just as one might expect them to taste in the street kitchens of Basque Country. A touch of the soul of northern Spanish cuisine has successfully been brought to Tallinn’s Fume.
The drinks list offers suitable apéritifs, wines, and cocktails with assistance from the server. The service could pay some attention to the waiting time between courses, which in our case was over half an hour between the starter and the main dish. Otherwise the staff took care of everything from start to finish, and the service was polite. This restaurant is worth experiencing for yourself if you want a successful dining experience and a bit of “bling” in everyday life. Basque street food can indeed be served in a fine dining style.
To learn more about this and similar topicsFine Dining Fume Heinrich Liis NOA Spanish cuisine Street Food Tallinn Tõnis Siigur
