A Culinary Weekend in Hiiumaa—Five Restaurants and a Festival
Text Stewart Johnson Photos Tatiana Metsala / Visit Estonia, Stewart Johnson, Katrin Press
There are many excellent reasons to visit the island of Hiiumaa, off the northwest coast of Estonia’s mainland. Sites to see, such as the multiple lighthouses—I found six, and visited them all—and the Kaibaldi liivik, which would roughly translate to “sandy area”, in the center of the island. This is like a reverse oasis, an island of sand surrounded by trees. There are also several wonderful beaches to visit, although I personally enjoyed the shallow waters of Kirikulaht, which is more of a lake right next to the sea, by Kõrgesaare, in the northwest of the island. This is an ideal location for an afternoon of stand-up paddle boarding, or in my case, a kayak.
The reason I went to the island was to attend the Võnge Festival. This was a massive disappointment, to be perfectly honest. I enjoy camping when I attend a festival, and the assigned camping area was in the middle of a tractor-ploughed field. Sleeping simply wasn’t possible there, so I bribed a neighbor near the festival and camped comfortably in his yard. The festival also did not allow entry until 15:00 each day. This was a problem because all the food and toilets were inside the festival area. I honestly don’t know what the organizers were thinking.
But on the plus side, I’m actually very happy that the festival was so underwhelming, because that gave me four full days to explore Hiiumaa! So if you go by car, here’s what you do: take the ferry from Rohuküla, just past Haapsalu, to Heltermaa, on the island. The rule of the locals is that if you want to go anywhere, book your e-tickets at least two weeks in advance. Otherwise you might end up spending several hours waiting in line at the port.
Once you arrive, however, visit Kärdla. This incredibly charming town boasts several cute cafés, restaurants, and bars. Look for lighthouses on your map app, and visit them all. This is an excellent way to spend an afternoon, sort of like a scavenger hunt, or an orienteering game. The weekend I visited was also the weekend for the Hiiumaa Open Home Café Day, but this proved to be a bit difficult to enjoy, for four reasons. The rain that day was incessant, the cafés were very far from one another, I found out the hard way that almost none of them accepted card payments, and finally…more than twelve coffees in one day is inadvisable.
In the evening of my first day, I visited Ratturitalu, a charming restaurant and café that would also serve as a good venue for a less formal wedding banquet. The schnitzel was delicious, and the owner very astute. We spoke, in Estonian, for a good 20 minutes, and when I finally mentioned I was a foreigner, he said in Estonian, “Yes, I know, you’re American.” In my 27 years in Estonia, this had never happened before. People always assumed I was Swedish, Norwegian, or worst of all Finnish—that’s a joke!—but never American. “How can you tell? Certainly not by my behavior?” He replied, “Your accent.” I honestly didn’t know that enough Americans had learned Estonian that we could have an identifiable accent.
The next day for lunch I found myself at Kalana Äär, a delicious seaside locale near the westernmost tip of the island. This trendy yet friendly restaurant seemed rather non-assuming, but when the food was served, it was clear that these people knew how to cook. The chili served over jacket potatoes was absolutely amazing, and the Äär’e Särts pizza was one of the best in all of Estonia.
Later that evening I was back in Kärdla, and I wanted to try what promised to be a great local brewery and restaurant, the Hiiumaa Pruulikoda. The venue was very attractive indeed, and the appetizer I ordered—mint cream with peas served with rye breadsticks—was very good, but the main dishes were less than I had hoped for, especially considering the price. But I’ll come back to that. I ordered the chicken and cauliflower in cauliflower cream. There was one small chicken fillet, which was too tough to chew on the edges, and two heads of cauliflower. That was it. Luckily there was a grocery store nearby where I could fill up on pastries. My companion ordered the chicken linguine and was equally disappointed.
Later that same evening, back at the festival, there was yet another long, two-hour stretch of time when no artists were playing on any stages, and people were sitting around looking bored, and beerless—beer was very hard to find at this festival. I started chatting with the locals, some of whom were sitting in their yards enjoying the evening sunset. I quickly discovered that there was a rivalry between Hiiumaa, and neighboring Saaremaa. One man I spoke to asked me, “Have you been to Hiiumaa before?” I told him that I had, many times, but only in the same two places. I usually visited Saaremaa instead. He replied, “Saaremaa? Let me tell you something about people from Saaremaa! The legend says that the people of Hiiumaa sent their best shepherd to Saaremaa, and that’s how the people of Saaremaa were created!” And he laughed very hard.
I replied, “But that would mean that the people of Hiiumaa enjoy sheep?” He stopped laughing, and said, “Oh. Ok, I won’t tell that joke anymore.” Then we talked about food on the island, and he said that the best restaurant in Hiiumaa was the Ungru Restaurant and Guesthouse, in the northeast of the island. I had also heard this from other people during my stay, and before, while still on the mainland. The next night I had dinner there.
Located near what seems to be a very little-used port, Ungru is in a small house with a nice terrace. There are only a few tables inside and out, so it’s best to make a reservation. Everyone speaks English, as I heard, as there were other foreign guests as well. I was hungry, so I decided to make a full night of it, and order the most complete meal I could. I started with the tartare de bœuf, and I was not disappointed! In fact, it was probably one of the two best steak tartares I had had in my life, and it just so happens they were both in Estonia.
For the entrée, I had the pike fried in butter, served over potato cream with sour apple chunks, asparagus, and kale chips. My only question was why this restaurant did not have a Michelin star. I asked about the chef, and he was a local, an Estonian. And remember I mentioned the price at the Hiiumaa Pruulikoda? It was the same price, but exponentially better.
To end this amazing dinner, I got an espresso, and a tonka bean crème brûlée. Tonka beans, if you don’t know, are rather sweet beans, resembling vanilla and cloves. My companion also ordered the mousse au chocolat, which was served with smoked salt. Both desserts were rather large as well, well worth the cost.
The staff were simply wonderful, and my server explained what each dish was as she served it, in a calm, quiet voice. She sounded like if I didn’t eat the food, she would, such was her enthusiasm. This was very welcoming.
After dinner—and the bill—we got to chatting, and she mentioned something about a rivalry between Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. I told her, “I have a good joke about Hiiumaa.” With a grin, she said she would really like to hear it. I began, “A legend says that the people of Saaremaa sent their best shepherd to Hiiumaa, and that’s how the people of Hiiumaa were created!” And then I laughed very hard. She did not laugh, however, and said, “That’s a very rude thing to say about the people of Hiiumaa.” Taken aback, I tried to explain, “No, no—it’s not a joke about Hiiumaa, it’s a joke about the people of Saaremaa, how they enjoy sheep.” She replied, “My parents are from Saaremaa.”
I left an enormous tip, and quietly made my way back to the car, and then my tent, perfectly full in the most comfortable way, and I fell asleep, completely missing the last night of the festival. As there was no food available in the morning, I made my way back to the port, and got in line. I only had to wait two hours, but I was hungry. Fortunately, the Heltermaa Port Bar and Bistro was open, where I enjoyed a perfect lunch of grandmother-style meat patties in sauce—kodused kotletid in Estonian. I slept again on the ferry back to the mainland, dreaming of the next time I could visit the island of Hiiumaa.
To learn more about this and similar topicsHeltermaa Hiiumaa Kalana Äär Kärdla restaurants in Hiiumaa Ungru Võnge
