{"id":149822,"date":"2025-08-05T02:31:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T23:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/?p=149822"},"modified":"2025-08-04T14:48:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T11:48:59","slug":"a-culinary-weekend-in-hiiumaa-five-restaurants-and-a-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balticguide.ee\/en\/a-culinary-weekend-in-hiiumaa-five-restaurants-and-a-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"A Culinary Weekend in Hiiumaa\u2014Five Restaurants and a Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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There are many excellent reasons to visit the island of Hiiumaa, off the northwest coast of Estonia\u2019s mainland. Sites to see, such as the multiple lighthouses\u2014I found six, and visited them all\u2014and the Kaibaldi liivik, which would roughly translate to \u201csandy area\u201d, 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 K\u00f5rgesaare, 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.<\/p>\n

The reason I went to the island was to attend the V\u00f5nge 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\u2019t 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\u2019t know what the organizers were thinking.<\/p>\n

But on the plus side, I\u2019m 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\u2019s what you do: take the ferry from Rohuk\u00fcla, 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<\/span><\/a><\/span> at least two weeks in advance. Otherwise you might end up spending several hours waiting in line at the port.<\/p>\n

Once you arrive, however, visit K\u00e4rdla. This incredibly charming town boasts several cute caf\u00e9s, 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 Caf\u00e9 Day, but this proved to be a bit difficult to enjoy, for four reasons. The rain that day was incessant, the caf\u00e9s were very far from one another, I found out the hard way that almost none of them accepted card payments, and finally\u2026more than twelve coffees in one day is inadvisable.<\/p>\n

In the evening of my first day, I visited Ratturitalu<\/span><\/a><\/span>, a charming restaurant and caf\u00e9 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, \u201cYes, I know, you\u2019re American.\u201d In my 27 years in Estonia, this had never happened before. People always assumed I was Swedish, Norwegian, or worst of all Finnish\u2014that\u2019s a joke!\u2014but never American. \u201cHow can you tell? Certainly not by my behavior?\u201d He replied, \u201cYour accent.\u201d I honestly didn\u2019t know that enough Americans had learned Estonian that we could have an identifiable accent.<\/p>\n

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The \u00c4\u00e4r\u2019e S\u00e4rts pizza at Kalana \u00c4\u00e4r.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The next day for lunch I found myself at Kalana \u00c4\u00e4r<\/span><\/a><\/span>, 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 \u00c4\u00e4r\u2019e S\u00e4rts pizza was one of the best in all of Estonia.<\/p>\n

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Chili over potato jackets at Kalana \u00c4\u00e4r.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Later that evening I was back in K\u00e4rdla, and I wanted to try what promised to be a great local brewery and restaurant, the Hiiumaa Pruulikoda<\/span><\/a><\/span>. The venue was very attractive indeed, and the appetizer I ordered\u2014mint cream with peas served with rye breadsticks\u2014was very good, but the main dishes were less than I had hoped for, especially considering the price. But I\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

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Chicken and linguini at Hiiumaa Pruulikoda.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n

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\u2014beer 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, \u201cHave you been to Hiiumaa before?\u201d I told him that I had, many times, but only in the same two places. I usually visited Saaremaa instead. He replied, \u201cSaaremaa? 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\u2019s how the people of Saaremaa were created!\u201d And he laughed very hard.<\/p>\n

I replied, \u201cBut that would mean that the people of Hiiumaa enjoy<\/i> sheep?\u201d He stopped laughing, and said, \u201cOh. Ok, I won\u2019t tell that joke anymore.\u201d Then we talked about food on the island, and he said that the best restaurant in Hiiumaa was the Ungru Restaurant and Guesthouse<\/span><\/a><\/span>, 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.<\/p>\n

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Ungru Restaurant and Guesthouse. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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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\u2019s 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 b\u0153uf, 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.<\/p>\n

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Steak tartare at Ungru Restaurant and Guesthouse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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For the entr\u00e9e, 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.<\/p>\n

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Pike fried in butter at Ungru Restaurant and Guesthouse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n

To end this amazing dinner, I got an espresso, and a tonka bean cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e. Tonka beans, if you don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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Tonka bean cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e at Ungru Restaurant and Guesthouse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n

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\u2019t eat the food, she would, such was her enthusiasm. This was very welcoming.<\/p>\n

After dinner\u2014and the bill\u2014we got to chatting, and she mentioned something about a rivalry between Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. I told her, \u201cI have a good joke about Hiiumaa.\u201d With a grin, she said she would really like to hear it. I began, \u201cA legend says that the people of Saaremaa sent their best shepherd to Hiiumaa, and that\u2019s how the people of Hiiumaa were created!\u201d And then I laughed very hard. She did not laugh, however, and said, \u201cThat\u2019s a very rude thing to say about the people of Hiiumaa.\u201d Taken aback, I tried to explain, \u201cNo, no\u2014it\u2019s not a joke about Hiiumaa, it\u2019s a joke about the people of Saaremaa, how they enjoy<\/i> sheep.\u201d She replied, \u201cMy parents are from Saaremaa.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/a><\/span> was open, where I enjoyed a perfect lunch of grandmother-style meat patties in sauce\u2014kodused kotletid<\/i> in Estonian. I slept again on the ferry back to the mainland, dreaming of the next time I could visit the island of Hiiumaa.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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