RIGA - Inside Europe's biggest log building you'll find the most delicious food you've ever had in your life.
Lido restaurant is the absolute pinnacle of Latvian cuisine. It has food from every region in Latvia and then some.
I go there when I am feeling patriotic. The staff is dressed in folk costumes and the food is probably better than grandma made it. There is an amusement park there as well, with rides and a skating arena, live animals and souvenir shops.
The main restaurant has three levels, with the basement doubling as a bar that has live folk music. Weekends are the busiest times in the basement bar as people fill up on the ethnic mugs of cool beer and garlic bread and get their dancing shoes out.
The cafeteria style restaurant is divided up according to type of cuisine 's fish, salads, meat, and the best, desserts.
Everything is prepared right in front of you 's the crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside fries made in a big traditional cast iron pan go great with a dollop of the dill sauce.
I could go on for days about the food. It's safe to say that no matter what kind of mood you're in, Lido will have something you'll salivate over.
To keep myself from having a little bit of everything, I try to stick to a three entree meal consisting of meat, salad, some sort of potato dish followed by dessert. The karbonade (pork cutlets) pounded thin and breaded with mushroom sauce is my absolute favorite, with the giant juicy sausages coming in at a close second.
You can't go wrong with any of the salads, although the portions are fairly small for the price. The restaurant has everything from herring and beet salad to the tamer carrot and cabbage salad.
But the most traditional Latvian food is the potato. They are cooked every possible way: Under the sun, fried, boiled, steamed, baked or mashed. Lido has them all.
Pancakes filled with apples, cheese or meat and topped with sour cream are a great dessert, as is the traditional bread soup with raisins. Don't worry, I was suspicious of this so-called dessert as well, but after the first mouthful of sweetened rye bread and whipped cream I was hooked.
There are several Lido restaurants around Riga, but the ones in town are much smaller and have less selection. I must admit, however, I chose my apartment based on the proximity to a Lido restaurant.
The grandest Lido is located a bit out of the center, but still an easy tram ride from the National Opera. It is well worth the ride.
Though the prices used to be much cheaper, they still are reasonable with a set lunch costing about 2.5 lats.
If you're short on time and can't wait to try this amazing food, there are the smaller versions of the main restaurant on Dzirnavu and Elizabetas streets. There is also one in Old Town near Dome Square. But just be careful or you may never want to eat at any other restaurant again.
