Haute cuisine: the best French restaurants in Riga

The last few years have been a belle epoque for French restaurants in Latvia, with a growing contingent of brasseries and bistros peppering Riga’s streets. Etienne Morisseau, TBT’s Man With the Iron Spoon, puts Riga’s French restaurants to the test.

The top five restaurants I have finally chosen are of course subjective, for the discovery of fine food still lies in instincts and not reasoning. The competition between these five first-class establishments was tight, but there is clear winner of this grand prix. It goes to Vincents restaurant.

 

1st place: Vincents

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Vincents is a place that does not just offer you a simple meal, but an exploration of your senses. However, considering that the thrill you get when tasting remarkable food is something personal, some people would say that I might be exaggerating. But, if you ask me, chef Mārtiņš Rītiņš could even give a nicotine-addicted smoker the willpower to quit, if only to preserve their taste buds in order to fully enjoy his next meal at Vincents.

The master chef is assisted by a kitchen team, led by the skilful chef Nasikailovs. On the wines and spirits front, Kaspars Reitups and Raimonds Tomsons, president of the Latvian Sommelier association, both winners of the Best Sommelier in the Baltics award, do justice to their impressive wine list.

The service is handled by a staff of charming and diligent professionals of l'art de la table, who will welcome you into an elegant but also intimate atmosphere that even high-class restaurants in France often fail to create. The sophisticated style of the main room could easily lead to an impression of coldness; however, the music and the details of decoration combine to create a peaceful cosmos isolated from the outside world.

Vegetables, spices, meat or fish - every product is top-quality, from the pink salt containing more than forty minerals, to the Norman butter, made by Jean-Yves Bordier, and considered to be one of the best in the world.

No wonder that kings, presidents, ministers, world-renowned chefs, and artists from all countries and cultures, come to sit at chef Rītiņš’s table; what you savour there can make you discover or rediscover your sense of taste.

And this is especially true of their signature dish, le ravioli de foie gras, that I tasted with a 20-year-old balsamic vinegar. Its delectable and meltingly soft taste even now comes to my mind, and reminds me that I will probably not enjoy such exquisite tastes on my palate for far too long.

 

2nd place: Phillipe

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    Now do not get me wrong, even if the meal at Vincents was la crème de la crème, it would be a crazy mistake to think that the other restaurants were just low-range canteens. Of these fine remaining four, Philippe restaurant in Jurmala (a thirty-minute train ride from the centre of Riga) is home to the internationally renowned chef Jānis Zvirbulis, and is certainly in the same league as Vincents.

After creating two successful restaurants in his fatherland, this Russian cordon bleu inaugurated his first foreign establishment in January 2015. He now seems motivated to challenge the dominance of Vincents and other Latvian high-class restaurants by creating a menu of classic recipes with a contemporary touch on a basis of cuisine du soleil, a genre of southern French food influenced by Mediterranean-style cooking.

Chef Zvirbulis, who learnt his trade at the Lycée hôtellier St-Quentin and the institut Paul Bocuse, seems never to rest until he has found high-quality produce that can bring out the best of French cooking's rich flavours. Those with a sweet tooth will be pleased to hear the desserts at Philippe are mostly the pure creations of the chef and are somehow balanced perfectly between an indulgent, intense richness and a delicate lightness.

Brought to life by its team of skillful waiters, along with a passionate sommelier and bartender, the Phillippe has a smart but cosy atmosphere, with the sounds of smooth jazz and classy funk music never far away.

But the real piece de resistance was, without a doubt, their plate of cheese presenting a quasi-crystalline 24 months-old comté, served along with a tip to taste the roquefort à la Russe, that the sommelier proudly unveiled towards the end of the meal.

 

 

3rd place: La Boheme

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    With its much more relaxed atmosphere, restaurant La Bohème provides a modern venue as welcoming for business meetings as for more leisurely dinners. By juggling with recipes from traditional French cooking as well as a few from other European cooking traditions, the chef Iveta Lamberte serves a fine selection of tasty dishes, and more delicate creations offering a unique combination of flavours.

My recommendation for La Boheme would without a doubt be the boeuf bourguignon with chestnuts, served with grilled bread glazed in olive oil. I would dare to go so far as to bet — though I risk my French passport by saying it — that La Boheme’s beef bourguignon was even better than most of those you can taste in la côte vineuse.

Regrettably, some culinary faux pas can be found in some preparations, and made La Boheme lose a few places. Dishes which aim for subtle flavour end up tasting too rich or heavy for a gastronomic genre. Quite ironically, it should represent the fair price, since it is named after a movement which claims as its main principle the rejection of bourgeois domination. Nonetheless, at an affordable price, a dinner at La Boheme restaurant hits all the right notes.

 

4th place: Pinot

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The chef of Pinot, an outlet based in the Old Town of Riga, told me something that I think is far too rare in restaurants nowadays. Many clients who come to his venue do not choose a dish mentioned on the menu. Instead, they ask for a dish they really want. And this flexibility is the hallmark of great chefs.

Meals you take at Pinot might not be an exact copy of French - or rather Mediterranean – recipes, and I happen to be disappointed by some parts of the menu, such as the seafood risotto, in which the squid’s bitterness lingered on in the rice. But in my opinion, it is far more important that the restaurant's kitchen tries to innovate in such a way that you may have the satisfaction to taste a pleasant surprise. Which was for my part, the heavenly purée served with foie gras, from which the sweetness was perfectly matched with the sourness of caramelised berry sauce.

After the meal, two possibilities are then open to bring the evening to its end: go downstairs, explore the wine cellar and step further in his enthusiasm; or take the path of the smoking lounge where you can enjoy their extravagant choice of cigars.

The restaurant’s avant-gardiste decoration along with the charming background music of smooth electro swing, create a delicate atmosphere suitable for cordial reunions. I was however disappointed by the casualness of the service staff, who seemed to only have a limited interest in their tasks. Although I am sure that this weak point will not get in the way of a great dinner in this establishment.

 

5th place: Ratatui

If you visit Riga's suburb of Berģi on the other side of Jugla lake, do not hesitate to try out Ratatui. This restaurant presents a slightly different kind of cooking from most restaurants: the chef, Kounchef, does not want to compete in the pursuit of high-class dishes, but prefers to focus on the simplicity of rustic, warming and filling French cuisine - perfect for Riga’s long winters.

As a matter of fact, going to eat at Ratatui reminds me of those small establishments that are plentiful in France and contain number of culinary artists offering colourful dishes of traditional, no-nonsense, delicious food.

Ratatui is not the kind of establishment where you will find yourself ushered in with pomp and circumstance by an immaculately dressed sommelier, or welcomed in by a bartender and a full team of bowtie-wearing waiters. Yet this is what gives the restaurant its seal of authenticity, providing an atmosphere that captures the essence of French rural living.

As an inhabitant of the southern part of the country, there are no secrets that Bouhessi does not know about recipes from the Midi-Pyrénées region. As a proof of his origins, the tomato à la provencale is just a marvel, and perfectly matched the rib steak that the chef imported from France itself, as many other ingredients he uses.

However, it is not of course the sort of restaurant you will rave about. The food is tasty, with a simple yet nice presentation, and you go out of the restaurant with a full stomach. But that is all we can ask from a traditional restaurant. But the prices on the menu do not necessarily reflect this nature of the establishment. This is the main reason that I put the restaurant only in fifth place. I find Ratatui expensive for the simple establishment it appears to be. The price of some rustic recipes you can taste there is comparable to those from Pinot or La Boheme restaurant.

Still, any French expat missing the comme à la maison taste would find it here; and if any Rigan wants to discover what kind of food the heart of France is made of, rendez-vous at Ratatouille restaurant.

 

Encore !

Well, that was the top five French restaurants in and around Riga. But I also have to speak about a sixth restaurant which I could not put in this ranking. Indeed, one year ago Renomme restaurant offered mostly French recipes. Nonetheless due to the 2015 Latvian presidency of the EU council and the number of European travellers that this occasion is bringing to the country, chef Kaspars Klims has chosen to focus on Baltic traditional dishes!

Anyhow, the Gallery Park Hotel's restaurant are now serving some wonderfully novel recipes based on an interesting melange of Latvian and French tastes. Even if some these modern blends end up being somewhat unusual for a Western European’s palate - and I am referring here to the dryness and saltiness of the home-made rye waffle - other dishes are just amazing culinary experiences. In particular, the slowly cooked salmon fillet served with its beetroot salsa, which does not need any sauce to be a meltingly soft marvel.

Another excellent surprise was the incredible flavour and unique mix of the Basil cheese-cake, which concluded the meal on a perfect light note. Furthermore, the Renomme restaurant is also the only place in Riga where you can enjoy one of the best Provence wines, from the Chateau de Berne.

In addition to the Napoleon III-style decor that the hotel offers, the house itself is a treasure to behold: it was built in 1825 and has been certified by UNESCO as a site of cultural heritage. From the gold-embroidered tapestry to the Limoges ceramic tableware set, the luxury of the building's adornments is just outstanding.

Whether enjoying the three-course menu at a fixed price of 39 euros, or just having a cup of their excellent hand picked organic herbal blend tea from Kurzeme, going to the Gallery Park's Hotel and its Renomme restaurant, will give you a perfect foretaste of what a real five-star establishment is.

Allow me to finish this review with a quote from Curnonsky, widely known as the ”prince of gourmets”, which describes the culinary art:"Cooking, is when things have the taste of what they are."

I wish you all bon appétit.