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Kaļķu Vārti
Restaurants
By Inese Timuka .
12.05.2009
This surprisingly light, bright restaurant concealed behind dark glass windows now has appealing ethnic motifs throughout the décor with subtle touches of white and beige. Combined with modern lighting the impression is one of stylish elegance.
Kaļku Vārti (the Lime Gates) has opened after a brief period of speedy but impressive renovation.
It's not only the interior that has changed. A new menu has also been brought in, and the passionate chef and resident food expert Eriks Dreibants told us that every dish on the menu consists of products of local origin, most of them grown organically without a trace of chemicals.
The menu remains international but with local accents. Emphasizing ancient recipes according to the season, a lot of the dishes include rye bread spiced up with caraway seeds. Gourmet eating is all about quality, not quantity, and the chef offers a feast that may allure, surprise and satisfy, all at the same time, revealing unknown aspects of well-known foods.
For this spring Eriks recommends a set of baked Latvian cheeses presented on cereal bread and accompanied with locally grown field greens (€8.40) as a starter. But to really get a taste of modern Latvia, the fried pikeperch fillet served with white-bean purée and asparagus sauce (€15.40) is the ideal main course.
From May Kaļku Vārti will have an outdoor terrace and beer garden, while the all-year-round basement-level club will keep guests entertained until well into the evening.
