Stuffed and Satisfied in Riga

Riga's Central Market is one of the biggest markets in Europe and not only did we go there once, but twice, sampling food for a second time! There are three main buildings and then an outdoor area that sells fruit but also shoes. It definitely gives Shuk HaCarmel crossed with the Tachana Merkazit vibes. One building is for fish, one is for meat and the final is for prepared food to eat. We headed to the food court, there was no Sbarro or Subway here.  Instead almost every other stall sold their version of pelmeni (dumplings - boiled or fried), stuffed with a variety of fillings. Another stall that we came back twice for was a soup stall that served soup in an edible cup. So once you finishing drinking your soup, or even when you are half way through, you can start nibbling on your soup cup.

Best Pelmeni of the market and we came back twice

Enjoying her tomato soup & nibbling on the cup

Drinking Georgian soda that was way too sweet

Being in Riga we definitely wanted to search out Latvian food, which we found to be very similar to Lithuanian food. Riga has an amazing food scene and any type of cuisine you desire, you can find in Riga. Being that Riga is a very affordable city, we sought out our two types of food: Indian food and pizza. I think we were so hungry at the Indian restaurant that we failed to take any pictures and only realized it once every bowl and plate had been licked clean.

I tasked M with finding an authentic Latvian restaurant, and she did great, taking us to Folklubs Ala Pagrabs. It was in what appeared to be an old building from with its dining room housed in an old wine cellar. We took a look at the menu and every dish that said "traditional Latvian...", we ordered. They did have the fried garlic bread strips here, and although we had our fair share in Lithuania, these bread stick were different as they were made with a dark rye bread and they weren't as crunchy, but still delicious.

Traditional Latvian meat balls and Grey Peas stuffed in hollowed out rye bread

Traditional battered chicken fillet Folk Club style

Fried Garlic Bread Sticks & Potato Carrot Pancakes with Lingonberry Jam & Sour Cream

Of course we did find a Georgian restaurant that we walked several miles to get to, and while it was good, the best was still in Vilnius.

Khachapuri & Armenian Salad

Pizza...for those of you who know me, especially my family, pizza is by far my favorite food. I would pick it over any type of food or dessert. I scoured blogs and reviews and found a pizza place that looked like it could be good. There was no one in the restaurant and we were in a local part of town so we were unsure of what to expect. The restaurant was called FTD, which stands for - F#%K That's Delicious, and it WAS! We have had pizza in many places around the world, probably in almost every country we have been to, and this might have been in the top 3, and I would know.

FTD pizzas

One thing we haven't mentioned too much is dessert and the three other individuals in my family are obsessed with dessert.  There were definitely bakeries we frequented, including three visits to Mārtiņa Beķereja, konditoreja, but gelato/ice cream shops were not as visible, so every night after dinner we took a walk to the Rimi Grocery store and everyone picked out a novelty from the ice cream case, which was enough for my sweet-toothed children (all of them).