Pagaripoisid [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Pagaripoisid
Address: Vana-Lõuna 37, Tallinn 
Website: http://www.pagaripoisid.ee/ 
Style: Estonian 
Price: $ 

[Due to a lack of local bakeries pending review -- okay, none for the moment -- I thought I'd delve into my old holiday locations as there are a few more to go through before my reserves totally dry up. Which means I'll need to go a-visiting :D]

I came to Tallinn with a list of eight or nine "cafes" in and around Old Town, but on the first two days I realized that my list really wasn't what I was expecting to find. Yes, there are tons of these little "kohvik" in Tallinn and, while many do make their own goodies, they don't have a lot, they're fairly expensive, and the stress is on the coffee part. As such, I somewhat threw out my list and scurried online while there and did a search for bakeries instead. Doing this in English was a bit of a challenge (mostly because, as I mentioned beforehand, people really don't venture outside of Old Town -- a shame, imho -- and there are none there), but one of the only places I did find was Pagaripoisid, a bakery (chain, I believe?) with almost everything on the edge of Toompea Park and near where you climb the stairs down from the panorama. Despite the lack of poppy seed buns (though their website has them -- at 30 (!!) cents each) while I was there, these guys did end up being my favourite.

First of all, they're ridiculously cheap and more cheap than the cheap Kohvik Narva: baked goods for 30-40 cents and cake slices for around 60. Yes, seriously! I was just more blown away with each coming day (until the next day, that is -_-) On top of that, they just have a little bit of everything: more traditional, home-baked goods like simple cheese cakes and yeast goodies, fancier tortes and pastries; heck, they've even got muffins and brownies for the extremely unadventurous. ;D They also seem to change their selection according to season (especially since I couldn't find my purchase on their list).

So, let's get into it: I was thinking about the baked goods, since this is really my favourite in any cuisine, but I thought I could not pass up cake slices for 60 cents! Like, really, what else could be done? :P I picked out one slice of cheesecake ("kohupiimakook", 60 cents) because a) it looked good and b) it had that homemade charm to it that I couldn't resist. Mmm.. so good! A wonderfully moist cheesecake with the kind of cheese mass I love (I like to call it "Russian-style", but this my own invention :D), though maybe with a tad too many raisins, but that's only because I happen not to like raisins. Heh heh heh... So yummy!

The highlight definitely had to be the rhubarb cake (45 cents), a traditional Estonian summer cake which I took because it looked good and I had been craving rhubarb cake since having been served an amazing rhubarb cake in Iceland (it'll be a future post, even though you're not too likely to find the maker of it ^^). This did not disappoint at all, despite it being different in style: two thick moist layers of sponge cake stuffed with a spiced filling of fresh rhubarb. And of course, there's that powdered vanilla sugar yet again. This was SO good. [And in keeping with the park theme, these were photographed -- with the rhubarb cake being eaten -- in nearby Toompea Park ^^] The best I had... without any poppy seeds in it. And even then, it might have beaten those poppy seed buns as well. SO tasty!!!

Seriously, Pagaripoisid isn't like the countless cafes (though, you can sit there and get a coffee as well) within and around the walls of Old Town, but who really cares when their treats are so delicious? I certainly don't. I left very impressed... and loved Tallinn a little more after seeing this place. ;DDDD

Rating: ****