What is the Falstaff Nordic?
Falstaff Nordic Restaurant Guide is the leading restaurant guide in the Nordic countries. The White Guide team anonymously visits hundreds of restaurants each year and at the end of the year ranks them according to quality of food, level of service, innovation in approach and general atmosphere. According to the total of points gained, the restaurants are divided into categories. Here you can find the best restaurants in Saaremaa and Muhu.
Alexander Restaurant at Pädaste Manor
Alexander Restaurant at Pädaste Manor has been a top restaurant for years. Alexander has snatched the first position from the grand eateries of Tallinn several times. It is definitely a restaurant that no proper fine diner should miss. The traditional cooking of Muhu and ultramodern technology are skilfully combined in the restaurant.
P.S. The Alexander restaurant in Pädaste Manor also earned a Michelin Guide recommendation in 2023!
Arensburg
Housed in a 300-year-old building, the Arensburg Hotel and Spa is surrounded by a variety of food and beverage outlets. When it comes to food, they have two main tricks. Experiments with exotic dishes are so bold that Chinese chicken with mango is rolled up with rice into a Japanese sushi roll. Local dishes are also turned into clever combinations, for example, smoked Pähkla trout is served with cream of Nasva sprat. The drinks are impressive enough for the restaurant to host a local wine club. If you can’t find a suitable wine from the short drinks menu, you will definitely find something from the cellar.
Bottengarn
Located in the port of Koguva village on the island of Muhu, Bottengarn offers food from locally caught fish and meat from cattle and sheep raised on the island. Restaurant operators have changed here often, and with them the ways of cooking. But Bottengarn restaurant, with its dining tables between piles of fishing nets in the seine shed or outdoors with sweeping views of the harbor and the sea, is the same Bottengarn year after year. It is always interesting to come, see and taste what's new.
Castello
Castello is a chameleon restaurant. In winter it is a cosy pizza restaurant that smells of baked goods. While the menu does feature other dishes as well, you will see at least one pizza at every table, which is not surprising considering it is hard to find a match to the Castello pizzas on the whole island. Grilled Pähkla trout, ribs, fish soup and other delicious dishes are harshly overlooked in favour of pizza. However, in summer the tables turn. The smell of barbecue lingers in the restaurant garden and serves as an amuse-bouche.
Grand Rose Spa Restaurant
The highly acclaimed restaurant Rose, located in the Grand Rose SPA, offers some of the best culinary experiences in Saaremaa, with its historically atmospheric interior and delicious dishes made from local ingredients. Its ideal location in the heart of Kuressaare and the summer terrace, which is open in case of good weather, make the restaurant a great place for a tasty gourmet experience for both adults and children. Restoraunts recommendation is to ask for the “Forest” cocktail, which is the absolute star turn of the place.
Hafen
Hafen is a light, colourful harbour restaurant. It is the restaurant in Saaremaa offering dishes that combine local tastes with world cuisine. No client should miss the salad of spiced Baltic sprats with roast potatoes, carrots and pickled vegetables in mustard sauce. This dish might taste too ordinary for local clients but featuring the flavour Estonians can’t live without, makes it compulsory for foreign clients to try.
Ku-Kuu Restaurant of Kuressaare Kuursaal
The White Guide team has given a considerable number of points to the fish restaurant Ku-Kuu, located in the park of Kuressaare Castle. Every fish dish lover should go to Kuressaare Kuursaal in summer. The chef Toomas Leedu, a passionate fisherman himself, adds credibility to his restaurant’s high standards. Ku-Kuu serves the freshest fish on the island, i.e. the fish that have been caught the same morning.
Pilguse manor restaurant
Pilgus Manor offers its guests a perfect country luxury. The main dishes are served in the authentic country style on large platters for the whole group to share. There are not many different foods, but the ingredients come from the island itself. For example, partially or whole smoked Pähkla trout, whole smoked country chicken or pork that takes so long to cook that it has to be ordered three days in advance.
Prelude
Vinotheque Prelude is located on the main street of Kuressaare, and is a well-hidden secret that even many islanders have never visited. Prelude is definitely worth a visit. It welcomes you with an excellent wine selection and the menu includes eel soup, wild boar roast and oysters. Prelude is one of the few places in Saaremaa serving oysters.
Saaremaa Veski (Saaremaa Mill)
Among the Saaremaa restaurants included on the White Guide list, Saaremaa Veski has the longest history. An old windmill, converted into a restaurant has always served food in many different styles and today it is the only eatery in Kuressaare offering traditional Estonian cuisine. The menu includes the legendary cheese balls from 1974 as well as the wild boar tenderloin in juniper berry sauce. In summer, fish is smoked in the restaurant’s garden, which goes down nicely with some good local beer.
Särg
Särg is a small restaurant with a large terrace right on the banks of the Nasva river, in the village of the same name as the river. A short distance away, the river flows into the sea, and the fish from either the sea or the river is what is mainly cooked in the restaurant. Since the sea is narrow around here and often offers only herring, dishes from this fish are usually also on the menu. Meals from local fish are prepared with respect for the island's traditions and with good skills. But exotic flavors are not unknown here either. Coconut milk fish soup has already become known all over the island.
Viirelaid
If you go to Viirelaid to eat, not only the restaurant is yours, but the entire small isle is yours. I don't know that anyone anywhere else offers such an opportunity. Set yourself up in the information flow provided by the people of Viirelaid, and you will be best informed about who and when offers food here. The level is set high. Estonia's leading chefs go here for pop-up restaurants. You can choose a suitable chef in cooperation with the island owner and rent the entire island just for your group.
