Higher Standards

December 3, 2008

From Lithuanian Heritage January/February 2007

The year 2006 brought many changes to Vilnius; the restoration of Gedimino gatvė has nearly been completed, as well as that of the Rotusės square, the Prime Minister was sacked and a new government was formed, and on May 1^st, Lithuania raised the requirements for clean air in bars and restaurants to European Union standards resulting in most of the Senamiestis (old town) bars becoming non-smoking. The usual arguments were presented: the bars and restaurants will lose money and smokers have rights too. Maybe on the first weekend they were a little empty, but that had more to do with an unusually warm and pleasant May 1^st than a lack of smoking areas in the restaurants. January 1^st 2007 brings a complete ban on smoking throughout Lithuania in any public place. A victory for what seems to be a small minority of Lithuanians who do not smoke and yet another reason to visit.

I’ve spent much of the last three years here complaining of the poor customer service and refusing dinner invitations to restaurants I felt were not up to par. I have noticed though, that in the last few months I’ve been not only going out to dinner more, I’ve actually been enjoying it! Late in the summer, I was pleased to find out that a fun new restaurant across from Katedros Aikštė (Cathedral square) was serving freshly brewed iced tea, a rarity in Europe to be sure. While many visitors may be less than impressed with the international menu which does not offer kepta duona su suriu, the local expats and visiting businessmen have found Zoe’s Bar and Grill to be a breath of fresh cuisine including Caesar salad and Thai noodles. For those looking for traditional Lithuanian cuisine, rest assured that for every new international restaurant that opens, at least one (if not two) Čili Kaimas’ are opened as well insuring us there will be no shortage of cepelinai in Vilnius.

If 2006 brought us Grand Duke Palace, then 2007 will bring us Gedimino 9, the newest and swankiest shopping center on Gedimino gatvė. It will even boast Lithuania’s first Marks & Spencer, a popular low-cost department store from the UK I imagine to look like something like a really posh SuperTarget. I hear the Marks & Spencer brand covers such items from clothing to frozen curry, something Vilnius’ citizens are certainly lacking in their quest to become as stylish and cosmopolitan as possible. Perhaps pizza and kebabs will see their reign as Lithuania’s favorite fast foods come to an end? In any case, this cosmopolitan Vilnietė is looking forward to another option to the chaos at Akropolis, Lithuania’s largest and busiest mall.

For the last 18 months, Vilnius has been all but taken over by a Latvian coffee shop chain called Double Coffee. The maroon logo resembles Starbucks but the coffee doesn’t come close. It’s nearly twice the price of many local coffee houses, and not as good. The service is atrocious; orders are often forgotten or served cold when they should be hot, hot when they should be cold. The only benefit is free wireless internet and round-the-clock working hours. I was almost pleased when the huge Čili chain started opening their newest venture, Čili Kava. Though their business plan may resemble Wal-Mart’s, their coffee is better and so is the food. They also offer coffee to go, only a very recent development in Lithuania. One can only hope that in 2007 Čili will manage to overtake Double Coffee in market share for the good of coffee drinkers everywhere. Still, I offer one small tip to those visiting Vilnius: Avoid the chains, and take your coffee and dessert at the tiny Ponių Laimė cafe on the corner of Stiklų and Žydų gatvės. They don’t offer flavored cappuccinos, but their coffee is good, the cakes are better, and the service and ambiance have been above average since they were located on Gedimino gatvė so many years ago.

Five star service is not yet the standard in Vilnius, or anywhere else in Lithuania, but The Dubliner, a new Irish pub on Dominikonių gatvė spent a lot of time and effort to hire efficient and capable waitresses and the owners of the newly opened Bruisly Bar & Restaurant down the road have actually trained their barmen to mix cocktails. It’s pleasing to see that nearly every week another construction project has been completed with the goal of Lithuania’s Millennium celebration in 2009 drawing closer every day. If they survive the negative winter temperatures, come spring, Vilnius residents will be shopping at Marks & Spencer and drinking freshly brewed iced teas with a bowl of Caesar salad.

 

Filed under: Daily Life,Food & Drink,Lithuania

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