If one would ask me what surprised me the most during 2011, I surely would name Must Puudel, the new vintage café that opened its doors in Müürivahe 20 (Old Town) only few months ago.
Somehow reminding of F-Hoone (yet another new, alternative kind of café off the beaten track yet worth couple of visits), the Black Puudel offers its guests that kind of particular experience that makes them love it or hate it with no room for any grey hesitation.
Ok, this is a food blog.
Although this won’t be the most supportive argument for my point in this review, starting with the food-point seems quite reasonable.
As, wanting to be reasonable, I must say that (if we take out of our judgment all the mouth watering cakes intentionally on display right at the entrance) food in Must Puudel is nothing but average.
Daily meals do not vary often and for some 4Euros they do not really offer what needed to make one leave with a full stomach. Because, honestly speaking, those beef stripes in a very tasty sauce you will find on the top of Must Puudel menu [ Kana Karririisi ja Sibulamooosiga - 4€ ] are as good as few. And, if you consider that I did like them – well….- then you can start getting an idea of what my point is here.
Still! If you have been eating lunches in Tallinn Old Town long enough for knowing what salads in Angel were – then you might be surprised discovering that the Caesar Salad [4.5€] in Must Puudel is just like that.
Out of the many times I went, it happened only once not to be served with a dish full of green salad, juicy chicken breasts and warm crunchy bread covered by just the right amount of Parmesan cheese and Caesar salad sauce.
As you might have understood from the previous lines, while your lunch break better not close with any espresso (ehm…), it should never lack a piece of one of the cakes at the entrance. And, although my passion for Pavlova in general would make me choose this one in front of anything, my suggestion here is to just pick one and let yourself go. Any choice has been wonderfully safe so far. You will thank me anyways.
And, it is not all about lunch.
As Must Puudel does not work only during lunch, here is an advice: do not be fooled by the “underground” essence of the café because this place is a terribly cool one.
Wayfarer-eyed blondes stay shoulder-to-shoulder to wannabee artists and creative people with plastic framed eyeglasses reflecting the screen of their MacBooks in rooms that became places where to be seen much before to be enjoyed.
Yet, with live music and DJs performing during the weekend, the coolest Sixties-fever kind of interior you can find today in Tallinn and with both those cakes I told you about and the “wonderful” Ziguli beer Must Puudel is a place that should really not be missed.
And, if you happen to be there on Sundays during breakfast hours and you see a guy with a small yet very long dog sitting right by the door in Müürivahe, you can just sit with him and discuss about your impressions and this review. I am sure he would be pleased.
How to get there: