NUMBER 5: Cold Borscht… I am not going to lie to you, the only reason this food is on the list at all is because Lithuanians aren’t original enough. This food all but terrible in the best of cases. The only appealing part of this food item is the potatoes that come on the side, but every single Lithuanian food is either made out of potatoes, or has potatoes on the side, so overall it places very low. For one, why is the soup cold, soup is supposed to be warm, that’s just how it is. Along with this, the ingredients are so weird, that they make an unnatural pink color, after all the soup is famous for its bright pink shade. Overall, I would not suggest this food item, even though it is a classic Lithuanian meal.
NUMBER 4: Kibinai… This is a traditional pastry dish that has a large variety of options of what to be placed inside. Usually the two food items placed inside is Mutton and onions, and is overall a very satisfying food to eat. The crunchy outside of the pastry, the softer inside, combined with the well cooked meal on the inside makes this a great portable snack usually eaten for lunch. It can also be made into a desert item, pretty versatile if a say so myself.
NUMBER 3: Potato Pancakes… This is a perfect representation of the Lithuanian food world. It’s a pancake, made solely out of potatoes, with a binding agent such as eggs. As far as pancakes go, this is both unique, and delicious. The food goes with basically any sauce, and or sour cream (Another Lithuanian Staple) and just sorta tastes like potato. Overall, very good, and can be made from leftover mashed potatoes, quite convenient, and very tasty.
NUMBER 2: Gira… This is a fermented soft drink, that’s made out of rye bread. Which more commonly in Europe and Asia is called “Black Bread”. This is an extremely biased list, based off of my own taste buds, and I say this only because the general reception of my friends to Gira has been… Subpar. Of the eight or nine people that I have seen attempt the drink, who were not Lithuanian, they had three reactions. 1. Flinching Immediately, 2. Telling me its terrible, 3. Pretending it tastes good to them, yet not ever wanting to drink more ever again (I know when they lie). So overall, though I do believe people should attempt it, I doubt you would enjoy it much. Too bad for the people reading this because its my list!
NUMBER 1: Cepelinai…. Pronounced kind of like zeppelin, this is easily my favorite Lithuanian food. This is apparently a type of dumpling, something I just learned from google.In which the outside is potato based, and then theres is a ball of ground meat on the inside. Along with this a special sauce is served with it, otherwise sour cream and bacon can replace the sauce.
Now. You may be wondering why this list in any way would prove useful to you, and I have one answer for you. A new Lithuanian restaurant opened called Grand Dukes and I would highly recommend it, after all it’s a good representations of eastern European food, and everything there is done extremely authentically. So if you do go, let this serve as a guide for what to order. On the other hand, if you don’t, you just chose to read a blog about food that you will never choose to eat, and for that I have one question. Why?
Hi Matas,
I’m going to be honest. I’ve never had Lithuanian food and, until reading your blog, it was not on my list of cuisines to try (mostly because I haven’t heard much of it). However, after reading your blog I definitely want to try the potato pancakes and cepelinai. I’m interested to see how the cepelinai–which, as you mentioned, is a type of dumpling–compares to the Chinese dumplings that I’m used to. Also, the potato pancakes sound like advanced hash browns, so what could go wrong? Thanks for sharing and opening my eyes to Lithuanian food!