In a lovely cellar entered from Raekoja plats is Troika, one of Tallinn's Russian restaurants.

The setting is great, like a recreation of an Imperial Russian dining room, and the service excellent. The menu runs through Russian staples such as blinis, dumplings, stroganoff and pancakes. There is a good selection of fish and vegetarian options and, for meat lovers, plenty of choice, including bear! And as an accompaniment? What else but vodka! Though there are plenty of other alcoholic and non-alcoholic options for those who want a clearer head the next morning!

It's a lively, popular and busy place, underscored when we were there by live Russian folk music, so booking is advisable.

One word of warning though, it is not an overly expensive restaurant (we paid about £55.00, £60.00 with a tip, for both of us and there was more than we could really eat, even with trying) and indeed very good value for the quality of both the food and the whole experience, however, it is easy to rack up the price. For instance, as we sat down and before we were given the menu we were asked if we wanted to start our meal in true Russian style with vodka, pickles, honey and sour cream. Who could say no! It was a fantastic way to open the meal, and the evening, but was also one of the most expensive items on our bill and as we hadn't seen a menu at that point we weren't aware of how much it cost. Now we would probably have still gone ahead and ordered this anyway, it was fun to see the vodka being poured from a height of two or three feet into the glasses and the combination of all the tastes was great, but for anyone on a budget or watching what they spend the cost may have come as a nasty shock.

That is only a minor criticism, however, as we had such a good evening at Troika, excellent food, excellent atmosphere and great fun. And I didn't even mind the vodka hangover the next day!

Raekoja plats 15;
tel: 372 627 6245;
www.troika.ee

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