Saaremaa Food Festival 2016 was held from 5th to 11th September.

Mosaiik Cafe lunch - chanterelles and pork cheek, apple and hazelnut dessert.

Mosaiik Cafe roast beef and mash ; Retro Cafe lamb burgers with mash, cabbage and chanterelles.
The lamb was underseasoned but their soup was super spicy.

La Perla chicken with apples, carrots and Cheddar.

GO Spa strawberry and rhubarb dessert.


Naturally, the festival ended with a day full of pop-up Apple cafes.
Originally, the idea behind it was for the locals to open up their garden gates and back yards for visitors, setting up outdoor cafes for a day, offering goodies baked/cooked using local apples.

The event is becoming more commercial with the participation fee shooting for the stars, it has gone from 5 euros three years ago to 32 euros this year. And the number of professional businesses participating is rising as well.

The weather was not too charming, there was some sort of mist coming down all day.
But still, I visited six cafes out of seventeen. Browsed by three more but didn't photograph.
Here are photos from the ones that caught my eye the most.

First cafe, Õunamaius, was close to home, just one block away. The choices here could make you blind! Literally too, as it was very brightly coloured. I bought little apple fritters, a slice of pastry cream torte, two slices of Swiss roll and meat pasties. All tasty. And I knew it would be as Luule is known for her baking.
Luule and Lea took part last year as well, see their apple trail here.

Next up was Akord. This took us to the other side of town. Area where I usually never go to.

I went to this place, Ladvaõun, with a mission. In the local newspaper they claimed they were serving Tarte Tatin. I definitely wanted to try it. I baked more than a dozen Tarte Tatins during the first day of Apple Cafes three years ago. Small ones like this and larger ones.
But this cake did not resemble the plump and buttery pastry I was expecting to see. I was confused.
Mission aborted.

Ristorante La Perla has been participating three years in a row. Their selection of goodies was almost as extensive as Luule's. I got a strawberry muffin with a burnt edge and a chicken salad sandwich. Too bad I didn't photograph the sandwich, it was really good, I would buy that again, many times over.

Next up was Saaremaakera with their wacky but awesome truck / pizza oven. They also had some doughnuts on the counter but I don't think anyone had eyes for them. There was this great cheesy pizza smell all over the yard. The menu, so to say, was scribbled on the back of a pizza box and that was it. 8 euros, four toppings of your choice.

Last place was a hole in the wall - Õunakoda. I had a chicken wrap there which was tasty. But the place was so windy and chilly. Otherwise I would've tried their pancakes.

Better luck with weather next year.

Last week saw the arrival of the second Saaremaa Food Festival.
Restaurant Week was part of the festival. Most of the cafes and restaurants created special menus for this week with fixed prices. Two course lunches for 10€ and three course dinners for 15€. My intention was to try five different restaurants, but I had to go with four.

Mosaiik Cafe lunch offer on the left, BBQ beef fillet. Saaremaa Veski pan bread with pork and cabbage on the right. Veski dessert was a classical floating islands.

Retro Cafe kama dessert.
Retro lunch menu also included pork chop with roast potatoes and coleslaw. The pork chop was thick, big chunk. The sauce and coleslaw were awesome.

La Perla dinner menu: three aubergine bruschetti, whole baby trout a la Meuniere, panna cotta with spiced plums

I'm not a fan of aubergines, it was ok I guess, the tomato salad on top was tasty. Trout was flaky and moist with a superb crispy skin. I ate all of that trout skin! Usually I wouldn't eat fish with tomatoes but this tomato salad was very citrusy, making it an ideal companion. The panna cotta wasn't too photogenic but it was seriously tasty with the right amount of melt-in-your-mouth softness. They should add it to their regular menu. Mmm.

I also wanted to try out Chameleon as I've never eaten there but they insisted that I either have to book days in advance or buy a load of booze. Their dining room was practically empty. I opted for the third variant - big fat PASS! Won't be going back.

Another exciting event, and probably my favourite of the week, was the day of pop-up apple cafes.

Õunõu.
Three chefs with a food truck. Same as last year. Simple three item menu:
pulled pork bun, chickpea coconut ramen, apple crumble with ice cream.

Sisters Luule and Lea set their cafe near the post office. Every local knows that these sisters can bake! The trail with little apples was so sweet.

Ristorante La Perla had an extensive menu with apple themed cocktails. I tried their tiramisu.

Suur õun.

Altogether there were ten cafes. I did not photograph them all.
Though the idea is that these cafes should be homey little pop-up cafes in peoples' gardens, a third or more of the cafes have professional chefs or caterers. It's good to have some professionals in the mix but I hope it will not start to dominate. That would kill the fun factor.

Looking forward to next year's event already!