Riga: The Cellar, the Zeppelin Hangar, and the Moonshine That Builds Trust

Most visitors treat Riga like a train transfer. They photograph the House of Blackheads, buy a fridge magnet, and board the next bus to Tallinn. This is not just a mistake—it is a culinary crime. Riga has the best food scene in the Baltics, and it is not even close. The city combines Soviet-era practicality with medieval tradition and a growing New Nordic sensibility, all at prices that make Copenhagen weep. I came for a weekend in 2019 and left four days later with a suitcase of rye bread, a bottle of Black Balsam, and the realization that Latvia has been hiding in plain sight.

Riga does not perform for tourists. It does not need to. The food here is heavy, honest, and shaped by centuries of short growing seasons and long winters. You will eat grey peas with bacon in a converted Zeppelin hangar. You will drink herbal liqueur in a candlelit cellar that smells of oak bark and honey. You will argue with a local about whether the herring at the Central Market is better on Tuesday or Friday, and you will lose the argument because they are right.

This guide is organized thematically, not by day. Riga's Old Town is compact enough to walk in an afternoon, but the real discoveries happen in the outer neighborhoods—where craft breweries operate from converted warehouses and the best pastries come from a chocolate company that predates the Latvian state.

The Five Hangars: Riga Central Market and the Art of Survival

Riga Central Market (Nēģu iela 7, open daily 7:30 AM–6:00 PM, though many stalls close by 4:00 PM on Sundays) is not just a market. It is a monument to ingenuity. Five massive Zeppelin hangars from the 1920s now house Europe's largest bazaar, and walking through them feels like entering a cathedral built by people who had very little but refused to waste it.

The fish hall is the strongest of the five. Smoked eel, sprats, and salmon line the counters, priced by weight. A 200-gram portion of cold-smoked salmon costs around €4. The sprats—small, oily fish smoked over alder wood—are the backbone of Latvian cuisine. You will find them in salads, on bread, and in jars that locals buy by the dozen. Ask for "kūpinātas reņģes" (smoked sprats) and eat them with black bread and butter on a bench outside.

The dairy hall sells Jāņi cheese, a fresh caraway-flecked cheese made for the midsummer festival but available year-round. It is mild, slightly sour, and best eaten with rye bread. A block costs €3–5. The bread itself matters here. Latvian rupjmaize is a dense, dark rye loaf that stays moist for days. Buy a half-loaf at the market for €1.50 and carry it with you. It will be the best €1.50 you spend in Latvia.

The meat hall sells smoked sausages, blood sausage, and pork products that reflect Latvia's agrarian past. The vegetable hall is less interesting in winter but explodes with berries, mushrooms, and pickled vegetables in late summer. The gastronomy hall has prepared foods—salads, herring, marinated vegetables—for picnickers and office workers.

Pro tip: Arrive before 9:00 AM on weekdays. The market is less crowded, the fish is fresher, and the vendors have more patience for questions. Bring cash. Many stalls do not accept cards.

For lunch near the market, LIDO is a chain, and normally that is reason enough to skip it. But LIDO is different. It is a self-service buffet with over thirty locations in Riga, and it serves the food Latvian grandmothers actually make. The original location on Krasta iela 76 (open daily 10:00 AM–10:00 PM) is the best. You take a tray and choose from grey peas with bacon, pork cutlets, sauerkraut, and pumpkin soup. The grey peas are the national dish. They are small, firm peas cooked with diced bacon and onion, served with a glass of kefir. The combination is heavy, salty, and strangely satisfying on a cold day. A full plate costs €6 to €9. LIDO is not refined, but it is honest, and it gives you a baseline for understanding everything else you will eat in Latvia.

Underground Riga: Cellars, Folk Songs, and Horseradish Moonshine

Riga's Old Town sits on a network of medieval cellars, and the best restaurants have claimed them. Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs at Peldu iela 19 (mains €8–14, open daily 11:00 AM–midnight, kitchen closes at 10:00 PM, +371 6722 2564) is the most atmospheric. It sits in a 13th-century cellar with vaulted brick ceilings, wooden benches, and walls covered in folk art. The Latvian meatballs are the thing to order, served with potatoes and a lingonberry sauce that cuts the richness. The rye bread pudding is dense, sweetened with honey, and better than it sounds. If you are feeling brave, ask for the horseradish moonshine (ķimelis). It clears the sinuses and establishes trust with the server. The bar stays open until midnight on weekends and fills with locals singing folk songs. By 10:00 PM, someone will be playing the kokle—a traditional string instrument—and you will wonder how you ended up in a medieval cellar drinking with people you just met.

Rozengrāls, on Rozena iela 1 in the Old Town (mains €15–25, open daily 12:00 PM–11:00 PM, +371 6722 0356), is the opposite approach. It is a medieval-themed restaurant in a 13th-century cellar, lit by candles, with waiters in period costume. Normally this would be a tourist trap. But the kitchen uses original medieval recipes, and the execution is serious. The braised rabbit with prunes and pine nuts is slow-cooked until the meat falls apart. The skewered pork is marinated in honey and mustard, then grilled over an open flame. Reserve ahead in summer.

For a more contemporary cellar experience, Restorāns 3 (Torņa iela 4, tasting menu €55, open Tue–Sat 6:00 PM–10:00 PM, +371 6732 2208) is Riga's most ambitious restaurant. Chef Ēriks Damanis serves a modern Latvian tasting menu that changes with the seasons. The fermented rye bread ice cream is unforgettable. The restaurant has one Michelin star and requires reservations at least a week in advance.

The Black Balsam Trail: Latvia's Liquid History

Riga Black Balsam is the drink you cannot avoid, and you should not want to. It is a bitter herbal liqueur first produced in 1752, made from a recipe that includes ginger, oak bark, and linden blossom. The original version is 45% alcohol and tastes like medicine in the best way.

Black Magic Café at Kaļķu iela 10 (open daily 10:00 AM–10:00 PM) serves balsam-infused coffee and handmade chocolates in a candlelit room that feels like an apothecary. It is theatrical, but the coffee is good, and the chocolates filled with balsam ganache are worth the €4 price. Try the Black Balsam chocolate cake (€6)—dense, bitter, and boozy.

For a more local experience, buy a bottle at any supermarket (€8–12 for 500ml) and drink it in Bastejkalns Park at sunset. Mix it with blackcurrant juice if the original is too intense. Or do as the locals do: drink it straight, in small glasses, while complaining about the weather.

Riga Black Balsam Factory (Elizabetes iela 10, €15 including tasting, open Tue–Sun 11:00 AM–6:00 PM) offers tours of the production facility and a museum tracing the liqueur's history from Catherine the Great to the present day. The tour includes a tasting of three varieties: original, blackcurrant, and espresso.

New Nordic Meets Soviet Practicality: Riga's Modern Kitchen

The Michelin Guide arrived in Latvia in 2023, and Riga now holds two one-star restaurants and five Bib Gourmands. This is not performative fine dining. It is Baltic ingredients treated with Scandinavian technique, served in buildings that still carry Soviet architectural DNA.

Milda, on Muitas iela 8 (three-course dinner €40, open Tue–Sat 6:00 PM–10:00 PM, +371 2599 8880), is a Bib Gourmand worth seeking out. It serves modern Latvian cuisine with Baltic Sea produce. The herring tartare with pickled cucumber and sour cream is precise and clean, the kind of dish that explains why New Nordic influence has traveled south. The dining room is spare and elegant—white walls, wooden tables, no unnecessary flourishes.

Shōyu, also Bib Gourmand, is a Japanese-Latvian fusion restaurant on Dzirnavu iela 14 (mains €18–28, open Tue–Sat 6:00 PM–11:00 PM). It works better than it should. The smoked Latvian salmon nigiri is the standout—silky fish, warm rice, a touch of wasabi. The chef trained in Tokyo before returning to Riga, and the menu reflects that dual identity.

Snatch, on Blaumaņa iela 5 (small plates €8–16, wine €5–9/glass, open Tue–Sat 5:00 PM–midnight), is a wine bar with small plates that has become the default recommendation for locals who want to eat well without ceremony. The natural wine selection is the best in the city, and the cheese board features Latvian goat cheeses that rival anything from France.

SMØR Bistro, newly awarded a Bib Gourmand for 2026, sits just below street level on Antonijas iela 8 (smørrebrød €7–12, dinner sharing plates €15–25, open Mon–Fri 11:00 AM–10:00 PM, Sat 12:00 PM–10:00 PM). It serves open sandwiches at lunch and sharing plates like whole turbot in the evening. The terracotta interior and marble tables make it feel more Copenhagen than Riga, but the prices are firmly Baltic.

Morning Rituals: Honey Cake, Bagels, and the Pastry That Built a Nation

Breakfast in Riga is a quiet affair. Parunāsim kafe'teeka, at Mazā Pils iela 4 (open daily 9:00 AM–7:00 PM), is a tiny café in a courtyard near the Dome Cathedral. It serves honey cake, cinnamon rolls, and strong filter coffee. The honey cake is the draw, a layered sponge with sour cream and honey that improves as it sits. Arrive before 10:00 AM to get a table. A slice with coffee costs €4.

For a quicker start, Big Bad Bagels on Baznīcas iela 8 (open daily 8:00 AM–4:00 PM) does proper boiled bagels with salmon and cream cheese, or bacon and egg, for under €6. The everything bagel with smoked salmon (€5.50) is the best breakfast deal in the Old Town.

The pastry you will see everywhere is piragi, a small crescent-shaped bread roll filled with bacon and onion. It is sold at bakeries, train stations, and airport cafés. The best version comes from Laima, the chocolate company that has operated in Riga since the 1870s. Their café on Brīvības bulvāris 19 (open daily 9:00 AM–8:00 PM) sells piragi for €1.20 and chocolate-coated raspberries that are gone in minutes. The Laima Clock on the corner is a Riga landmark, and the café upstairs is worth the climb.

For something sweeter, Ciemakukulis (Tērbatas iela 41, open Tue–Sat 10:00 AM–7:00 PM) specializes in traditional Latvian cakes and pastries. The sklandrausis—a carrot and potato pie with a rye crust—is an acquired taste but deeply traditional. A slice costs €2.50.

Craft Beer and Converted Warehouses: Riga's Drinking Periphery

Latvia has a growing craft beer scene, and it is concentrated in a neighborhood that tourists rarely visit. Labietis, on Aristida Briāna iela 9a (pints €4–5, open Tue–Thu 4:00 PM–11:00 PM, Fri–Sat 2:00 PM–1:00 AM, Sun 2:00 PM–10:00 PM), brews on-site and serves experimental ales in a converted warehouse. The hemp beer is interesting, the rye ale is better. The taproom has communal tables and a rotating selection of 8–10 beers. They do not serve food, but they allow you to bring in market purchases.

Ārpus Brewing, also on Aristida Briāna iela nearby (pints €4–6, open Wed–Sat 4:00 PM–midnight), focuses on New England IPAs and sour beers. The taproom is smaller and more intimate than Labietis, with a vinyl record player and a crowd that knows their hops. They do not serve food either, but the LIDO across the street will sell you grey peas to go.

Latvian commercial beers are less exciting. Aldaris and Cēsu are the big brands, drinkable but indistinct. Stick to the craft bars. If you must drink local, try Užavas—a small-batch brewery from the western coast that produces a crisp, clean lager that pairs well with smoked fish.

For cocktails, Kaļķu Vārti (Kaļķu iela 11, cocktails €8–12, open daily 5:00 PM–2:00 AM) is a speakeasy-style bar behind an unmarked door. The bartenders speak English and will mix anything from a classic Old Fashioned to a Black Balsam sour. The Riga Sour—balsam, lemon, egg white, and bitters—is the house signature.

What to Skip

The restaurants on Jauniela in the Old Town that advertise "traditional Latvian cuisine" in five languages with photos on the menu. They are overpriced and underseasoned. The herring is from a jar, the grey peas are microwaved, and the bill will make you wish you had gone to LIDO.

The Russian restaurants near the market that rely on nostalgia rather than technique. They serve oversized portions of borscht and beef stroganoff to tourists who confuse quantity with quality. The food is not bad, but it is not why you came to Riga.

Any bar claiming to serve "authentic Riga Black Balsam cocktails" that are just watered-down mixes designed for bachelor parties. If the cocktail is pink and comes with a straw, you are doing it wrong.

The House of Blackheads restaurant on Rātslaukums. The building is beautiful, the food is mediocre, and the prices are double what you will pay two streets away. Photograph the facade, then eat elsewhere.

Taxis from the airport to the Old Town unless you enjoy paying €25 for a 15-minute ride. Take bus 22 (€2) or the AirBaltic minibus (€5) instead.

Where to Stay

Luxury: Hotel Bergs (Elizabetes iela 83, from €150/night) is Riga's finest boutique hotel, with spacious apartments, a Michelin-recommended restaurant, and a location steps from the Central Market. The Grand Hotel Kempinski (Aspazijas bulvāris 22, from €180/night) occupies a historic building on the edge of the Old Town with a rooftop spa.

Mid-range: Neiburgs Hotel (Jauniela 15/17, from €90/night) is a design hotel in a restored art nouveau building in the Old Town. The rooms have kitchenettes, and the rooftop terrace has views of the cathedral. Avalon Hotel (Rīgas iela 11, from €80/night) is a modern option near the river with excellent breakfast.

Budget: Naughty Squirrel Backpackers (Kalēju iela 50, from €15/night dorms, €45 private) is the best hostel in Riga—clean, social, and located in the heart of the Old Town. Tree House (Kaļķu iela 11a, from €12/night dorms) is smaller and quieter, with a garden courtyard.

Neighborhood guide: The Old Town is tourist central but compact and walkable. Centrs (the art nouveau district, just east of the Old Town) has better restaurants and a more local feel. Miera iela in the Moscow District is the hipster quarter—craft coffee, vintage shops, and street art. Avoid the Maskavas forštate (Moscow Suburb) after dark unless you know where you are going.

Practical Information

Getting there: Riga International Airport (RIX) is 10 km from the center. Bus 22 runs every 15 minutes and takes 30 minutes to the Old Town (€2). The AirBaltic minibus is faster (20 minutes, €5). Taxis cost €15–25. Do not use unofficial taxis.

Getting around: Riga's Old Town and Centrs are walkable. Public transport (buses, trams, trolleybuses) costs €1.50 per ride or €5 for a day pass. Buy tickets at Narvesen kiosks or via the Rīgas Satiksme app. The Riga Card (€18/24h, €25/48h, €30/72h) includes public transport and museum entry.

Money: Latvia uses the euro. Cards are accepted almost everywhere except market stalls and some bakeries. ATMs are plentiful.

Etiquette: Latvian is the official language, but Russian is widely spoken. English is common in tourist areas. Service is included in restaurant bills; round up or add 5–10% for exceptional service. Tipping is not mandatory but appreciated.

Weather: Riga is best visited in late spring (May–June) or early autumn (September). Summer (July–August) brings crowds and higher prices. Winter is brutal—temperatures drop to -15°C, but the Christmas market in Doma laukums is magical, and the heavy food makes more sense when you can see your breath.

Safety: Riga is generally safe, but pickpockets operate in the Old Town and Central Market. The Maskavas forštate (Moscow Suburb) has a reputation for petty crime after dark. Stick to well-lit streets and avoid parks at night.

Emergency: 112 (EU-wide emergency), 110 (police), 113 (medical). Tourist police: +371 6718 1818.

Useful phrases: Sveiki (hello), Paldies (thank you), Lūdzu (please), Vai jums ir ...? (Do you have ...?). English is widely spoken, but attempts at Latvian are met with warmth.

About Sophie Brennan

Sophie Brennan is an Irish food writer and historian based in Lisbon who spends her summers tracking down the best rye bread in the Baltics. She has written for Condé Nast Traveller, authored two cookbooks on Celtic and Iberian traditions, and believes that the best way to understand a country is through its grandmother's cooking. She came to Riga for the herring and stayed for the honey cake. Her rule: if a restaurant has a menu in more than three languages, walk away. If it has no menu at all, sit down and order what the table next to you is having.

Prices and hours verified August 2026. Always confirm before visiting—Riga's food scene is evolving fast.