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Texts
& visuals ©Hannu Lehmusvuori
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Two familiar , but not too exhausted aquaintances are on stage: Tallinn and Marques de Monistrol. And with them I aim to prove that genuine hybrids go a long way.
Elevant (The Elephant) in Tallinn's Old Town offers some great Indian cuisine from an extensive menu with a pleasant list of wines. The relaxed, but very trendy interior decoration (or the minimalism of it) in the upstairs of an old house seats you in sofas or roomy arm-chairs around spacious tables with intimacy. The airy rooms have ceilings high above, and walls painted with orange & earth tints. (And should you be able to choose: take the room to the right from the stairs :-).
The meditative
atmosphere created within those walls brings in genuine India. And one part of it is the music. But there comes the hybrid (within and with the decoration): no tablas, or any other traditional instruments ooze from the softly tuned loudspeakers. Shankars with any name are absent, and the cityish, cool & trendy in airy music is in. You are amid a virtual feeling of a virtual India. Most enjoyably.
But when
it comes to a restaurant one should note the food! - Yes, thank you! - Elevent's Cava Gosht vindaloo (beef vindaloo) is most certainly worth the two asterisks symbolising 'very, very hot'. And tasty with soft meat to be enjoyed with the soothing salad and Indian bread included in all meals. - The big part of Elevant's vindaloo is that the on-rushing 'hot' has many calmer undertones, and with your palate adapted to this world of tastes, you simply start eating, which I think is the best recommendation a plate of food can get. - And if you prefer milder aquaintances with India, you have many levels to enjoy in beef, lamb, chicken, seafood, soups, etc. And a vegeterian has a tasty heaven here.
Vindaloo and wine!
A daring combination. In itself a hybrid that should not exist. You would most eagerly think of yoghurt, and trying to avoid (burning) water, or going for beer. - Well, a wine most certainly has to have some nice characteristics to become a vindaloo. I chose Marques de Monistrol (Cabernet-Tempranillo) from the list, and never regretted.
There are big
,dark and deep berries in the nose of this rather inexpensive wine. And in the taste they are combined with soft, but noticeable tannines with the fruit coming up. A soothing, but rich and easy-drinking pleasure on it's own. With vindaloo the soft fruit with tannines have enough power to be noticed, and they make a fine balancer, sip by sip, to the meal. - I was surprised! - A modern, fruity way of hybridizing cabernet sauvignon & tempranillo.
An apology:
The dessert list is not long (never seems to be in ethnical restaurants), and now becomes the aplogy to Elevant. Their elegantly served 'Küpsetatud banaan jäätise, baileys’i ja puuviljadega', i.e., 'Banana split with ice-cream, Baileys and fruits' for only EEK 68 (FIM 27 / EURO 4.57) is amply enough for two with stomachs filled with Elevant's main courses, even for four liking only a mild measure of dessert.
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