Like a surgeon

Recently a new restaurant Hospitalis has been opened on Stabu 14 in Riga. It is a must-see place if you like gore things. The restaurant looks like a medicine cabinet, while you are treated as a patient and taken good care by the long-legged waitresses in nurses uniforms. The food is served in flasks and operating-room’s dishes and isn’t that cheap (7 and more lats per meal), but this is a bizarre experience that is worth breaking the bank. Besides, the place is owned by local doctors, but unfortunately, the president of Latvia, who is also a doctor, declined his appearance at the opening once he realized how weird this place actually is.

Fucking cheese

In the news they say that this year inflation in Latvia has reached 9,5 %. It’s bullshit if people say that prices for food are cheaper in Latvia then, for instance, Germany or UK. No way, unless you count cigarettes and alcohol (but they warn that in 2 years time there will be no difference there either). So, what is then cheaper? Locally produced food, of course. Let’s talk about cheese, cos I like cheese. They have “Krievijas siers” – Russian cheese, which is probably most commonly used cheese, besides “Holandes siers” (Dutch cheese, quite similar to Dutch Goya). But it’s quite simple cheese, not sure if a Frenchmen or Italian would even consider it a cheese (cos it tastes a bit like nothing). There’s also some cheese with some kind of a taste, such as Talsu ritulis, Līgo siers and Siera desa. First one (Talsu ritulis) is available in 4 types, however the best are 2 – chilly (with red pepper taste) and greenish (with some basil or some sort of similar veggie taste around). I would say it’s the best among all, cos they have some sort of taste, are soft in the middle, a bit even juicy, and sold in a round shapes.

Selection of Talsu ritulis

The second one – Līgo siers, is a variety of cheese that is usually consumed around Latvian midsummer’s celebration. Try it, but I don’t find it anything special. Most Latvians also eat it just around that holiday. The third one is Siera desa – a smoked cheese, similar to Bavarian cheese as it is known in the Britain. A year ago I was buying smoked cheese for some 1 Ls for a piece, now it’s around 1.10 Ls.

This is Siera desa, just one of many versions (cos being produced by many factories in different packing, shapes and smoke degree)

If you want to buy brie, camarbet, gondzola or cheddar, forget it, it’s all imported and cost more then in France, Italy and even UK. Well, if you are an American, probably you have no clue what we are talking here about :p

Getting drunk

This is so easy. Booze is cheap. Don’t waste your time on beer, buy Latvian balsam or vodka. It is getting more expensive to drink in Old Riga, but there are nice places out in the center too. It is also nice just to buy some shit in the shop, but keep in mind that they don’t sell alcohol from 10pm until 8am. Still, if you know some Latvians, you might be able to get some booze after these hours in some small “kiosk” type shops, mainly in suburbs of Riga or Pardaugava (the West side of Riga). If you want to try some local staff, drink Latvian balsam. It looks like some black car oil, tastes like a bitter peel of tree (only Latvians like it), but it’s damn strong and also healthy (made of some herbs). A bottle of balsam costs from around 3 lats, vodka is around the same price. Wine? Forget it, unless you like sweet Georgian red that tastes like warm piss with sugar.

A nice shop in Riga that sells all kind of fluids

Most Latvians and Russians are drinkers. Almost all men over 30 drink a lot and by the age of 40 three out of five men in Latvia are alcoholics. Most of poor people drink self-made vodka (it’s called “kandza”) which is not always safe – some time ago the whole village died in Estonia but about half town in East Latvia. So be careful drinking some strong shit of something you don’t know. In Soviet times people over here even drunk cheap perfumes and anti-freezers for cars. However if you feel nasty and want to try something like that then search for some alcoholics around Central market. You can spot them usually by their faces – they look like burned (cos they pass out in the sun) or with lot of scars (cos they got often beaten by some colleagues or youngsters), and they also smell like cat shit on the pan. Apparently some of them are very nice people and can sell their soul to you for a pinte of vodka. Add cigarettes and they will be your best friends from Riga.