Riga, Latvia Michelin guide restaurant serves accessible cool: 3 Pavari

I think there are some who shy away from gourmet, Michelin-affiliated restaurants not for price — they’ll spend on obscenely overpriced food at a football game — but rather, because they get nervous at the thought of getting gussied up and an atmosphere that resembles a science research library. But at Riga, Latvia’s 3 Pavari (“3 chefs”), simple furnishings, a young staff and a commitment to local products make fancy more accessible. I saw young couples on dates, groups of friends, family dining. I sat at the counter, that’s called their “chef’s table” — you get to see dishes being finished. Vintage pop music plays in the background. I was happy to be hosted to experience it!

A Latvian-made sparkling raspberry wine was off-dry — it doesn’t kill the palate. It makes a good aperitif.

I wanted to try their local oysters from the Baltic Sea, to experience their “meroir” as it were. They’re served here with a mignonette on ice. The oysters have deep, lacy cups and are very meaty. They had a little bit of saltiness, but mostly umami.

Their tasting menu is the way to go, to sample several dishes.

It’s fun watching the previews of what you will be eating.

The bread course lets you know that you’re in an outside the box place: they swirl different dips and sauces on craft paper, like modern art. A dark beer reduction is robust with onion notes. Sea buckthorn adds its trademark tangy flavor with orange notes to bread: it’s intense. Cranberry/lingonberry is gently sweet. Basil pesto is a familiar bistro dip. Latvia hemp was an unusual, nutty dip — like hummus.

The first starter was Licisi (a local goat cheese producer) goat cheese with concentrated watermelon, peppermint, lime zest, honey mustard, fresh dill resulting in an explosion of flavors! The herby-heat combo worked.

I appreciated that the several courses were served at a good, not-rushed pace.

Vegan borscht is thickened with chickpeas and still has a “meaty” flavor, with a hint of salt. It was served with a “tartelet” of crispy beet shell and nutty cashew cream inside.

As you can see, the portions are just right for several courses.

Slow-cooked cod is served with horseradish sauce, red onion, pearl onion. They’re tender, clean, sweet with a little heat.

To continue the seafood theme, the next dish was scallops, pickled cabbage, smoked trout roe and quinces. It’s presented with dashi broth poured table-side. I also detected nutty buckwheat, creating a mix of textures.

For a palate cleanse, there were refreshing blood orange and yuzu sorbets.

The main course was spring lamb with wild garlic, potato cream. morel mushrooms, presented table-side with red wine glaze, with a lamb kabob in cashew cream. The lamb is cooked sous-vide, very tender. There were nutty flavor notes: unexpected, but good. The kabob had a lot of cilantro. The potato cream was whipped, almost like a mousse.

I don’t know why I forgot to take a pic of the dessert, but I did. It was a milk mousse made with wild strawberries and basil: a combo I’ve baked with in the past and it’s wild!