Ventas RumbaApartments
Reservation
Where to Eat and Drink in Kuldīga

Food & Drink · 3 min read

Where to Eat and Drink in Kuldīga

A town of 13,500 with a White Guide restaurant, a craft brewery and a sourdough bakery working off a San Francisco recipe.

The big two

It’s the view and the food, which is rare.

Bangert’s is at Pils iela 1, which is about thirty seconds from our front door. It sits on the bank of the Venta between the regional museum and the city garden, and the terraces and balcony look straight out at the rapids and the brick bridge. The kitchen works with local produce: beef, trout, venison. It’s the view and the food, which is rare. Closed early in the week, so check before you walk over.

Bangert’s, at Pils iela 1. The balcony and the terraces look straight out at the rapids.
Bangert’s, at Pils iela 1. The balcony and the terraces look straight out at the rapids.
The regional museum. Bangert’s is the next thing along the bank, between here and the city garden.
The regional museum. Bangert’s is the next thing along the bank, between here and the city garden.

Goldingen Room is in the old town, and it’s the name most people know. Mediterranean cooking, wood-fired pizza, Italian and French wine, in an industrial-romantic room with a terrace for warm evenings. It has taken White Guide recognition, the Nordic restaurant guide, in consecutive years. Book ahead in summer.

The Kaļķu quarter

KOPA is at Kaļķu iela 14, modern Latvian, and by rating the strongest table in town. DUNA taproom & kitchen is in the same block: an independent craft brewery with a taproom, a kitchen built around the beer, and barrel-aged bottles worth taking home. Both sit in the old garage quarter, which is worth an afternoon of its own.

Inside KOPA, with the smoked sausages hanging where you can see them being got on with.
Inside KOPA, with the smoked sausages hanging where you can see them being got on with.
KOPA cooks outside through the summer. The smoker and the kamado live along the wall.
KOPA cooks outside through the summer. The smoker and the kamado live along the wall.
DUNA makes the lemonades as well as the beer, and sells both by the case.
DUNA makes the lemonades as well as the beer, and sells both by the case.
KOPA’s end of the yard, tables out. In summer this is where the quarter eats.
KOPA’s end of the yard, tables out. In summer this is where the quarter eats.

Coffee and bread

Celms maize is at Liepājas iela 23. A family bakery working natural sourdough from the Tartine method, the San Francisco bakery recipe, plus proper coffee, pastries, breakfast and lunch. Go early, the good bread doesn’t last the day. Pī Cafe is the other easy stop for coffee and something sweet. Curonia Coffee roasts in the Kaļķu quarter if you want beans to take away.

Curonia roasts on site in the same block. Opening hours are on the board by the door.
Curonia roasts on site in the same block. Opening hours are on the board by the door.

The rest, honestly

Riverside for coffee and homemade pastry with a river view. Pagrabiņš, a cellar room, Latvian food, long a local favourite. Stender’s and Jēkaba sēta for traditional cooking, Kursas Zeme for an art-café atmosphere, Asaka Pasaka if the answer is sushi, and Circus Pizza when you’ve been walking all day and want a pizza without ceremony.

Stender’s, in an old barn. It looks exactly like the sort of place that has been there a while.
Stender’s, in an old barn. It looks exactly like the sort of place that has been there a while.
Market day under the canopy. Worth timing a morning around if you are cooking.
Market day under the canopy. Worth timing a morning around if you are cooking.
Pagrabiņš, with its terrace built out over the Alekšupīte.
Pagrabiņš, with its terrace built out over the Alekšupīte.

Worth the drive

Strauss un kaza means ‘ostrich and goat’, and it means it. A farm restaurant outside town serving what the farm raises, with a tour from the owner if you ask. Ostrich tartare and goat are the things to order. Not a normal night out, which is the point.

Every apartment has a full kitchen, and between Celms maize in the morning and the market for the rest, some of the best meals here happen at your own table. Nobody pays us to be listed, and opening hours move with the season, so it’s worth a check before you set out.

Photographs

← All articles

Our Journal

More About Kuldīga