When I was in
Riga in February, I booked a walking tour on Riga's Old Town. I didn't book a private tour, but I ended up getting one anyway - I can only assume everyone else chickened out because of the ungodly weather - but 'twas just me and my lovely guide Inga wandering round the gorgeous Old Town for a couple of ours In that time she many many things relating to the history and culture of Latvia, but one thing she said stuck with me above all else I learnt on that tour. She told me 'we Latvians love our pastries'. Now THAT is a cultural statement I can get behind!
Earlier that day, I'd visited
Bakeberry, somewhere that was on my radar for it's impressive array of pretty cakes. Though to my surprise, it wasn't one of these complex, highly decorated and beautiful looking concoctions that grabbed my attention,....
...but a comparatively simple Coconut Pastry.
There could be a couple of reasons for this decision. For example, the pricing structure that put this flakey, buttery, coconutty delight at a mere E0.75 cannot be ignored.
But I think the main this was I couldn't consider a cake that wold in any where interfere with the enjoyment of my frankly magical hot chocolate!
There's no mistake - THIS was the star of the show. The bitterly cold weather had left craving something both warming and comforting, and this was it in spades! So it seemed obvious that my accompanying food chose should be something that complemented, not competed with, the extravaganza that was my beverage.
Still, much as I am sure I made the right decision on the day it was a shame to not indulge in some of their sweeter, fancier options. But worry not, this was not my only opportunity for overly sugary goodies!
Possibly my favourite of the cafe's I stumbled across in Riga was the
Fat Cat Eklernica. Yup, that's an eclair cafe. A cafe full of eclairs. Lots of different flavours and fillings of eclairs.
Eclair's aside for the moment, Fat Cat is just a beautifully cosy and cheerful little spot, with really lovely service - the lass behind the counter was more than happy to offer recommendations.
So based on her suggestion, I settled down in a snug corner with my dulce de leche eclair and a nice cup of earl grey. Heaven!
This is almost the opposite of my Bakeberry set up - the eclair was sooo sweet that anything fancier than a plain brew would have been way too much, but as it is this combo was perfection.
I did of course hit up a couple of other cakey spots in Riga - I needed to make sure I got out of the cold every so often just so the blood didn't freeze in my veins - but this pair were my favourites, as well as the only two my hands stopped shaking long enough to get pictures in! I might have to make a return visit in better weather to do them all proper justice!
