Recent history spiced with pepper

City Grill House is located in the heart of Tallinn at the hotel of the shipping company Tallink. This house was built in 1974 as a service house, where a city dweller was supposed to access all services under one roof. Along with the end of the Soviet Union, this concept also collapsed. Later Tallink built a hotel here, which quickly got tired from frequent use. But a recent overhaul has turned it into a stately design hotel.

City Grill House is almost intended as a continuation of ship restaurants on land, even some dishes are the same as those served on ships. There is one dish particularly suitable for eating here, as the story behind it is similar to the story of the building. That dish is pepper steak. The most significant number of visitors to Tallinn have always come from Finland. At the turn of the century, the most popular dish in Finnish restaurants was the same pepper steak. Estonian restaurants began to offer it here to attract Finns. Only the quality did not come close to what was offered in Finland. 

It took a while, but we got there eventually. Pepper steak at City Grill House now tastes like recent history seasoned with pepper. It is worth coming here from nearby or from far away.