Almost everything (Gluten Free) I ate in Tallinn

Ok, so I am an absolute sucker for old cities and even more so for walled ones. Don’t ask me why, it’s just how my nerd shows up but needless to say, Tallinn and its old town with 800+ year-old towers and buildings has been my travel list for a long while now. This winter, or last week depending when you are reading this, I finally had the chance to check it out for myself and yup, totally worth it.

But this isn’t a travel story, it’s a how did I do eating post. And on that, from what I had researched and my time in neighboring Riga (Latvia) just before, I figured Celiac-safe gluten free eats wouldn't be easy but also not at all that hard — and to cut to the chase, that was exactly the vibe.

Not struggling to eat is wonderful and Tallinn offers that with a couple dedicated spots just outside the touristy old town, plenty of safe grocery store options all over, and many more delicious shared places that require the usual CC discussion to sort out. Not sure if it would feel as easy living there but for 2 days? I ate well.

My absolute favorite: Kohvik Vaffel should be my top pick — dedicated waffles done sweet and savory, bowls, smoothies! But sadly, they closed up forever just days after my visit. Hopefully someone will resurrect them and relocate the idea to a more touristy area with Celiac or non-celiac gluten free demand. So good!

So instead, I’ll plug Margherita Pizzeria & Trattoria. I know, pizza? But honestly this place was delicious enough that my Italian born travel companion was as much a fan as me (she ate normal stuff but was nice enough to compare my GF selections).

My first visit, I had the pasta bolognese which while obviously a GF pasta, was amazingly well done. My second time back, it was cold and rainy and a pizza just sounded perfect. Usually I shy away from pizza done in a shared oven but chatting with the server the night before, she explained that not only are they careful (GF is clearly a regular thing), they test their oven periodically. That alone was enough to make me curious and while it wasn’t the best I’ve had, or even the best on this trip, it was exactly what I needed and true to their word, no obvious issues.

Must have local touristy dish: I admit it, I did a terrible job at local eats here. Ok, I did get some potato dishes but not much else. However, I did do a whole lot of homework that I then skipped using.

So if you want the full tourist mode experience of sitting in a reeeeally old building, eating huge portioned, meat & potato meals delivered by people in costume, Olde Hansa seemed quite ready to work with allergies though they don’t come cheap. A little less touristy but still moderately upscale, Restaurant Pegasus and Rataskaevu 16 also looked intriguing but that I just didn’t make it to. Next time.

Dedicated essential stop: I should definitely also Kivi Paber Käärid here, which I did not eat at, as it’s fully dedicated and by all reviews, delicious. You’ll find Duck, Salmon, Pork Tenderloin alongside some lighter dishes. In hindsight, feel like I missed out but the night we had planned to go there, the extra trek in the rain just didn’t win out.

Other stops:

Tommi Grill was the first stop after the ride in on one of those “I need calories” moments that I tend to have travel days. On one hand, it was just a burger and fries, but at the same time, it was a GF safe burger and fries. Much needed happiness.

After almost two weeks living out of hotels, we booked a place with a small kitchen for Tallinn so I did breakfast in as much as out but did make it to 5Senses Tallinn the second day. I had a potato pancake with salmon caviar appetizer and a huevos rancheros, my friend had the Okonomiyaki (also GF) and if I ever make it back to Tallinn, I’m skipping the yogurt for their menu every morning.

Finally, I tried a few items from Healthy Sweets by Polina which is a dedicated bakery and done without added sugar. Everything looked amazing and was a nice treat but to be honest, if I’m indulging in a pastry, I want everything added, especially the sugar. Don’t get me wrong, things tasted nice, but not the same. Probably would have been best to stick with the breads and simpler treats but it was worth the experiment!

Grocery store options: There are a few markets right around Old Town, mostly different sized versions of a chain called Rimi. The express had a bit but Super has a lot and with our kitchen, I was able to switch from completely dining out to having fruit, veggies, breakfast, and lots of snacks in for a couple days. Can’t overstate how nice it is to have that, even just a decent mini fridge vs always having to step out.

Travel must knows: I took the bus into Tallinn and not much to report there. Heading out however, I was on the ferry to Helsinki which certainly had some GF marked items, and even the Burger King on board does GF buns, but Celiac-safe versions were less plentiful (BK suggested I skip it), at least in grab and go price points. There was however plenty of packaged snacks to tide me over so little reason to really dig in and figure out anything hot.

8/10. Easy enough for a visit but only a few dedicated spots and less Celiac-awareness than general GF understanding to stop it from being a 10/10

Visited: March 2026