Latvia's national dish: large grey peas slow-cooked with cubes of fatty bacon, sour cream and onion, traditionally eaten with kefir and rye bread alongside.
Grey peas (Pisum sativum var. arvense) have been grown across Latvia since the medieval Hanseatic era and were codified as the national dish during the first independence period 1918 to 1940. The grey-pea variety thrives in Latvia's short, cool summers and sandy soils. The dish anchored peasant winter eating with its high protein content, the bacon adding fat for the long Baltic winters. Today's restaurants serve it both as a Christmas-table staple and a year-round national-identity dish.
5 editor picks for Pelēki zirņi ar speķi (grey peas with bacon) in Riga, ranked by editorial score. All Riga signature dishes · Pelēki zirņi ar speķi (grey peas with bacon) across every city.
Milda ★ 4.5
vecriga · Grēcinieku iela 26, Rīga, LV-1050
Milda on Grēcinieku in Old Town holds a Bib Gourmand for great-value traditional Latvian and Lithuanian cooking, named for the figure atop the Freedom.
Folkklubs ALA Pagrabs ★ 4.4
vecriga · Peldu iela 19, Rīga, LV-1050
Folkklubs ALA Pagrabs sits in a historic wine cellar below Peldu in Old Town, pouring 32 taps of Latvian beer and cider with folk music five nights a week.
Pētergailis ★ 4.2
vecriga · Skārņu iela 25, Rīga, LV-1050
Pētergailis has worked the Old Town corner between St. John's and St. Peter's churches since 1978, cooking traditional Latvian dishes with mostly Latvian.
LIDO Atpūtas Centrs ★ 4.0
centraltirgus-maskavas · Krasta iela 76, Rīga, LV-1019
LIDO Atpūtas Centrs on Krasta is the flagship of the Latvian buffet chain, a wooden-castle complex serving freshly cooked Latvian classics from open counters.
LIDO Vērmanītis ★ 3.9
centrs · Elizabetes iela 65, Rīga, LV-1050
LIDO Vērmanītis on Elizabetes is the central Riga branch of the Latvian buffet chain, plating classics from a hot counter beside the Vērmanes park.