First founded in 1980 as a German-language wine magazine in Austria, Falstaff International launched in 2021 as a hedonistic lifestyle publisher featuring a hotel guide, restaurant guide, and various drinks guides. Falstaff Nordic is the most recent geographical expansion of the publishing house, replacing the White Guide Nordic, which published Estonian restaurant recommendations for the past seven years.
Falstaff does not follow the same path as other restaurant guides. While the restaurant rating system is similar to that of the White Guide — both rate restaurants on a 100-point system — Falstaff stands out as it has a team of Falstaff Club members in addition to professional reviewers. These people have a lifestyle where they often visit restaurants and hotels. The mathematical average of the scores given by all the reviewers makes up the final score for each restaurant. A maximum of 50 points can be awarded for food, 20 for service, 20 for drinks, and 10 for ambiance.
A total of 154 places to eat in Estonia made the 2024 Falstaff Guide. Every county in the country is represented in the guide by at least one restaurant, meaning you'll never have to go far for a quality meal.
According to the guide, these are the top five restaurants in Estonia:
- 180° Degrees by Matthias Diether with 97 points.
- NOA Chef's Hall with 96 points.
- Pädaste Manor Restaurant Alexander, Maidla Resort Restaurant SOO, and Fotografiska Tallinn with 94 points.
Tallinn restaurants with over 90 points
Tartu restaurants with over 80 points
Saaremaa restaurants with over 80 points
Pärnu restaurants with over 80 points
West Estonia restaurants with over 80 points
Viljandi restaurants with over 80 points
In addition, Falstaff handed out several special awards. Silver Saa from Lahepere Villa took home chef of the year and La Cucina di Orm Oja received an award for best service.
"Falstaff is expanding geographically at a tremendous rate. Falstaff is present in one way or another in over 50 countries... [and] about three million people view Falstaff's media channels monthly," said Aivar Hanson, Falstaff Nordic's editor-in-chief.
"Falstaff brings coverage and recognition to Estonia's hospitality industry on a much larger scale than before [with the White Guide]," he added.
A guide to Estonian hotels will be released in spring 2024.
