Cafe in Palanga Armenian cuisine "Armeniska virtuve"
Armenian cuisine cafe "Armeniska virtuve” is located in the center of Palanga, J. Basanaviciaus street. The caef is open every day all year round.
We offer visitors to taste traditional Armenian dishes. From a large menu you can choose the courses that suits your taste best.
We invite you to a cozy cafe to spend time with your friends, family or business partners. In summertime you can join outdoor cafe and indoor cafe hall inside the building. In wintertime you are welcome to visit our indoor area.
You can watch sport and entertainment events in flat screen TV.
About Armenian cuisine
Armenian cuisine is one of the oldest in the world. Already in 9th BC, cooking food on open fire became a tradition in the Ancient Urartia. Later, in 6-1st BC, this way of preparing food was continuously enhanced and perfected in the Armenian Kingdom that spread its borders from the Caspian to the Mediterranean. Moreover, Armenians are held to be one the oldest wine-makers. They are the only ones who managed to preserve the oldest kinds of grapes that were planted as long ago as Urartia’s history goes — white Khardzhi, Mskhali, Ararti and red Areni. Some historians even claim that Armenians were the ones who invented grape cognac - home-made vodka made of grapes or berries.
Up until now Armenians cultivate a lot of sesame - its nutritious oil is still used a lot in cooking. Traditional Armenian cuisine is rich in vegetables, beans, fruit and berries. Since long ago Armenians use more than 300 various herbs, spicing food and thus making it unbelievably tasty and juicy. The most common and traditional Armenian courses are bosbash and khash, kyufta and dholma, grilled and boiled fish, boiled chicken, plov and, of course, mutton khorovats. We chose the tastiest and most typical Armenian courses, desserts and drinks to treat you. Our strongest recommendation would be to try khorovats – the traditional Armenian steak grilled on open fire. Moreover, all of our food tastes great because we cook it in traditional Armenian ovens. Also, just for the record, Armenians never cooked, cook, and will never cook shashlyks. In Tatar, "shysh lyk" means "steak on a skew". This name was widely used by the ancient inhabitants of Zaporozhye and, later on, by Russian chefs. Usually, shashlyk meat is marinated in vinegar that dries the meat out and destroys all of its nutritious juices. In the Muslim world, meat on a skew is called "kebab", and minced meat on a skew is called "lyulyakebab".
Armenians, on the opposite, marinate khorovats meat only dry-style - that is, using a lot of mountain herbs that, when grilled, make the meat juicy, soft and full of superb taste and aroma. Grilling on open fire can take some time. This is why we recommend you to try our traditional Armenian salads and appetizers, enjoy Caucasian wine or cognac while your khorovats is being prepared. Our chef uses only the freshest and organic products to cook. We do not use ketchups or dressings - we make all sauces ourselves so that to serve you only with the best, the tastiest, and the healthiest. At Ararat, it is also possible to order a reception or a dinner with traditional Armenian courses and the Khash soup - due to its healing powers this soup helps to recover even from hangover! To cook it, the special beef meat is marinated and soaked for four days. After that, the soup is cooked for the whole night to be served in the morning after a big party or celebration, when one needs to gain his/her strength back.
Try it, enjoy it, and come visit us again!