Walking around downtown Vilnius, you’ll find the kind of cuisines that are common to all big cities – from Ukrainian dumplings to Jewish bagels (born in Vilnius, by the way), from Sichuan stews to Peruvian pastries. But in the mish-mash of cultures and tastes you’ll find in Lithuania, the restaurants that stand out are those that create miracles out of the simplest products growing in people’s back yards. And more than that, the best restaurants the country has to offer have one uniting feature – they are seeking to re-imagine and revolutionize the country’s culinary heritage. With the majority of this year’s 30 Lithuania’s best restaurants serving their own exciting twist on Lithuanian cuisine, the country finally has something for discerning foodies to write home about.

Today, voting for the 30 best restaurants has started. This is the fourth time that the competition has been held. During a special event, the Good Food Academy of Lithuania, together with the main project partner – the tableware, cookware and home interior design brand Iittala – has announced the short list of restaurants from which over 100 members of the Good Food Academy will elect their 2019 favourites. The short list contains 60 restaurants from across Lithuania. This is clear evidence that the project has spread well beyond the boundaries of the capital city Vilnius, with 12 geographical locations throughout Lithuania represented in this year’s short list.

After concluding the votes of members of the Good Food Academy, for the third time in cooperation with the sponsor - the crockery and interior details brand iittala - an annual list of 30 Best Restaurants was drawn up, and the first ten were announced today at a special event at the Pirklių namai in Vilnius, at the event attended by many gastronomy professionals.

In the rating of 2017, the first place was granted to Gastronomika of chef Liutauras Čeprackas. The chef was delighted with the award, but at a distance. The award was quite unexpected to him, thus L. Čeprackas greeted all the guests of the event via direct connection on a screen from Spain. During the event, the award of Gastronomika was handed to the restaurant’s team delegated by L. Čeprackas by Rolandas Viršilas, CEO of the initiator of the project, UAB Švyturys-Utenos Alus.

The voting of the members of the Good Food Academy in the project “30 Best Restaurants” is over and this year’s list is already known. As from 2 June, every day (except for Sundays), on the project’s website and on the portal 15min.lt, the list of the best restaurants of 2017 will be revealed starting with place 30, and on 29 June, during a special event in Vilnius, the top five Lithuanian restaurants of this year will be announced.

While Lithuania votes in the Švyturys-initiated project “30 Best Restaurants 2017”, “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” were selected in April. New York-based restaurant Eleven Madison Park was selected to top the list. At the same time, a heated discussion has started about this year’s restaurant trends.

The project “30 Best Restaurants” has been launched for the second time in Lithuania. On this occasion, a shortlist of 60 restaurants was compiled by the Good Food Academy and announced in Stebuklai, a restaurant which was No. 1 in 2016, today in the morning. The shortlist is to be narrowed down to 30 best restaurants. Among them, there are as many as 22 new candidates.

In June and July, thirty best Lithuanian restaurants were ranked. Having aggregated the points given by the experts, the first place was awarded to the restaurant Stebuklai headed by chef Martynas Praškevičius. However, after a review of ratings by the experts of the Good Food Academy in terms of individual components, such as food, quality of service, ambience and beverage menu, some other restaurants are found to be the leading ones.

This evening, on 5 July, all 30 best Lithuanian restaurants were announced which were evaluated by over 100 members of Good Food Academy. The title of the best restaurant in the country was granted to the chef Martynas Praškevičius who heads the restaurant Stebuklai in Vilnius.