This is a restaurant of two stars of gastronomy in Lithuania – kitchen chef Egidijus Lapinskas and one of the best wine experts in Lithuania, Arminas Darasevičius. In fact, this is not their first restaurant – together, they manage the restaurant Time, which was included among the best restaurants in Lithuania last year, as well as Somm and Rise, which have been included among the best this year in the context of this project.
DINNER.
Even though Egidijus still manages the kitchens of all restaurants, each kitchen has its own local chef, and they call E. Lapinskas “chef-patron”. Now, he supervises the work of all teams only in part. Thus, in Dine, the menu is created by Žilvinas Laurinėnas, with the tasting approval of Lapinskas.
By a joint decision of the chefs, this year, a la carte in this restaurant has become fully fixed. Now, the menu includes dishes, which have been elaborated to a slightest detail, and the basis of the dishes is seafood, fish and meat. Any of the dishes on the menu would be replaced by the team only in case they created something better. Certainly, like in the majority of restaurants, the main menu is supplemented with micro-seasonal goods of nature.
Besides, as is usual for a restaurant of such a level, almost everything – from sauces and butter to freshly baked bread – is produced on the spot. Here, they even smoke meat. By the way, Egidijus and his team started doing that more than 5 years ago, when this trend, globally, was just about to start.
The menu of Dine does not represent a single cuisine or one culinary school. In the menu, you can find elements of French, Japanese and Italian cuisines. However, everything is processed in the imagination of E. Lapinskas and the restaurant’s chef Ž. Laurinėnas, elaborated to the detail and served for visitors to make a decision.
THE INTERIOR.
Dine, which has become liked by residents and guests of Vilnius rapidly, is located in two rooms: one room is light and full of mirrors, while the other is of elegant brown colour and dim. Thus visitors can choose a room to enjoy food according to their taste and mood.
BUSINESS LUNCH.
Dine offers business lunch which, during working days, attracts visitors from neighbouring companies, ministries, law firms and embassies. Sometimes, especially in summer, tourists drop in here, too. This is not surprising at all, because the restaurant is located in the very centre of Vilnius! Even though the restaurant offers the lunch of the day, which is served quicker than the usual dinner, however, this lunch, too, requires relaxation and invites you not to hurry and enjoy the tastes. The price for the lunch of the day – EUR 15.
WINE LIST.
There is no doubt that the wine list is corresponding in a place where the numerous-time champion of sommeliers in Lithuania and the president of the Association of Sommeliers of Lithuania works. In fact, it is possible to state that Dine has one of the strongest, if not the strongest, wine lists in the entire Lithuania. Here, you can find wines from all over the world and wines of the most various sorts and ageing. In this restaurant, even the pickiest customers find what they are looking for. The price for a bottle of wine here starts with EUR 25 and goes up to EUR 700.
One of the highlights of this season – combinations of wine and desserts. According to Arminas, for many visitors, this is a unique and unusual experience. He says that choosing wine to go alongside a dessert allows you to understand the possible impact of wine on tastes of food.
INTERESTING.
Even though this restaurant is a “fine dining” place, where the service and the content of plates are impeccable, for a long time, there were no tablecloths there. However, the owners noticed that some visitors miss that. Thus the white room, which is more often used for special occasions, has tablecloths since this summer. Still, Egidijus and Arminas do not like white tablecloths, therefore, they have chosen a radically different colour of fabric.
