The calculation of the votes of the members of the Good Food Academy have shown that, this year, the list of the thirty restaurants of the project expanded to Druskininkai, and there the members were most attracted by a home of honestly prepared food called Velvetti, which has been in operation for the fifth year running.
IDEA.
Snieguolė and Remigijus have been together for 20 years. Harmony in the family, a tried business tandem and love for good, quality food brought the couple to the idea of a family restaurant. However, everything started with smaller ambitions.
The couple from Vilnius bought the former bank premises in one of the most popular resorts of the country and decided to use them to prepare the best coffee in town and pamper their visitors with desserts of the world. And they did their best to do that, visitors praised them, and soon the Žižiai family, without even noticing how that happened, started exploring not only coffee and confectionery...
BISTRO AND RESTAURANT.
During the day, i.e. after a plentiful breakfast until early evening, Velvetti operates as a bistro where you can get light, delicious and quality food. Offers of the day are mostly intended for visitors who are interested in a healthy lifestyle. However, in the evening, the restaurant’s kitchen exercises much more creative freedom and more often impresses with variations of dishes.
A big part of the dishes on the menu (made of meat, fish, cheese or mushrooms) is cooked on the stove, on fire, therefore, you can feel the smell of smoke in all of them. Another part of dishes is served freshly caught, picked or boiled.
CHEFS.
Owner Snieguolė works in the kitchen preparing fish dishes, cold snacks and desserts, while Remigijus is best at preparing meat, creating dishes roasted in the stove and the drink menu. They are helped by three cooks.
INGREDIENTS.
While establishing a family restaurant, the couple decided to support smaller farms as much as possible, therefore, their suppliers are mostly farmers operating in Dzūkija ethnographic region. For instance, the menu of Velvetti always includes dishes made of mutton received from farmer Gregorijus, while Ms Aldona supplies the restaurant with pumpkins. Strawberry-grower Vytas brings not only berries, but also nettles for ice-cream. Snieguolė and Remigijus also very well know grandmothers selling on the market of Druskininkai.
THE INTERIOR.
Long ago, a bookshop operated on the current territory of the restaurant, while later on, many different banks were opened and closed here. Snieguolė laughs saying that Velvetti perhaps is one of the safest places to eat not only in Druskininkai, but also in the entire Lithuania. The current restaurant’s kitchen is located in the room which used to house a money storage place. In fact, Remigijus removed a heavy metal door, however, the thickness of walls remains impressive – more than a meter from all sides.
The restaurant’s interior was created by owners themselves, however, the idea was elaborated with the help of architects. The modern style art deco was best suited to the restaurant’s vision of the Žižiai family.
