POSITION IN THE TOP 30. This is the debut of the Top 30. Having opened more than a year ago, Selfish quickly gained liking of the visitors and the members of the Good Food Academy, and when you get to know the restaurant better, there are no questions why it happened.
RESTAURANT’S STORY BRIEFLY. Selfish is a family restaurant, the idea of which was brought by Vainiai from Europe's coasts. There, the oysters and mussels are not a part of the luxurious restaurant menu, but a popular daily snack. „Hooked“ on this idea, Renatas and his wife Ingrida started to combine their work trips (at that time they had a transport business) with gastronomic trips more often. In the long run, they started having more connections, and after selling their vehicles, for eight months Vainiai family completely devoted themselves to the restaurant topic – they visited farms and related exhibitions. As the result, Selfish opened its doors last winter in the capital’s Vilnius street.
RESTAURANT’S UNIQUENESS. This is the only fish and seafood restaurant that brings its sea products without intermediaries, directly from farms: oysters from Ireland and France, tuna from Spain, sea snails from France, mussels from the Netherlands, etc. Even wine is imported independently from France and Italy (by the way, Selfish is the only representative of Hostomme champagne in Lithuania). This allows to maintain good prices and fulfill the idea - seafood is not part of luxury, but a delicious and healthy daily choice.
BRIEF MENU. After taking over the kitchen, chef Tadas Vibrantis immediately set up his order - he refused to use the modern devices that the owner had already prepared for him: „The pan and the pot are the main tools creating the Selfish menu. There are no circulators, vacuum cookers, or even grills. I'm proud that we chose classical techniques and simple serving to fulfill our ideas “. In this excessive century, it is definitely very noticeable and, it seems, customers tend to accept and like it.
As for the a la carte itself, the seafood lovers will be overwhelmed here with options of mussels prepared in 6 ways, various tuna combinations (tataki, tartar, steak) to seafood stew, red royal crab, scallops, caviar, sea snails, herring, cod etc. Of course, there are also oysters - some types that you will not find anywhere else in Lithuania. Last year (during incomplete year of operation), Selfish sold about 45,000 of them!
NEWS. The Selfish bistro opened recently at Gourmet Panorama, a gourmet house in the Panorama shopping center. By the way, Vainiai have also their bar called „Jūros bjaurybės“ at Uptown Bazaar in Naujamiestis.
CULINARY HITS. Oysters (sentinelle and ostra regal) – 3 Eur, mussels a la mariniere – 12 Eur, Thai mussels – 15 Eur.
TEAM. After opening of the Selfish, the whole family became involved: Renatas himself was standing at the bar and opening the oysters, wife Ingrida was in charge of administrative questions, daughter Gabija Monika was doing marketing work, and another daughter – Kamilė Liucija – was serving the customers. Now, Renatas and Kamila Liucija spend most of their time there. And the bistro’s chef Tadas Vibrantis came from Kaunas-located Režisierius restaurant. Prior to that, he had been working in various restaurants in London for about 7 years and studied culinary at the Kingsway College in Westminster.
SPACE. Everything is much simpler here than in many other restaurants. Casual environment, without any unnecessary glamor (even without tablecloths), does not oblige and invites you to relax. And still, in Renatas opinion, Selfish is more sophisticated than it was in the initial visions: „I thought we would be closer to the marketplace concept, but having discovered these premises on Vilniaus street, we became a bistro“.
