The Grey Peas Pilgrimage

Earthy grey peas tumbled with crispy fried bacon and golden onion - Latvia's national dish, humble and warming, traditionally washed down with a glass of cold buttermilk.

Example Extreme Day Trip:🛫 From London Stansted💰 From £30 return⏱ 2h 50m flightShare to WhatsApp

Why this dish?

Pelēkie zirņi ar speķi - grey peas with bacon - is as plain-spoken as a national dish gets: large, nutty, slightly firm grey peas boiled tender, then mixed with plenty of crisply fried speķis (fatty bacon) and onion. Salt, pepper, maybe a little of the bacon fat to bind it. Traditionally you drink kefir or buttermilk alongside. It's the taste of a Latvian winter and a Latvian Christmas, eaten for centuries.

This isn't a dish you'll find dressed up - it's home cooking, and that's the appeal. Riga is the catch: a strikingly beautiful Baltic capital with the densest collection of Art Nouveau architecture in Europe, a huge market in old Zeppelin hangars, and prices that make the longer flight worth it. Fly in, eat grey peas and bacon in a cellar tavern with a local beer, wander the Art Nouveau streets, and fly home having been somewhere most people never reach.

Our Picks

Folkklubs Ala Pagrabs

Address: Peldu iela 19, Riga
What to order: Pelēkie zirņi ar speķi (grey peas with bacon), and a Latvian craft beer; maybe a shot of Riga Black Balsam to finish.
Book ahead: Worth booking - small and popular.
Pro tip: Try the famously bitter Riga Black Balsam - an acquired taste, but the local rite of passage.

Central Market (Centrāltirgus)

Nēģu iela 7, Riga

Stalls inside the old Zeppelin hangars serve Latvian classics cafeteria-style - cheap, authentic, and a great place to people-watch.

What to order: Grey peas and other Latvian classics; graze the market and try smoked fish and rye bread.

Good to know

Grey peas are firmer and earthier than green peas - that texture is normal. Buttermilk or kefir is the traditional chaser. Riga Black Balsam is the local herbal liqueur, intensely bitter - brave a small one. The Art Nouveau district (Alberta iela) and the Central Market are highlights; the old town is compact and walkable.

Your day plan