Humal BISTRO — Restaurant in Tartu linn

Plussed up bar fare that occasionally goes a little overboard.

This place has massively improved since opening. I went around when it opened (never a great idea I suppose) and it was overpriced and mediocre. Was convinced to give it another try and went for the third time last night.

Had buffalo wings, mussels with sourdough, kim chi fries, and the grilled bone marrow. The buffalo wings were spot on. Exactly what I would expect and were perfectly executed. The kim chi fries were also the best version I've ever had. Hand made fries make such a massive difference. The mussels also had an excellent sauce and were really nice with the bread (although could have used a little more bread). The bone marrow was the only dish that didn't quite land. It came with savory waffles, pickled onions, and a thick cream. The cream completely overpowered any flavor of marrow. The waffles, while quite tasty, were completely the wrong vehicle for the marrow as well. I decided to try the marrow with a little pickled onion on the sourdough and it was INCREDIBLE. The crunch and thickness of the sourdough is exactly what the marrow needed. Please throw the waffles and cream cheese in the trash and serve the marrow with sourdough. It's SO MUCH BETTER.

The mixed drinks were very nice and normally priced for Tartu (8.50ish each). The beer selection is lacking and overpriced unfortunately.

If you're looking for a nicer dinner with comforting high quality food then this is definitely the place. I'll most certainly be...

We went here because of the recommendations. They said in their website that their origins are in "pub culture". I'd say that is pretty far from the truth in the atmossphere, it was very clinical and clean and the music was the billboard top 200 hits only.

But this is a restaurant and not a bar so that did not bother that much. The service was bit slow, but friendly and the waitress did get few orders wrong but corrected them afterwards. We had to fetch drinks few times from the counter because we could not get service, so that is the minus one star.

But the foods were all great and the drink selection was good for a restaurant, some local craft beers, good wines and international drinks. We had very special but awesome ribs as appetrizer, lamb burgers were great but not terribly unique and carrot cake was really not a carrot cake but good...

Käisime päevapakkumist söömas. Toitu pidi ootama 30 minutit, mis on päevapakkumise kohta liiga pikk. Tööinimestele ei maksta lõunate eest palka ja raisata see 30 minutit on andestamatu. Igas teises Tartu restoranis tuuakse päevapakkumine lauda umbes 5 minutiga. Humalas läks sellest kuus korda rohkem aega. Tellisin Tom Kha suppi, mis peaks sisaldama endas kookospiima, kana (!), tomateid, seeni ja maitseaineid. Mis mulle toodi aga oli koorene kalasupp nuudlite, kookospiimaga, porgandiga, paprika jm. See ilmselgelt ei ole see, mida ma menüüst tellisin ja fakt, et kokk on niisuguse otsuse heaks kiitnud on naeruväärne. Täielik pettumus ja minu jaoks 7€ selle kogemuse eest maksta on absurd. Võtsin paar lusikatäit suppi ja siis aitas kah, ei suutnud rohkem. Tõenäoliselt enam sinna lõunale tagasi ei lähe. Pole esimene kord, kui Humalas pidi lõuna ajal pettuma.

Minu soovitused restorani omanikule (kui ta seda peaks lugema): Päevapakkumiste menüüs ei peaks olema 3+ erinevat rooga, kui neid ei suudeta piisavalt kiiresti valmistada. Kahandage see ühele (max kahele) roale. Teil on restoranis lõuna ajal tööl 5 teenindajat, kellest enamus lihtsalt passivad ringi. Lõuna vahetuses saaks tegelt ka ainult kahe teenindajaga hakkama. Vallandage või siis koolitage oma kokk välja. Fakt, et kokk ei teadnud, mis komponendid peaksid olema Tom Kha supis, oli täielik šokk ja näitab ainult inimese kompetentsi (või selle puudumist).

EDIT: omaniku kommentaar on õige, et menüüs oleks pidanud olema kirjas Tom Kha Pla. Kuid siiski, kui on kirjas ainult Tom Kha, siis pigem võib eeldada, et roog on tehtud kanaga. Kahju, et täpselt kirja ei pandud, oleks võinud kogu selle situatsiooni vältida. Muidu supis olid ka nuudlid ja porgand sees, mis minu teada ei ole osa Tai köögi võlust ja eripärast. Ju on tegemist kokkade nägemusega sellele supile (Lihtsalt mainin ka, et Humalas ei ole lõuna ajal nii palju rahvast, et neile ei saaks kiiremini toitu lauda tuua). Aitäh tööpakkumise eest, aga tundub, et teil on juba piisavalt töötajaid.

Muidu, kui omaniku kommentaar oleks olnud vähe inimlikuma lähenemisega, siis oleksin oma arvustust restoranist muutnud. Eksimine on inimlik ja ega need arvustused pole kaugeltki püsivad. Sain halva kogemuse ja andsin teada. Kahjuks aga tagasiside kinnitas restoranist tekkinud eelarvamust, millest on iseenesest kahju. Omaniku vastusele vaatamata loodan, et Humalal läheb ikkagi tulevikus hästi! Olgu see siis Tom Kha, Tom Kha Pla või Tom Kha Gai.

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