"I had a fantastic birthday dinner at Kachka. Two of our guests canceled at the last minute and the hostess was very kind about it and even managed to get us in 15 minutes early. A friend had dropped off flowers and a gift for me and they had them waiting for me on our table; the flowers in a nice vase. It was very cute. We don't drink so we had the sour plum lemonade and it was delicious! We were considering doing the zakuski experience but as we knew we weren't going to order entrees be decided to just order everything individually. We got a ton of food and it was all excellent. While I was most excited about the aestheticly pleasing herring under a fur coat, it was actually my least favorite. I just felt it needed some acid and spice so when I took the leftovers home I added lemon, horseradish, and pepper and it was fantastic. It's clearly just my preference since this is one of the most beloved dishes in Portland. It was by no means bad, just maybe too subtle for me. To me, the real knockouts are: The spectacular cod liver buterbrodi, rich cod liver buried under a zesty mountain of fresh grated horseradish and fresh dill. My favorite bite of the night. The Baltic sprat butterbodi, with smoky tiny fish with pickled onions and parsley mayo. It ticked all my boxes and was my favorite until I had the cod liver. The smoked trout roe with delicious buttery blini. This was the first thing we had and set the tone for the amazing meal ahead. The fish board with all smoked and cured fish. I loved them all but my husband's favorite was the smoked cod and mine was the mussels., THE BREAD! We got a bread board and I am still thinking about the bread now. The Siberian pelmeni; rich, savory little nuggets swimming in a pool of broth and topped with sour cream. We were too full to eat these but we took them home and they made a delicious lunch today. We also split the macerated berries and cream, which they delivered with a candle in it for my birthday. Amazing experience!"
