With its sleek modern decor and simple affordable cuisine, Vilnius' Gusto Blynine always had every chance of developing into a chain, so I wasn't surprised that there were 3 more restaurants in 2012 than when I previously visited Lithuania's capital in 2008 and I imagine it won't take them all that long to conquer the streets of Kaunas, Klaipeda and Palanga too.
The location of their first cafe was either very well thought out or incredibly fortunate, one of the most affordable places near the Gate of Dawn, a tourist sight that the visiting Poles are absolutely smitten with and guess what? The same tourists can't get enough of pancakes either, which just happens to be the staple of Gusto Blynine's menu.
Serving pancakes is pretty hard to get wrong, so as long as they maintain their affordable prices and keep using popular fillings then they've little to worry about. The said fillings tend to be fruity, chocolatey or creamy, orange marmalade and a variety of berries are all popular choices, I'm not much of a pancake lover but you could tell that they weren't using the cheapest ingredients and as long as you've got a sweet tooth, then I'm sure you'll like it. A range of tea, coffee, hot and cold drinks are on offer as well as cakes.
The branch on Laisves Prospektas also serves up pizzas, I've not tried them but the prices are certainly very appealing. More interestingly all of the branches have begun serving quick snacks to go, an example is a piece of dark bread with cream cheese, salmon and ruccola, this generally costs under 2 litas (40p) and whilst it's not up my street, I can see what they are going for.
The fast, friendly, efficient and multi-lingual staff are a major bonus, as is the general cleanliness of the place, the toilets are sparkling clean and I found the posters inside to be rather interesting. For a decent breakfast including coffee, you are looking at around 10 litas (£2.40) which is great value considering the touristy location.
Full of gusto
