Indrek Kõverik

Dining with Indrek Kõverik is not for the faint hearted, but for anyone looking for the ultimate culinary adventure then this could be the place to go.

One of the earliest exponents of nose to tail cookery, here you’ll find everything from udders to pigs ears to genitals on the menu. 

He is also passionate about the rarely used lampreys – an ugly looking fish with a sucker-like mouth which it attaches to other creatures.

Despite their appearance however they are delicious, often compared to squid. They may have fallen out of fashion but not with Indrek who goes through an incredible 1.2 tonnes of them a year.

Then again Indrek is no ordinary chef. While many people in his chosen industry say they want the perfect work/life balance, he has found an unusual solution – by opening a restaurant in his home.

Voka welcomes visitors where they’ll dine on everything from seal to beaver – using a method of cooking that he describes as Cuisine De Crucifixtion.

And before anyone suggests this might be blasphemy, it actually reflects the chef’s ingenious way of getting round the restrictions that came into place during Covid.

Next to his home is small black church with red horns, where you can find an altar with a painting depicting Leonard, a demon from the 16th century chronicles, who cooks the Holy Supper of offal and aborted goat lambs for other demons.

The church was built by Indrek as a half-joking protest against the law during the corona pandemic, where churches were allowed to keep their doors open, but restaurants were not.

As well as Voka, Indrek also runs the Franzia restaurant in Narva-Jõesuu, where again offal is a staple ingredient on the menu.

“I’ve stayed true to doing my own thing,” he said.

“ I am a native country boy and have been since my youth besides, for example, skinning the animal and cleaning the intestines to make sausage has been my daily routine.

“ I understand that not all chefs have the space, the time, or the direct desire to deal with this so- called bloodier side of cooking.”’

Pushing the boundaries is certainly nothing new for Indrek, and one of his dreams is to cook a wolf.

“For several years now, I’ve been hoping that I’ll get a wolf that’s checked by hunters and suitable for cooking, but so far I’ve had no luck,” he said.

It is his home eatery that now takes up his time and is undoubtedly his main passion. “I wouldn’t want to directly call this business a restaurant.

It is more like something that is a culinary entertainment and learning centre,” he said.

“Voka is my life’s work and mission, the goal of which is culinary development and the

sustainable continuation of cooking as my hobby and fun.”