Ready for the next hot culinary travel destination? For pink soup and herring, put the Baltic state of Lithuania on your to-go list. The restaurant scene is heating up with new choices that pay tribute to the country’s unique food heritages, many drawn from Scandinavian and Central European traditions and recipes. Dishes made from beetroots, potatoes and mushrooms are particularly popular, while experimentation with classic recipes has become a national pastime in the burgeoning restaurant landscape.

Taste for yourself at Monte Pacis, where the path to the door winds through an avenue of 34 lemon trees. Located on the edge of Kaunas, the restaurant can be found within the 17^th-century Pažaislis Monastery. The menu features local meats and cheeses, fruits and vegetables from local organic farms, and faraway specialties such as kangaroo meat. At Momo Grill in the seaport town of Klaipeda, steaks and seafood reign; at Sweet Root in Vilnius, local is law, and the menu is created from area foods including gooseberries, Northern pike, chard and potatoes.

While most evident in cities including Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda, the trend is popping up in rural areas including Dzukija. Here, local favorites include wild mushrooms, forest honey and bandos, a pie made from mashed potatoes baked in dried cabbage leaves in a brick oven and finished by simmering in a rich meat stock. Don’t miss local beverages such as Zool’s Tears, a single-malt moonshine.