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A cup of borscht next to a slice of brown bread.
Borscht at Moscow on the Hill.
Justine Jones

11 Underrated Restaurants to Explore in the Twin Cities

Semisecret spots for borscht, Cubanos, and pasteis de nata

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Borscht at Moscow on the Hill.
| Justine Jones

As exciting as it is to check out the newest restaurants around Minneapolis and St. Paul, there are certain neighborhood gems that anchor the dining landscape. For golden-fried arepas, tangy pani puri, or creamy pasteis de nata, look no further. Here are 11 great underrated restaurants worth returning to time and time again in the Twin Cities.

Note that these restaurants are listed geographically.

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El Cubano

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Tucked off Dodd Road in a residential area of St. Paul, El Cubano serves hot sandwiches, all toasted and pressed with butter. Try the eponymous Cubano, a layered masterpiece of roasted meat, tangy mustard, and pickles, served with yuca frita and a house mojito dip. (El Cubano serves entrees like Dominican-style red snapper or traditional Cuban bistec encebollado, too.) Don’t forget an order of the tostones.

Moscow on the Hill

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Moscow on the Hill is a St. Paul staple for Eastern European fare: Think pillowy deruny (Ukranian-style potato pancakes), borscht, chicken kiev, and neatly wrapped pelmeni served with a dollop of sour cream. The house infused vodkas — particularly the horseradish — are one of this restaurant’s specialties. There’s a big, leafy patio out back for when the weather’s good; otherwise, the main dining room, draped in rich red and gold fabrics, is one of St. Paul’s coziest.

Two potato pancakes on a white plate topped with sour cream and caramelized onions.
Ukranian-style potato pancakes at Moscow on the Hill.
Justine Jones

Zait & Za'atar: Mediterranean Dhaba

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Zait & Za’atar, a casual “Mediterranean dhaba” on Selby Avenue, marries Mediterranean and South Asian flavors. It’s a great place to fill up on fresh falafel, baba ghanoush, and juicy shawarma sandwiches and plates. But don’t overlook the chaat: crispy samosas, tangy pani puri dripping with tamarind, and vada doused in cool dahi.

Estelle

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Estelle pairs breezy Spanish and Portuguese dishes like patatas bravas, shrimp al ajillo, and beet escabeche with comforting Italian pastas. The pasteis de nata, a classic Portuguese egg tart, is a flawless sweet note at the end of the meal. Slip into the cozy adjoining bar for an herbaceous nightcap (think charred rosemary vodka, plum honey shrub, etc.).

A plate of grilled prawns and grilled baguettes next to a plate of shaved ham and grilled baguettes, with a cocktail on the table.
A spread from Estelle.
Estelle

Heather's

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Heather’s might be the perfect neighborhood restaurant. The brunch specials — like pineapple upside-down pancakes and classic croque-madames — are always a hit. For lunch and dinner, it rotates in specials that feel fresh and seasonal (think sweet corn polenta with roasted duck and blueberry chutney). The space is casual but bright, and usually filled with fresh-cut flowers. Cap off a meal with a stroll around nearby Lake Nokomis, and grab a noodle salad from the little deli counter on the way out.

Apoy serves traditional Filipino cuisine and a few original dishes of its own on Nicollet Avenue. Start with the classic lumpia or tender, caramelized tocino; the Shrimp Bicol Express pairs creamy coconut with piquant ginger in a tantalizing sauce. For dessert, the halo halo, a shaved ice medley of coconut, plantains, jackfruit, and sweetbeans, is the perfect dessert for a hot day (or a cold one, honestly).

Abi's Restaurant

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Chef Abi Baire takes inspiration from the women in her family — her grandmother, mother, and Aunt Maria — who’ve been cooking Salvadoran food for generations. She brought their time-tested recipes to Minneapolis in 2015, when she opened Abi’s Restaurant on Lyndale Avenue. The entire menu, which has everything from quesabirria to camarones a la plancha, is stellar, but the absolute musts are the flavor-packed pupusas. Mix and match the revueltas, the chicharrón con queso, and the queso con ayote.

A plate for rice, vegetables, salsa, and a long plantain on a bright striped table cloth.
Abi’s on Lyndale.
Abi’s Restaurant

Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine

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Peninsula is an Eat Street gem that serves Malaysian fare like tamarind fried fish and prawn sambal, but the can’t-miss dish here is the spicy golden tofu. This restaurant makes its tofu by hand — it’s cut into big, irregular hunks, fried to a perfect crisp but custardy and tender on the inside. Note that Peninsula is takeout only.

A black dish of fried tofu and vegetables.
Peninsula’s house-made tofu.
Justine Jones

Cafe Racer Kitchen

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Cafe Racer’s arepas — subtly sweet and soft on the inside, fried golden on the outside — are at the heart of this pared-down Latin American menu. For breakfast, they’re served with marmalade or kielbasa, or as a side to an omelet topped with bright salsa criolla and pico. For dinner, they’re a perfect complement to braised pulled pork or roasted chicken, and other sides like yuca frita and sweet plantains.

Yuca frita, an arepa, and shredded pork topped with sauce and purple onions on a white plate.
Don’t miss the cilantro aioli at Cafe Racer.
Cafe Racer

Korea Restaurant

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Nearly lost in the menagerie of PR-backed restaurants that populate Dinkytown, Korea Restaurant keeps quietly chugging along with a glorious assortment of bibimbap, bulgogi, and potstickers. Lunch is mayhem, but worth every second of wait time. Prepare for self-service and generous helpings, and don’t be shy to refill on the side dishes.

While Giulia is a hotel restaurant in sleepy downtown Minneapolis, it pretty much stands on its own. Giulia shares its vaulted space with the Emery’s lobby, but the hotel overlap stops there. The focus on northern Italian flavors are precise and spot-on — think virtually faultless ricotta meatballs, a play on arancini (here, named suppli) paired with apple, and maltagliati: homemade, silky ribbons of pasta with a tonkotsu-style Japanese stock that’s wildly flavorful.

A bowl of green noodles at Giulia.
A bright bowl of pasta at Giulia.
Giulia

El Cubano

Tucked off Dodd Road in a residential area of St. Paul, El Cubano serves hot sandwiches, all toasted and pressed with butter. Try the eponymous Cubano, a layered masterpiece of roasted meat, tangy mustard, and pickles, served with yuca frita and a house mojito dip. (El Cubano serves entrees like Dominican-style red snapper or traditional Cuban bistec encebollado, too.) Don’t forget an order of the tostones.

Moscow on the Hill

Moscow on the Hill is a St. Paul staple for Eastern European fare: Think pillowy deruny (Ukranian-style potato pancakes), borscht, chicken kiev, and neatly wrapped pelmeni served with a dollop of sour cream. The house infused vodkas — particularly the horseradish — are one of this restaurant’s specialties. There’s a big, leafy patio out back for when the weather’s good; otherwise, the main dining room, draped in rich red and gold fabrics, is one of St. Paul’s coziest.

Two potato pancakes on a white plate topped with sour cream and caramelized onions.
Ukranian-style potato pancakes at Moscow on the Hill.
Justine Jones

Zait & Za'atar: Mediterranean Dhaba

Zait & Za’atar, a casual “Mediterranean dhaba” on Selby Avenue, marries Mediterranean and South Asian flavors. It’s a great place to fill up on fresh falafel, baba ghanoush, and juicy shawarma sandwiches and plates. But don’t overlook the chaat: crispy samosas, tangy pani puri dripping with tamarind, and vada doused in cool dahi.

Estelle

Estelle pairs breezy Spanish and Portuguese dishes like patatas bravas, shrimp al ajillo, and beet escabeche with comforting Italian pastas. The pasteis de nata, a classic Portuguese egg tart, is a flawless sweet note at the end of the meal. Slip into the cozy adjoining bar for an herbaceous nightcap (think charred rosemary vodka, plum honey shrub, etc.).

A plate of grilled prawns and grilled baguettes next to a plate of shaved ham and grilled baguettes, with a cocktail on the table.
A spread from Estelle.
Estelle

Heather's

Heather’s might be the perfect neighborhood restaurant. The brunch specials — like pineapple upside-down pancakes and classic croque-madames — are always a hit. For lunch and dinner, it rotates in specials that feel fresh and seasonal (think sweet corn polenta with roasted duck and blueberry chutney). The space is casual but bright, and usually filled with fresh-cut flowers. Cap off a meal with a stroll around nearby Lake Nokomis, and grab a noodle salad from the little deli counter on the way out.

Apoy

Apoy serves traditional Filipino cuisine and a few original dishes of its own on Nicollet Avenue. Start with the classic lumpia or tender, caramelized tocino; the Shrimp Bicol Express pairs creamy coconut with piquant ginger in a tantalizing sauce. For dessert, the halo halo, a shaved ice medley of coconut, plantains, jackfruit, and sweetbeans, is the perfect dessert for a hot day (or a cold one, honestly).

Abi's Restaurant

Chef Abi Baire takes inspiration from the women in her family — her grandmother, mother, and Aunt Maria — who’ve been cooking Salvadoran food for generations. She brought their time-tested recipes to Minneapolis in 2015, when she opened Abi’s Restaurant on Lyndale Avenue. The entire menu, which has everything from quesabirria to camarones a la plancha, is stellar, but the absolute musts are the flavor-packed pupusas. Mix and match the revueltas, the chicharrón con queso, and the queso con ayote.

A plate for rice, vegetables, salsa, and a long plantain on a bright striped table cloth.
Abi’s on Lyndale.
Abi’s Restaurant

Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine

Peninsula is an Eat Street gem that serves Malaysian fare like tamarind fried fish and prawn sambal, but the can’t-miss dish here is the spicy golden tofu. This restaurant makes its tofu by hand — it’s cut into big, irregular hunks, fried to a perfect crisp but custardy and tender on the inside. Note that Peninsula is takeout only.

A black dish of fried tofu and vegetables.
Peninsula’s house-made tofu.
Justine Jones

Cafe Racer Kitchen

Cafe Racer’s arepas — subtly sweet and soft on the inside, fried golden on the outside — are at the heart of this pared-down Latin American menu. For breakfast, they’re served with marmalade or kielbasa, or as a side to an omelet topped with bright salsa criolla and pico. For dinner, they’re a perfect complement to braised pulled pork or roasted chicken, and other sides like yuca frita and sweet plantains.

Yuca frita, an arepa, and shredded pork topped with sauce and purple onions on a white plate.
Don’t miss the cilantro aioli at Cafe Racer.
Cafe Racer

Korea Restaurant

Nearly lost in the menagerie of PR-backed restaurants that populate Dinkytown, Korea Restaurant keeps quietly chugging along with a glorious assortment of bibimbap, bulgogi, and potstickers. Lunch is mayhem, but worth every second of wait time. Prepare for self-service and generous helpings, and don’t be shy to refill on the side dishes.

Giulia

While Giulia is a hotel restaurant in sleepy downtown Minneapolis, it pretty much stands on its own. Giulia shares its vaulted space with the Emery’s lobby, but the hotel overlap stops there. The focus on northern Italian flavors are precise and spot-on — think virtually faultless ricotta meatballs, a play on arancini (here, named suppli) paired with apple, and maltagliati: homemade, silky ribbons of pasta with a tonkotsu-style Japanese stock that’s wildly flavorful.

A bowl of green noodles at Giulia.
A bright bowl of pasta at Giulia.
Giulia

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