The Seaside Cafe Metropolis

In this comic novel about drawing warmth from food and company, a Canadian restaurateur, trapped in Soviet Lithuania with his staunchly socialist mother, navigates the repressive communist regime while opening a fashionable bohemian restaurant — while KGB spies listens in from the basement.

“Antanas Sileika has invented a new genre: the culinary picaresque. Throw in the Cold War, dissident shenanigans, an ideologue mother, knife-fighting love story, iron curtain Bohemians, and more than half a dozen traditional and innovative Lithuanian recipes and you get a sense of the many flavors Sileika blends to perfection in this sad, funny, insightful, propulsive banquet of a novel. This is a rare dish served by a master chef.”

“A delicious peek into the world of spies, artists and food at the fringes of the Soviet Union. Sileika’s prose is wry and wise, and conjures up a place and time that glimmers like a bittersweet memory.”

Reluctant Canadian restaurateur Emmet Argentine is stuck in Khrushchev-era Vilnius, Lithuania, trapped under the tyranny of two equally formidable forces — the Soviet Union, and his staunchly socialist mother.

Raised in the kitchens of Toronto’s Royal York Hotel, Emmet’s talent for hospitality catches the attention of a high-ranking architect, who hires Emmet to helm a magnificent new restaurant. The Seaside Café Metropolis, though located neither by the sea nor in a major metropolitan area, aspires toward elegance without pretention, bohemianism without vulgarity. Evading the repressive communist regime through guile, wit, and charm, Emmet assembles the menu and the staff to create a sophisticated and atmospheric fine dining experience in the heart of the Soviet Union — all while KGB operatives listen in on the restaurant from the basement.

• | Author: Antanas Sileika
• | Publisher: Cormorant Books,Canada
• | Publication Date: Sep 27, 2025
• | Number of Pages:
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• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781770868106
• | ISBN-10: 1770868100