World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Helsinki  - Food and Drink
Food and Drink

Wedged between Sweden and Russia, Finnish cuisine is a mélange of these two styles with some of its own particular flavours thrown in for good measure. Finns tend to follow the seasons with their cuisine. In the summer, the markets are full of fresh, locally grown produce - including the Helsinki speciality of crayfish - while the autumn brings mushrooms and game meats, and spring, small sweet potatoes. Firm staples throughout the year include meat, potatoes, fish, milk, butter and rye. Salmon is one of the most popular mainstays, and is used for making soup, grilled, fried or made in the Helsinkian version of sushi, wrapped around new potatoes. Roasts, diced meat, pork chops, mince and speciality sausages are also firm favourites.

Most Finns eat their main meal at lunchtime (1230-1430), when restaurants (ravintola) accordingly have specials from about FIM35. In the evening, most Finns will eat in their family homes from 1800-2000, although if dining out, most will eat somewhere between 2000 and 2200. For more informal dining, baari and kahvila serve less expensive options. Service charge and sales tax are included in the advertised price. The main eating districts are all centrally located, with most congregating either around or on the streets off the Esplanadi, Bulevardi and Mannerheimintie.

Restaurants

For an unsurpassable gastronomic experience, head to the Restaurant Savoy (tel: (09) 176 571). Its award-winning chef, Jaakko Nuutila, uses Finland's finest ingredients to produce an exceptional menu, including dishes like roe of vendace with pancakes of rye and potato and fried fillet of reindeer served with chanterelle mille-feuille. The views from the eighth floor of Helsinki's Esplanadi, Etelaesplanadi 14, and the setting, still kept to Alvar Aalto's original 1937 style, make it a must-stop for any Epicurean; prices start from FIM370 for four courses. Architectural Oriental-Finnish fusion food complements the designer interiors at Soup, Mannerheimintie 8 (tel: (09) 278 2700); prices are from FIM130 for two courses. The bar is also a hangout for the 'in' crowd.

For a total Finnish experience, country-style, whoop it up at the Zetor, the 'Tractor Restaurant' at Mannerheimintie 3-5 (tel: (09) 666 966), run by a local rock group, the Leningrad Cowboys. Experience homemade ale, food, dancing and rock 'n' roll Finnish-style. Seafood is the speciality at Kukko&Kala (Rooster and Fish), Simonkatu 8 (tel: (09) 685 9660), and it is all freshly-caught. House recommendations include the salmon soup (FIM68), Arctic char with saffron sauce and root vegetable hash (FIM98). Otherwise, the Havis Amanda (named after the city's mermaid mascot), is the most established seafood restaurant in Helsinki, Unioninkatu 23 (tel: (09) 666 882). Specialities here include mousse of smoked whitefish (FIM82) or smoked perch and potato terrine flavoured with lemon (FIM145). For Russian-style seafood in an intimate restaurant, Babushka Ira (Grandmother Irina), Uudenkatu 28 (tel: (09) 680 1405), has a reasonably priced menu - and everything, including the waiters and the dainty gold-rimmed teacups, is Russian. Expect to pay about FIM200 for two courses in the evening. If Helsinki is as close to Russia as you are ever going to get, sample some of Russia's finest dishes at Saslik, Neitsytoplku 12 (tel: (09) 348 9700). It offers themed dining rooms, live music and truly sumptuous food.

For something different, like a fresh reindeer steak for FIM180, try the Lappish restaurant Lappi, Annakatu 22 (tel: (09) 645 550), which specialises in cuisine from Lapland.

To enjoy a light, informal snack, the kauppahalli (covered market) on Eteläranta has stalls selling pizza slices and grills like hotdogs and burgers; it is open until 2000 in the summer months. Another market option is the kauppatori (fish market in Market Square), which has delicious fish cakes, huge salmon steaks from FIM30, cheap snacks and fresh produce.

With a heavily meat-weighted diet, vegetarians will be pleased to know that Helsinki has two veggie options. The Tempura, Mikonkatu 2 (tel: (09) 627 063), is open for lunch only (from FIM30). For an evening meal, head to Kasvisravintola, Korkeavuorenkatu 3 (tel: (09) 179 021), open nightly until 2000.

Cafés

The café culture, on account of the Finns' ferocious consumption of caffeine, is alive and thriving in Helsinki. Opened in 1861, one of the most reputed cafes is also its oldest, Café Ekberg, Boulevardi 9. Its pastries are the most revered in town. To try out korvapuusti, the traditional Helsinkian sweet roll loaded with sugar and cinnamon, try Café Success, Korkeavuorenkatu 2. Choose from over 100 coffees at Robert's Coffee Garden, Kanavakatu 5, which is a 'gourmet roastery' churning up grounds on the spot. To step back in time to a more refined atmosphere, the Tamminiementie Kahvila, Tamminiementie 8, is set in an old manor house. Here the coffee is bottomless. To sip a coffee by the seaside, Café Ursula, Ehrenstromintie 3, is a great place to simply watch the world go by.



Copyright © 2001 Columbus Publishing
    
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