Ateljé Finne

5 years ago we had some 40 minutes to kill before the beginning of our wedding ceremony. So we decided to pop into Ateljé Finne for a glass of sparkling. The brunch time was already over, and there were still couple of hours until the dinner time, so in theory the restaurant was closed. But luckily there were the Madventures guys Riku and Tunna having a very long brunch with their friends, so we could also stay for a while. The sommelier asked "whose big day is it?". "Ours", we replied. "Then it's on the house", he said.

Yesterday, on our 5th anniversary, we decided to return. Well, we have been there with friends, together and separately, during these 5 years - but not just two of us.

It's probably partly nostalgia, but I like Finne a lot. The place is really a former studio of sculptor Gunnar Finne, and some of his pieces are still present at the restaurant. And the food... oh! I guess the food could be categorized as modern scandinavian. I'd say it's rustic fine-dining, made of really high quality seasonal ingredients. And if you you happen to be served by the sommelier, he'll introduce you the most beautiful wines that match perfectly with the dishes.

I had a steak tartare for starter. I've never eaten tartare before, but Finne is one of the only places I dare to have that. And it was delicious. Not yucky at all, but fresh, salty and sour at the same time. As the main course I had a fish cake made of lightly smoked fish, nettles and fresh peas - and it was fantastic. In places like Finne it's ok to have meat, you won't be disappointed - but the fish dishes are just so phenomenal, that shame on you if you miss the fish. The dessert I had is the classic of Finne: licorice créme brûlée. There are very few sweets I like, but this one was just perfect - maybe because it wasn't too sweet.

So if you want to have Finnish food and something better, try Ateljé Finne. And if you want to have same style of food but one more step towards rustic - go for the Finne's sister restaurant Kuurna.  

What to do on weekend

Next weekend is filled with events - either very affordable events or totally free of charge. All of these have been advertised in English, so I'm quite confident that they work for non-Finnish-speaking too:

1. Restaurant day

On Sunday anyone can open a pop-up restaurant. The concept is expanding outside Finland too! Check out the restaurant closest to you on the map.


2. Helsinki Design Open

Image: Rauno Träskelin

Pop-up concept store / exhibition / café about Finnish design at Iron house, right opposite to Stockmann at city center. Open only until Saturday (9 AM to 2 PM). Quality pieces, beautiful architecture.


3. Robot workshop

Build your own robot at Kaapelitehdas. Instructions and material are on the house. Workshop is running on Sunday from 11 AM to 3 PM.

So many things to do, so little time...

Tasting Savonlinna

Savonlinna is one of those beautiful summer cities in Finland (i.e. it's dead for 10 months of the year).  The annual opera festival in July creates some nice buzz in the city even though you'd not be that much of a fan of opera. 

The beautiful castle Olavinlinna is the landmark of the city. For those who appreciate useless trivia: the first water closet in Finland is in Olavinlinna, those bumps on the towers. Structure-wise they are closets, there's a seat with a hole (a seat made of rock, I've heard in winter time there was a slave warming up the seat sitting there butt naked), and if you look into the hole, you can see water, the lake, where all the products eventually dripped and dropped.

And from toilet to table: there are certain food that you just have to try if you visit. Please find the top tips below, in priority order:

1. Lörtsy - a flat pastry cooked in oil. It can be savory (filled with meat and rice) or sweet (filled with apple, sugar on top). The one and only place to eat Lörtsy is at the market place, in one of the coffee booths.

2. Muikku - vendace that are rolled in rye flours and fried in butter. If you quickly have a portion of muikku at the market place, you can eat them with your fingers. But if you have something on the side, then you'll need fork and knife. Restaurant Seurahuone right next to market place, at top floor, is the place to go for Muikku. And by the way, when taking a photo, we don't say "cheese", we say "muikku".

3. The sandwich of the house at restaurant Majakka. Heavy stuff, doesn't leave you hungry.

4. Ice cream at Lippakioski. Huge ice creams, at half of the price you pay here in Helsinki. You can find Lippakioski if you start walking along the shore from market place to Olavinlinna castle.

5. Rommipulla - rum bun. A cinnamon roll filled with rum-flavored cream. Perfect combo. You can buy these at the market place. I don't now remember which of the market stalls it is, but keep your eyes open.

The only challenge with all this delicious stuff is time: you can't eat all of them during one day - so staying over night is a must.

Fiskars Ruukki

Today I visited the Fiskars Ruukki for the first time. It's one of the attractions that has been on my to-visit-list for long time, but finally I managed to take the time and get there. The trigger for visiting Fiskars this week was the flower exhibition that my sister participated. She had two pieces on the show, this one being themed in a futuristic way for the Paper House of Fiskars - she had made the frame for the flowers from 800 paper circles! Unfortunately my camera run out of battery, so I didn't get a picture from the other piece. But I'm a very proud big sister.


Detail of the flower setup made by my sister


River being calm

The story about flower exhibition actually explained already what Fiskars Ruukki is all about today: art and handicraft surrounded with beautiful nature. Many artists have residence in the village, and there are shops selling handicrafts. Unlike in many tourist attractions, the food in Fiskars is good too. We had a delicious lunch at Restaurant Kuparipaja (Copper workshop) by the river, and coffee at Petris Chocolate Room. Petris Chocolate Room is something I can warmly recommend: beautiful handmade pralines with perfect chocolate and smart flavor combinations. My absolute favorite was the black currant praline. Petris's artisan chocolate is available in Helsinki too, the shop at Museokatu 11, Töölö is open on weekdays, and they'll have a chocolate bar at Helsinki Design Open event in couple of weeks.


Petris Chocolate Room

Delicious pralines: black currant, lime-coconut and pistachio

Fiskars Ruukki used to be an iron mill, it was founded in the 17th century by the river. All kinds of iron tools were made there - so that's the home of the orange Fiskars scissors too. The beautiful old industrial buildings have been nicely renovated and many of them serve nowadays as shops or exhibition rooms. One of my favorite details in the industrial buildings were the dark bricks in some of the houses: they were made of the blast furnace slag - recycling the industrial waste of the mill. The wooden houses were built for the workers of the mill, and some of them are still in residential use.


Black bricks


Residential buildings


Another residence. The lady of the house at the door (too bad there are no other bees in the pic to give the scale)

Nice experience. I recommend visiting Fiskars for anyone who's staying in Finland for a bit longer, and for the locals as well.


The trees in Fiskars were amazing

Imatra

Imatra is a small town in South Karelia, about 300 km to North East from Helsinki. Imatra is living upon paper mills, ruled by social democratic party and the demography of the citizens is heavily turning to the senior side. I’m not sure which of those three characters are causes and which are consequences, but they are definitely going hand-in-hand. Due to the paper mills the smell in the town is sometimes quite thick. The aboriginals don’t care about the stink – ”it’s the smell of the money”, they tend to say.

The paper industry originally landed on Imatra’s soil because of lake Saimaa and river Vuoksi. And those are definitely the most beautiful things in Imatra. River Vuoksi has been dammed for energy production, but in the summer time they open the gates and let the river run wild every night.

The basic tone of Imatra is a bit depressive for the most of the year, although in summer the town starts blooming. The tourist guides always highlight the river Vuoksi and its white waters, hotel Valtion Hotelli and the Church of Three Crosses as the best tourist attractions, but in my opinion these are the best sides of Imatra:

• Virkkukoukkunen – adorable, colorful and cheerful handicraft/design shop at the center of the town. Really one of the kind.
• Enso/Svetogorsk border crossing station - the money of the Russian tourists keeps the local business alive.
• The visa services of Itämatkat – professional visa services for Russia with more affordable prices than what you get in Helsinki region.
• Vuoksen piirakat – the best  commercial rice pies (nothing beats self made rice pies, of course). You can find Vuoksen piirakat also in the freezers of the grocery stores in Helsinki region.
• Restaurant Buttenhoff – the best restaurant in Imatra. Their vegetables come from local farmers. It’s not fine dining, but the place really stands out from the crowd of the local competitors: 5 pizza-kebab-places, Rosso, Café at ABC gas station and McDonalds.

Vappu in pictures

Vappu is the only real carnival in Finland, and therefore it deserves its own post in pics. Pictures tell more than words.



It all started on May Day's Eve at restaurant Allotria. Good swing, good food, good mood.



Vallilan vapputanssit, dancing in the park at Vallila.



Puhvetti stands for affordable home-made snacks.



Watching the May Day's Eve over the roofs of Helsinki.



Please don't pee on the street.



Sitting Bull crossing the Pitkä silta with quite a speed. I wonder if he's a working class hero or capitalist.



Manta a.k.a Havis Amanda bathing in the morning sun on the first of May.



Julkku magazine, made by teekkarit, sold by teekkarit for teekkarit.



Kaivopuisto and Ullanlinnanmäki in Vappu morning.



Yes, Vappu is the celebration of students and other folks wearing overall.



These were invented long before OnePiece and other trendy jump suits.



Retuperän WBK playing newer French horn music.



People, take off the cardboard stiffener from your hat! Nobody's cap is that stiff in real life.



Delicious picnic sandwich.



Some doughnuts and pavlova.



Now that's what I call uniform! Cap, beige spring coat and a glass of bubbly.

It was a hauska vappu!

Soup kitchen

If you think there are no intimate restaurants in Finland, you haven't visited Soppakeittiö, Soup kitchen at Hakaniemi market hall: people (also Finns, not just Japanese tourists) are sharing tables with strangers!

They usually have three soups per day on the menu.

They bake their own bread, and they serve delicious herb oil for dipping the bread.

Boullabaisse (behind) is their classic, and on the menu almost every day. Portions are of good size, delicious and decent price, too. Locals, tourists, hipsters, hobos, IT specialists, politicians, young people, retired - all sitting next to each other, maybe even sharing the table and bread bowl with each other.

Mary had a little lamb

Easter is fun, maybe the best church related holiday there is. Easter is laid back, it does not require as much effective performance as Christmas. Easter food is better than Christmas food. It's sunny. And office worker can always count on four days off - unlike on Christmas, which can be only three days in the shortest case.

And what do we eat on Easter?

Roasted lamb
Vegetables, roasted or fresh
Setsuuri, sweet and sour fennel-flavored bread
Eggs
Mämmi
Pasha
Chocolate eggs
Rahkapiirakka
And whatever tastes good

The best thing with Easter menu is the flexibility. On Christmas table you need to have the certain traditional dishes, prepared in certain way, according the one and only traditional family recipe. On Easter you can have a little bit of this and little bit of that, and you can be innovative and flexible with the actual execution: one year you may have lamb in coffee sauce, another year it's lamb in herb marinade.

One thing is for sure, on Easter you have to eat at home; practically no restaurants are open, at least not on Easter Monday. Only exceptions are Rosso and couple of other places.

Turkey on the plate

The country, not the bird. If you like Turkish food, you must visit restaurant Kilim.

Kilim has recently moved from Tapiolantie to Mäntyviita, right next to Kino Tapiola. The rich starter buffet is Kilim's speciality: hummus, couscous, stuffed grape leaf rolls, olives, all kinds of salads, mushrooms, marinated beans, and what not. The main course is also available in the buffet: kebab with rice, potato and bread cubes, moussaka, and the soup of the day. The service may be ignorant or even rude, but the food is simply delicious.

Wee? Gee!

Despite the nasty connotation WeeGee is the best museum center in Helsinki region. It really is. Forgive them, they probably didn't think about the name in English context. Despite the funny name and messy website, WeeGee is without a doubt the only museum in Helsinki region which is worth purchasing an annual ticket (40 euros for unlimited access for a year).

There are five museums in WeeGee: Espoo museum of modern art (EMMA), Espoo city museum, Helinä Rautavaara museum (presenting different cultures), toy museum and watch museum. Each of the museums hosts on average couple of exhibitions per year, and EMMA has great art collection even without the themed seasonal exhibitions. And on Wednesday evenings 6 PM to 8 PM they have free entrance.

WeeGee also serves something for the hippies - a nice brunch on weekends: bread, lettuce, cheese, turkey, eggs, omelet, sausages, pesto, hummus, juices, smoothie, porridge, brownies, pancakes, yoghurt with all kinds of müsli and seeds, fruits, coffee, tea and sparkling wine. The brunch doesn't seem so special if you just look at the titles of the dishes, but the dishes are made of quality ingredients. I liked especially the oat porridge which had a hint of coconut and banana in it. The restaurant is quite spacious, so also larger groups and families with kids and trolleys are able to fit in.

Sushi in old Tapiola

I've lived in Espoo for almost twelve years now. During that time I've stayed in Otaniemi, Leppävaara and now for couple of years in Tapiola. Tapiola is the first place that actually feels like home. At first I wasn't able to deal with my approach towards the city, but the longer I've lived here the more I've learnt to like Espoo. Maybe it all comes down to the fact that based on the population Espoo is the second largest city in Finland, but somehow it has managed to stay very unurban. And that makes Espoo a bit comical city and difficult to categorize. But when you realize that there's simply don't need to categorize Espoo, then everything goes nicely.

As an ode to Espoo I decided to challenge myself to write about the good and vivid sides of Espoo. Don't worry, I won't concentrate on Espoo alone from now on, but I just want to lift up some highlights every now and then, something that I can warmly recommend for others as well.

One of the places to recommend is a restaurant called LN Sushi Art. LN Sushi Art has been at Mäntyviita, the old center of Tapiola for about one year now. It's not the number one sushi place in Helsinki area (Umeshu and Gyosai are the best in my opinion), but definitely a decent place and it has absolutely no reason to be shamed of their sushi. Meal number 3 containing lots of salmon works for me.

Larger map

The day of friends

Valentine's Day is here soon. Ystävänpäivä in Finnish, a direct translation would be something like "the day of friends". The Finnish word ystävänpäivä is actually quite describing, because for us February 14th is more about celebrating friendship, not that much of romantic love.

Then how do we celebrate ystävänpäivä? According to the people of post office Valentine's Day is the second busiest time of the year in terms of sending post cards and letters. That's why they publish a special edition of stamps around the Valentine's. In addition to sending post cards we celebrate Valentine's Day by eating candies. The sales figures of heart-shaped jellies and Brunberg's kisses take a small peak in mid-February. Bakeries have tried to create and advertise all kinds of Valentine's pastries with pink icing, but those ideas haven't flied too far; the February pastry market is already saturated with Runeberg's torte and Laskiaispulla, so there's no room for Valentine's pastry.

In Finland the Valentine's Day is quite minimalistic. Restaurants don't have a Valentine's menu for two, supermarkets are not selling loads of pink confetti. However, I'd like to propose a tradition for celebrating Valentine's Day in Finnish style - since ystävänpäivä was included into Finnish calendar officially in the 80's, let's celebrate it in the style of 80's: dig out a waffle maker (a piece of luxury from the 80's) from somewhere, invite your friends over and make a huge pile of heart-shaped waffles - since the heart-shaped waffle irons used to be the most common (and the only?) model available in Finland.

Restaurant Day

Next Saturday, on February 4th delicious things are happening: It's Restaurant Day.

On Restaurant Day anyone can set up a restaurant for a day. You can figure out the theme, menu, target group, location and dish price yourself - only the imagination sets you the limits! And then just sign up for the event with your restaurant, and you'll get your restaurant on the event site and into official map. So if you have always dreamed about the restaurant of your own, this is your chance to try it out for one day as the first step. The food can and should taste and look like self-made.

Or, if you're not keen on cooking for others, go and take a tour on pop-up restaurants at the event. Take some cash with you, print the map, plan your tour and go go go! In the past events the portions have usually been bigger than snack but smaller than a feast, so what comes to the volume of your stomach, you can afford to visit several restaurants. The atmosphere of the event is lovely, and in fact the Restaurant Day was recently awarded as a "cultural act of the year". This is simply one of the must experiences.

The menu of the 80's

In the past 25 years Finnish food culture has taken a giant leap. The wealth of the people has increased, EU has accelerated the import, folks have been traveling also in other places than Sweden, hence learnt to eat more exotic delicacy than shrimps from the ferry buffet. Leap of 25 years is clearly visible on the lunch table. At the 80's we didn't have McDonald's. We had not tasted sushi, tapas, kebab nor wok.

Then what did we eat in the 80's? This list gives some idea (I'm sorry for the translations. My culinary vocabulary originates from Top Chef and the English translation of Sodexho Metsänpoika menu. And I don't remember spotting these cuisines in Top Chef...)

• Nauravat nakit ja perunamuussi - laughing sausages (image above) and mashed potatoes
• Makaronilaatikko - macaroni casserole
• Kanankoivet - chicken legs
• Silakkapihvit - herring made in the oven
• Puuro - porridge
• Uunimakkara - sausage and cheese made in the oven
• Janssonin kiusaus - Jansson's temptation
• Kalapuikot - fish fingers
• Kiinankaali-ananas-salaatti - napa cabbage and pineapple

Have we gotten into better or worse direction? Well, it's a matter of taste.

Restaurant Tori

If you're visiting Helsinki and want to eat where the locals eat, go for Tori. Tori is a cosy, laid-back and a bit shabby (in a charming way) place to eat and drink - juice. They don't serve alcohol at all. But on weekends they do serve breakfast throughout the day, which is genius.



The classic dish of Tori is meatballs in Jallu sauce. Juices are delicious, and so are the pastry. The staff is friendly and speaks really good English, and the price level is very affordable. Depending on the number of customers, the kitchen may be slowish - but the atmosphere usually compensates the slight slowness.