In one of his less diplomatic moments French president Jacques Chirac once
remarked that, except for the Finns, no-one eats worse than the Brits.
He couldn’t have been more wrong – and not just about the Brits. Like other
Scandinavian capitals, Helsinki has a fast-developing restaurant scene that
is increasingly making the most of exceptional local ingredients. In
Europe’s northernmost country this might mean cloudberries (a tart, orange
berry) and a profusion of wild mushrooms, Baltic herring and poro (the
Finnish word for wild reindeer). Rye, wheat or spelt bread is often handmade
on restaurant premises and even the butter is carefully sourced.
A walk around the covered brick market on the harbour leaves no doubt that
Finland has a food tradition worth exploring. Several stalls display great
slabs of smoked fish (salmon, herring and the more unusual whitefish) and
giant glass bowls of glistening fish roe. Little open-faced sandwiches
invite nibbling, as do crimped-edged Carelian pies, paper-thin rye pastry
filled with rice porridge or potato.
For heartier appetites there are Finnish meat pies called lihapiirakka, which
look like jelly doughnuts but contain a savoury meat filling. Reindeer,
recently rebranded poro so as not to shock Rudolph fans, comes fresh,
smoked, dried or in a pâté. Given the quality of the raw fish in Finland,
it’s no surprise to see a long sushi stand such as you might find outside
the Tokyo fish market.
Finnish cuisine has come a long way in recent years, with chefs growing
considerably more confident (the Finns long saw themselves as underdogs) and
diners more sophisticated. Before seeking out Helsinki’s best contemporary
Finnish restaurants, however, be sure to make a pilgrimage to a beloved
institution such as Kolme Kruunua. Here, it’s hard not to be charmed by the
crowded, noisy, 1950s-diner-like atmosphere and heaping plates of fried
herring and slow-simmered Finnish meatballs. The experience wouldn’t be
complete without a shot (or three) of Jaloviina liquor, a cut brandy (made
with brandy, hard grain liquor and no sugar) that you probably have to be
Finnish to truly appreciate.
At the other end of the scale is Nokka, an elegant, high-ceilinged restaurant
in a former warehouse overlooking the water. Red brick walls give the space
warmth while chef Matti Lempinen can’t hide his enthusiasm for the
ingredients he personally sources in northern Finland, including refreshing
berry wines, wild fish, a broad selection of cheeses and salted butter so
good that the restaurant’s crusty home-baked bread almost seems superfluous.
His latest discovery is snow poro — a kind of cured meat made whose texture
lies somewhere between raw and dried — which he serves with lingonberry and
red onion relish. Lempinen holds high-energy cookery classes in an
impressive Ferrari-red kitchen upstairs from the restaurant.
Nokka’s former chef, Markus Maulavirta, now runs the restaurants at Helsinki’s
recently opened design hotel Klaus K. In the futuristic main restaurant,
Ilmatar, the gap-toothed chef can often be seen dancing and beating away
with an antler at a little drum – not just for show but as a real reflection
of his joie de vivre. Maulavirta started promoting Finnish produce 25 years
ago, long before other chefs, and still makes regular trips to Lapland where
he has won the honour of becoming a reindeer herder (the right is usually
passed down through families). At Ilmatar he favours game, freshwater fish,
berries and other mainly organic Finnish products – even the breakfast
buffet has smoked salmon from a small producer, local berries and porridge
made with a different grain every day.
Two other new restaurants show how quickly Helsinki’s dining scene is
changing. On the Eteläesplanadi (Esplanade), the main drag leading from the
city centre to the harbour, two former chefs from the two-Michelin-star Chez
Dominique and an award-winning maître d’hôtel opened a French-style bistro
last May. In a deep-pink-and-cream setting with printed fabrics, modern
light fixtures and striped curtains, Postres delivers contemporary bistro
fare such as crab raviole with a foamy lobster sauce, veal cheek in deeply
flavoured meat jus with tiny diced autumn vegetables, and plate-sized
individual tarte Tatins (the pastry chef won Joël Robuchon's chef
competition in 2005). Open only since August but packed to the gills in
September, Olo Restaurant & Bar has more of a modern Nordic style, as
seen in dishes such poached lavaret (a freshwater fish) with chanterelle
mushrooms and allspice sauce, and roast venison with fried pumpkin.
A mark of Finland’s newfound pride in its own resources is that even
international restaurants are starting to introduce a Finnish slant. At the
very good Tuscan restaurant Sasso facing the harbour, local flavours work
their way into the menu in dishes such as fried scallops with beetroot panna
cotta and balsamic zabaglione. The same thing happens at La Cocina, where
the young chef is not afraid to combine northern Spanish and Finnish
flavours, as in lavaret with saffron salt and lemon alioli.
If poro is almost ubiquitous, bear remains something of a novelty so it’s well
worth venturing out to the Helsinki suburb of Espoo by train or car to
sample the bear burger at Paul’s Bistro in the stylish Hotel Sello. The
chef, Mika Heiskanen, works directly with local hunters to obtain the meat,
which is formed into compact patties and served in North African flatbread
with Korean mayonnaise and little pots of homemade ketchup and mustard.
Biting into this hearty and bold burger, it’s hard to believe that Finland
ever felt meek about its cuisine.
NEED TO KNOW
Kolme Kruunua, Liisankatu 5. Tel. +358 9 1354172.
Nokka, Kanavaranta 7. Tel. +358 9 6877330.
Ilmatar, Bulevardi 2. Tel. +358 20 7704714.
Postres, Eteläesplanadi 8. Tel. +358 9 663300.
Olo, Kasarmikatu 44. Tel. +358 9 665565.
Sasso, Pohjoisesplanadi 17. Tel. +358 9 13456240.
La Cocina, Eteläranta 10. Tel. +358 9 13456749.
Paul’s Bistro, Leppävaarankatu 1, Espoo. Tel. +358 10 344 4212.
