Helsinki Food
Finnish cuisine has had its high-profile critics ? Jacques Chirac and Silvio Berlusconi are unlikely to be seen chewing the fat in a swish Esplanadi Boulevard restaurant any time soon ? but the foundations for its inauspicious reputation remain somewhat unclear. Like the city itself, Helsinki's favourite dishes have seen a range of different influences converge to form a unique style.
Scandinavian and Russian motifs resound in many of the dishes to be found in Helsinki. In the same meal a diner could be munching on a slice of rye bread topped with fleshy herring and flavoursome dill of the kind enjoyed in the best Stockholm eateries, before setting their eyes on a dense, generously-sized fish or meat pie which a denizen of St Petersburg would be proud to call his.
Finns eat simply but heartily, with an emphasis on healthiness and freshness. While Helsinki may not boast such specialities as the black sausages favoured in the red-brick city of Tampere which lies to its west, it acts as a meeting point for all that is good about its nation's cuisine. Its superb fish market (Kauppatori) is a good place at which to find the raw materials for a hearty feed, selling a vast range of fish directly from harbour boats ? crayfish are exceptionally popular in season ? while also purveying such delicacies as reindeer, lingonberries, and Emmental cheese.
Restaurants which serve lunch are obliged to include a salad bar, as the government looks to consolidate its vigorous healthy eating stance. Complementing weighty dishes such as the famous Kalakukko pie, which contains herring and fatty bacon cased in a dense, dark bread this idea seems quite visionary and ensures that any Finnish meal can err on the side of the traditional meat-and-veg staple.
"The Finns don't even know what prosciutto is," said Berlusconi in 2001. And they probably don't mind ? especially when a plate of reindeer meatballs flanked with cloudberries is dished up. Helsinki is laced liberally with restaurants both stylish and simple ? and you don't need to walk far in order to see that Europe's senior statesmen do not get it right all of the time.
Helsinki's favourite tipple is unashamedly Russian in derivation; vodka, and the city's famous vodka cocktails, invariably take centre stage during a night out. It rarely disappoints, and varieties include the legendary Finlandia brand. Beer is never far out of the equation, though ? Lapin Kulta is the local favourite and goes down especially well in some of the sauna bars (a cultural by-product without the seedy undertones which might be construed) which are increasingly popular among the city's beautiful young things. Cider, most notably the delicious pear variety as found especially in Sweden and in the west of Finland, also permeates.
For the most spectacular drinking location in Helsinki, try the bar at the top of the Hotel Torni on Kalevankatu ? from which the Estonian capital, Tallinn, is visible on very clear days. A chilled glass of beer at this location is a simple but easily-underrated pleasure ? a description which could justifiably be ascribed to any Helsinki eating or drinking experience.
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Eating & Drinking
