With Helsinki Food Year in full swing, LLM decided to take a look at why this Nordic capital has been quietly making waves on the gastronomic front in the last couple of years with a mixture of innovation, dedication, and a focus on hyper-local ingredients.
Asian cuisine
Travelling around the Nordic countries, you will notice that the passion for Asian cuisine by the Finns is unmatched elsewhere. You can enjoy Asian street food and bubble tea, even at Helsinki Airport, and the city delivers everything from quaint Vietnamese cafés to the finest, Michelin-recommended restaurants.
Two such restaurants to consider are Boon Nam and Gaijin. ‘Boon Nam’ means born with good fortune and that is how you will be feeling once you’ve tried their eclectic tasting menu. The man behind the concept is Tomi Björck, and with restaurants spanning Finland, Sweden and Australia, 20 television series, and six cookbooks, he is the most well-known celebrity chef and restaurateur in Finland.
Your tastebuds will be dancing with joy at unusual combinations like watermelon and chilli jam and their use of lesser seen sauces like nam jim jaew and khua kling dressing. Thai food is notoriously tricky to pair with wine, however with the expert knowledge of Ronny Malmberg, the restaurant director and sommelier, they’ve not only come up with a wine pairing to accompany their tasting menu, but also an elevated high-end wine option. They do have some very posh add-ons in general like their lobster tartlet with caviar.
Gaijin is another concept from Tomi Björck. Here, the focus is on Japanese, Korean and Northern Chinese cuisine with a contemporary Finnish twist. The restaurant has a dark, minimalist décor that lets the dishes do all the talking. The best way to experience the breadth of their menu is to also try their tasting menu. You know their kitchen team is talented when they can execute a cod cheek tempura and a kimchi beef tartare on a gyoza tartelette with equal aplomb.
The seemingly simpler dishes are where this place truly excels. Whitefish sashimi with rainbow trout roe is the perfect advocate for the quality of Nordic seafood, whilst homemade mentaiko noodles had the perfect al dente texture with a hint of umami richness. They’ve taken careful consideration to expand their drinks menu to offer possibly the largest sake menu in Helsinki. You can enjoy a refreshing Shochu, as an apéritif or a fruity umeshu as a digestif.
Seafood restaurants
With a coastline stretching some 2,760 miles and having thousands of islands, it would not be a surprise to call seafood a religion in the country. Focusing on the freshest, sustainably grown and harvested seafood, you’ll find Boulevard to be one of the favourite local seafood haunts in town. The décor has a timeless elegance with refined blue tones matched with crisp, white tablecloths. You can imagine this is the kind of establishment where deals are done over business lunches. Only in the high-end establishments, will you find whole Dover sole on the menu along with grilled lobster served with Cognac, garlic and parsley.
They do have set menus that offer a primi course such as vongole pasta or a Nordic menu with more local dishes like Skagen – shrimp served with vendace roe, mayonnaise and dill. However, for true seafood enthusiasts, I would recommend ordering the impressive royal shellfish tower. What makes it stand out from the stereotypical seafood towers are extra dishes like the Skagen and whitefish crudo that add more citrusy notes to the proceedings. Even their mussels are marinated to offer a similarly vinegary feel.
Sustainability at the fore
Nokka is one restaurant, you can’t miss when strolling around Helsinki, with a massive anchor and propeller at the entrance to the restaurant that was a former harbourside warehouse. It is hard to believe this institution has been around for over 20 years, but it continues to be on the cutting edge of innovation and leads the conversation on sustainability issues. It is no surprise it has been awarded a Michelin Green Star. Their menu green is arguably the finest vegetarian-tasting menu in town with exceptional sourcing of organic vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, berries and cheeses from independent Finnish producers.
Their signature smoked bream mousse with rye and cucumber is the beauty of Finnish nature on a plate. It has just the right amount of savouriness from the bream and the perfect freshness from the cucumber. The only time you might see a non-Finnish ingredient on the menu is in their king crab dish with fennel and smoked pike’s roe. The king crab is sourced from Båtsfjord, Norway and is famously a dish they won a culinary award for. Two of the bucket list experiences to try are the Kokka dining experience with a cooking class from Nokka’s top chefs and the Nokka chef table, where you can see all the magic happen in the kitchen.
Another restaurant that puts sourcing Finnish ingredients at its heart is Vinkkeli in the district of Kaartinkaupunki. Expect to see very Nordic creations such as Baltic herrings with panzanella salad. They are also very much into seasonality, so currently you will find summery delights like burrata with a pea and mint salad and summer berries with a yoghurt sherbet. You know Finns must love tasting menus with wine pairings, as that is also on offer here. It is reasonably priced at 66 euros for four courses, considering a fish of the day main course could set you back 36 euros. The restaurant also prides itself in offering an extensive wine list that not only includes world classics, but also hidden gems from lesser-known regions.
Factbox
For more information visit myhelsinki.fi/en/eat-and-drink/food-city-helsinki
