GUWonder

http://www.chezdominique.fi/

Thalassa

I second that choice. Chez Dominique is as good as or better than most two-star places around Europe. It is pricey, but worth it. Of the other Michelin-starred places, Sundmans is good, but I find George overpriced and their quality not that great.

Demo, recommended earlier, is a reliable choice and quite reasonable compared to CD.

Serata (in the corner of Bulevardi and Albertinkatu, near Villa Thai) has some good Italian food at pretty reasonable prices.

The French place out in the country mentioned earlier is called Arsené Flipo. It certainly is a curiosity, but the food is IMHO pretty mediocre -- you can find better in just about any neighborhood bistro in Paris.

If you are looking for simple, traditional and well-prepared fish, try Salve or Konstan Möljä, near Hietalahdentori. Especially their lunches are a good deal around 8 euros. No gourmet and no frills, but good fish.

For a traditional Finnish buffer lunch with a great view almost all the way to Tallinn (on a clear day), try Haikaranpesä (The Stork's Nest) in the Haukilahti water tower, about 15 minutes west of the city.

Cheers,
T.

jpatokal

And I'll third it -- one of the best meals I've had anywhere.

At the opposite end of the specturm is Ravintola VPK, which has the ambience and food of a 1950s school cafeteria. Their motto translates roughly as "Traditional food without useless trendy quackery", so if you want sausage and mashed potatoes -- and, of course, pea soup on Thursdays -- this is the place to go. Open for lunch only, fixed price 8,20e. Note that they're closed all July and will reopen in August.

mosburger

Today's stop are ethnic restaurants - Helsinki style :

Russian:

Bellevue
Rahapajankatu 3
00160 Helsinki
Tel (09) 179 560

The oldest Russian restaurant in Helsinki founded by emigrants from the Rodina in the turbulent year of 1917. Fitting location in the shadow of the Orthodox Uspensky Cathedral and a professional kitchen dishing out Russian trad favorites with a French twist.

Galleria Hariton
Kasarmikatu 44
00130 Helsinki
Tel (09) 622 1717

Interestingly enough the owner is an Orthodox monk ( leading a double life as respected Chef ) who has built a small monastery west of Helsinki. The kitchen is well aware of seasonal food and the Byzantine church calendar so be prepared for some pleasant surprises.

Wellamo
Vyokatu 9
00160 Helsinki
Tel (09) 663 139

Not strictly Russian, but a longtime favorite of both bohemians and the Orthodox community from nearby Uspensky Cathedral. Apart from the wonderful Russian dishes also lighter mediterranean fare is available.

Swedish/Scandinavian:

G18
Yrjonkatu 18
00120 Helsinki
Tel (09) 4281 2500

Newish restaurant in a museum setting offering Swedish home cooking and mediterranean dishes.

Karljohan
Yrjonkatu 21
00100 Helsinki
Tel 09-612 1121

Very nice restaurant opposite the Hotel Torni with Swedish and Finnish traditional cooking and keeping high standards. It's worthwhile to try the Scandinavian mushy pea soup ( and pancake dessert ) at Thursday lunches.

Stroget
Radisson SAS Royal Hotel,
Runeberginkatu 2
00100 Helsinki
Tel 020 1234 800

The inhouse restaurant at the SAS Royal has Scandinavian starters and some Danish and Swedish style sandwiches on the "international" menu.

JOUY31

I had a very pleasant dinner two years ago at La Petite Maison. Is it still open ?

ORD Finn

Yes, it is still offering some of the best French cooking in Helsinki.
http://www.lapetitemaisonfinland.com/maison.htm

Leumas

I was staying at Hotel Kamp about 2 weeks ago. Yume was an excellent Japanese restaurant, and prices were as bad as I thought even if it's inside the hotel. Service was excellent and interesting modern decoration. If you aren't sure what to have, the staff will gladly recommend you something, and something to drink with the food.

I didn't eat anything at the K Club was I got there at about 1am. At that time, it was a good modern bar, which is a good contrast with the more traditional hotel.

Funny thing though - the waitress at Yume popped up the next night serving at the ground floor bar. Must be an effort having to remember various dishes and the like for different nights.

I also went to a restaurant called Mecca, which serves modern Finnish food (mostly seafood). I'd the 'hot rock plate' where they give you a small fire and a pre-heated hot plate and you cook your own. It was very enjoyable.

While chatting with the waitress at Mecca, she noted that with the various places opening at Hotel Kamp, a few waitresses have gone over there to work. The pay is better and you work for Hotel Kamp's reputation.

mosburger

Nice to hear a first hand account of the new Kamp restaurants. I do hope they will keep those high standards and improve. The Kamp eateries and Mecca are operated by the same company so the staff flow is natural.

Regarding Mecca, I haven´t been there but heard some things from my friend in the Helsinki restaurant business: They started ambitiously with an attempt to bring some NYC Meatpacking District flair into Helsinki but have recently had to adapt to local circumstances.

First they did away with lunches due to low attendance and more recently discontinued their consulting agreement with one of the most profilic chefs in town ( former Nokka, now Hotel Klaus K ) So signs point to profile change or closure...

ORD Finn

Mecca is quite a nice place for sipping cocktails while lounging on the comfortable couches upstairs. They also (used to) have good DJs playing grooves there.

What comes to the food... The place started with a big buzz and a menu by Hans Välimäki (the chef and owner of Chez Dominique), but I have to say that even in the beginning I was not impressed by the food. And the place has definitely gone downhill. Well, in my opinion, doing fusion of Asian and Mediterranean cuisine (or whatever was their original idea) is very difficult and Mecca didn't even do a very good attempt. I think over the years I have had about half a dozen dinners at Mecca. The food was mediocore at its best. Portions were always tiny. But service was most of the time friendly, if somewhat slow usually (a very typical problem in Helsinki).

I haven't tried any of the new restaurants at the Kämp yet. I hope Palace restaurants do a good job there. I have to say I haven't liked their latest restaurants much at all. Sasso is quite terrible in my experience -- both food and service wise. Well, it is hard to like an upscale restaurant which causes food poisoning to your dinner companion (luckily I had meat instead of fish that time). Fishmarket in the basement of the same building is fine, but I find Havis much better in the same segment.

Sorry about complaining so much... I think I had one too many beers last night and I can feel it today

GUWonder

Mecca was a fusion of Japanese and American, wasn't it? Of course the menu probably has gone through a few adjustments since then.

mosburger

My bad, of course the consultant at Mecca was the Chez Dominique chef and not the guy from Nokka.

It´s odd but I think the only chefs who are able to do proper fusion are nearly all of Asian origin or then exceptional "Westerners" who did their apprenticeship in Japan or elsewhere in the region. A Japanese cook in the fusion business will most likely have complemented his apprenticeship at home by a several years stint in France or the US whilst his Scandinavian colleague has maybe taken a few cooking classes in Bangkok.

Having written that, the Finnish guy running Nori Sushi and Raku Ya has also claimed all sorts of things regarding his time in Japan. My one and only experience at his establishments, going with a Japanese friend, ended in a grave disappointment for both of us...

ORD Finn

Very true. The Japanese take all kinds of food very seriously. Some people claim that the best French restaurants are in Japan nowadays.

I remember vaguely reading an interview of Hans Välimäki in which he commented Asian cuisines. He said he likes Japanese cuisine, but finds Indian cooking a horrible mess of flavors (he probably used stronger words, which is his style). Of Chinese cooking he said that he doesn't know it. Anyway, he is brilliant with what he does at CD, but I guess he would have to spend 'a bit' more time in Japan to do decent Japanese or fusion cooking.

Yeah, I have similar experiences with his places. I expected a lot more from Raku Ya after all of his bragging.

Hopefully one of my business contacts will treat me at Yume soon I want to try it (more specifically their kaiseki dinner set) but the prices are too high for my own pocket.

ORD Finn

It seems like CD is moving to a new location, Rikhardinkatu 4, and hence is closed until September 2006.

ojala

Not sure if these three have already been mentioned;

Kuurna, on Meritullinkatu 6, very small, closed until beginning of august (kind of proves the quality as they don't need tourists ;-)

La Petite Maison, on Huvilakatu 28, small as well, very french

Savoy, Eteläesplanadi 14, since 1930, nice view on top of the city, especially during summer time and winter with the christmas lights. This is the really finnish place (ingredients in food, athmosphere (plenty of original Aalto), friend and knowledged staff) to visit without any hints of tourist place.

Thalassa

Kuurna, in fact, is so small that their kitchen has problems with even medium-sized parties. Eight of us ate there some time ago and the kitchen simply could not cope with it (or they were otherwise having a bad day). Dishes arrived helter-skelter, meat was overdone on many occasions, etc. Furthermore, the atmosphere was downright greasy as the ventilation could not cope with grease from the kitchen (they have an open kitchen). Based on that one experience, I would not go back there, as there are many better options in Helsinki.

Cheers,
T.