Rane

Are you serious? This is like writing about hot dog vendors in Manhattan
or which McDonald in London has the best hamburgers.
There are very many different type of restaurants in Helsinki and you talk about grill kiosks.

TrainPreferred

Dude it's about food culture. Not eating at a burger box in Finland would be like going to Japan and not eating yakitori. Or traveling through Russia without eating a single seljanka. Germany without bratwurst or eisbein.

If you're serious about experiencing real unique foods in any given place this is what Finland has to offer. Real Finnish food culture. Respect your local 'nakkari', 'snagari' or whatever it's called in your area. After all it's a commercialized form of something even more Finnish, frying sausages on a campfire on a forest camping trip or after a sauna with a good beer. It just doesn't get more Finnish than that!

robyng

Perhaps it's an age/sex/cultural thing. I'm about 40 years too old to use the word "Dude" (wrong sex too) - and burgers aren't my thing (in the US - Finland - or just about anywhere else - except maybe my backyard grill once in a while). I managed to spend 3 weeks in Japan this year without eating a single burger - or street food yakitori for that matter. Did I eat "authentic" Japanese food - yes. Did I eat what a typical 20-30 something company worker might eat as a fast food meal on his way home - no. Just like I don't eat similar food designed for people like that at home.

Reminds me of our trip to Norway. We stayed a couple of nights in Molde at a business hotel (not a tourist destination - we just wanted to see a typical smaller Norwegian town/city). There was a large buffet. Not cheap. About $40 (and this was maybe 20 years ago). Salmon and other more exotic fish and fish products prepared every which way (which more than justified the price to us). But the hotel catered to German businessmen (there were also some Norwegians - and we were the only Americans) - so there were lots of "wursts" and the like. And I was amazed that the wursts were devoured - while the fish went begging.

I'm not saying that a particular person might not enjoy one thing more than another - just that people of different ages/experiences/cultures might enjoy different things.

By the way - while I'm here. Is there such a thing as contemporary Scandinavian cuisine (in Helsinki or anywhere else) - "new Scandinavian" as it were? I'll probably be planning our travel for 2007 in a couple of months. When I travel - I like to experience local food - no burgers please - but no attempts at French or Italian food in places other than France or Italy respectively either. And I wonder what the current "state of the art" is in Helsinki. Apart from Finland/Sweden - I'm also looking at Germany (especially Berlin) as a possible trip. Robyn

Rane

In Helsinki there is a new, very good (fine dining) scandinavian restaurant Olo at Kasarminkatu 44.

jpatokal

Oh, I would thoroughly recommend frying sausages after a sauna with a good beer. But at grill kiosks, 99% of the time the food is nasty and overpriced, and getting it involves long queues in unpleasant weather with unpleasantly drunk people.

If it's "real Finnish food" you want, without any foreign imports or fancy-schmancy affections, there are an increasing number of restaurants catering to it, some already mentioned here: Ravintola VPK and Kahvila Suomi in Helsinki both come to mind. At these you can get a whole meal for the price of one meat pie with the works at a snagari.

If you want to strike a compromise, Finland's markets (eg. Kauppatori in Helsinki) always have stalls selling meat pies, sausages and cold pints of milk. Tampere's Tapolantori, in particular, is famous for its black (=blood) sausage mustamakkara. The catch is that, like most "real" markets, you have to get there morning-ish before they sell out and close down...

mosburger

With your preferences I'm sure you'd rather go for cellophane packed onigiri in Japan and frozen dumplings in Russia. I'm just leaving HEL for PVG and will update later...

mosburger

This time my short stay in Helsinki turned into a kind of trip down the retro lane: Husmannskost and 60'es Scandinavian design are definetily in the limelight just now.

Thursday evening, after a perfunctory meeting straight off the plane I headed into the city centre to meet my restaurant proprietor friend.

His newest project is a slightly upscale burger joint called Morrison's in the premises of the old Dick Tracy's. Of course we had to test drive the menu, me having the rye burger with steak fillet ( medium ) and him the veggie burger.

Don't know if I'm impartial with this but he knows what he's doing: The fillet, albeit slightly more done than medium, was good and the composition of the portion smart. But also Morrison's serves Scandinavian comfort food at lunchtime, a good move it seems as customer numbers have tripled since this was introduced.

Next morning I declined to meet anyone and chose to stroll through Helsinki instead: At the railway station, the pleasant Pullman Bar ( including a separate press club section for Helsinki's hacks ) was in the middle of their Oktoberfest, offering Bavarian beer and food specialities. I've always liked their panorama windows towards the station hall below. The cigar and single malt selection is also fairly impressive.

Next stop was the new and shiny Kamppi shopping centre. As far as I can judge, the single culinary highlight there is Henri'x BBQ. This well designed BBQ, Grill and Salad Bar eatery is owned by a Danish born talented chef who is now running a mini empire of three or four restaurants in Helsinki. And I was somewhat astonished to find a shop selling Japanese and Korean fashion and music at substantial prices on the top floor.

Continuing towards the southern tip of Helsinki, it was slowly time to lunch. Keeping with the everpresent husmannskost theme I tried to find a seat both at Slussen and Tori, two fashionable small places offering meat balls, pytt i panna and the like, but they were hopelessly packed.

Ok, if the imposters are a no-go, then it's time to head to the originals. A short way south along Fredrikinkatu there was a promising sign of a traditional lunch cafe. They had shrimp soup, danish meatloaf and salads on offer, but I had already discovered a fatty minced meat pie looking to be devoured with lots of tabasco. A glass of milk to accompany and I was ready to face lounge food again.

Before returning to the airport I still had time for a post-lunch stroll past Olo, the "Modern Scandinavian" place mentioned in this thread. The space, previously occupied by one of the best Russian restaurants in town, looks good in the souterrain setting. Only a few tables were occupied but then it's only been open for a short time.

Lots of new bars and design shops opening in the southern part of central Helsinki. Some of them look fitting in Helsinki traditions and settings, some... Well, Barcelona imitations don't necessarily work elsewhere.

But at the Annankatu/Iso Robertinkatu corner there was a small bar that caught my attention. Well designed furniture, interesting lights etc. Pity it was closed or I would have headed inside for a last strong coffee before my flight.

Thalassa

Did you actually eat at HBBQ? My only experience there was an utter disaster. The service was silly -- we could not tell the waiter what we wanted, we HAD TO pencil in our choices into their paper placemats/menus. The Ceasar salad I had was one of the worst in memory, and the meat very mediocre. Dessert was poor. The three of us paid 90+ euros for main course and desert without any drinks. While that is not really expensive in Helsinki, it was one of the worst value meals I've had in a long time. I hope they get their act together, as the other Henri'x places are decent and we could use a steak house in town...

I wonder if you mean Lost and Found. It is a self-styled "hetero-friendly gay bar" which can be quite fun. Can't think of another place there apart from Cafe Riva which I don't think you mean...

Cheers,
T.

mosburger

Thalassa: You are correct, I didn't eat at Henri'x BBQ, but have had great meals at the original Henri'x at Tehtaankatu. A close friend has been a key figure in the Kamppi project so I've got a few comments on the new restaurants from him...

As for the bar mentioned before, it's not Lost & Found where I've only visited once back in 1998 after a looong night with an American and a Helsinki artist friend...Sufficient to say our few early morning hours there were fairly interesting but somehow I've never had a strong urge to go back...

Actually I meant the small space on the southern side of Iso Roobertinkatu sandwiched between the large Cantonese restaurant and the Subway outlet. I believe it used to harbour a Japanese themed bar before.

Thalassa

I love the original Henri'x, too. That's why the poor experience at BBQ was particularly disappointing. Maybe I should give them another chance one of these days...

Cheers,
T.

mosburger

I guess we have to wait until Henrik Poulsen bumps into an enterprising Argentinian or Texan chef with a taste for colder climates... I wouldn't mind London's Gaucho Grill or Arkansas Cafe replicated succesfully in Helsinki, if possible with locally sourced meat of course.

jpatokal

They say that the best steaks in Helsinki are actually horsemeat, not cow. I think this says more about Finnish cows than horses...

ORD Finn

Yeah... I don't think either that Finnish beef is known for its high quality despite of government's promotional efforts. Grocers of Helsinki, please just keep importing that Brazilian beef! (If real Kobe niku isn't available, of course )

mosburger

Ok, now that we've breached the subject, what does the jury think of my earlier recs on steak? And I'm sure that most of you would prefer Coeur de fillet... Less sure about any recommendable BBQ although Henry's attempts at Grande Grill and Santa Fe are supposed to be quite passable.

TrainPreferred

Toro is nice for a beefy lunch but unfortunately the concept tends to cater "for people like that"