Originally Posted by
WilcoRoger
When I wrote "Finnish theme" restaurant, the word theme should've been in bold
You are right, nobody eats bear meatballs (but I do eat reindeer). OTOH the OP is a tourist so touristy places could be considered as well. I'd even go as far as
"when in Finland once in your life, why the heck go and eat French/Italian/whatever cuisine? Where else can you get reindeer, bear, etc?" (except for Sweden and Russia)
But that's the thing -- the food at Lappi is
not really Finnish cuisine, most of it is a tourist's fantasy of Lappish food. Creme brûlée, carpaccio and risotto do not magically turn Finnish just because you throw cloudberries, reindeer and barley at them.
If you want "real" Finnish grub, check out some of the cheap canteens like Kahvila Suomi or VPK, or some of the classic traditional restaurants like Cosmos, Elite etc, or just go wander around the open-air markets or market halls. Or, if you want modern Finnish cuisine, go to Chez Dominique and its Michelin-star buddies, which bring new life to Finnish ingredients. But eating at Lappi and thinking you're getting real Finnish food is kind of like going to Taco Bell and thinking it's authentically Mexican.