Originally Posted by
thegrailer
Also, I see bear and reindeer listed frequently. I imagine that reindeer is like venison but have no clue what bear would taste like. Is it any good? Or should we skip these types of places as tourist traps? e.g., I believe an earlier thread mentioned a place called Lappi as real tourist driven? Are these items on the menu for us tourists only? What about Saslik and its bear menu?
The decor and clientele at Lappi is overwhelmingly touristy and it's rather overpriced, but the food isn't actually bad. Bear is more of an oddity/luxury than a touristy item. I've only tried it once -- at Lappi, as it happens! -- and given the rather extravagant price I was somewhat disappointed: it could have been beef as far as I could tell.
In a nutshell, we're looking for local, mid-range-ish+ non-tourist food.
Saslik is a Russian restaurant, not a Finnish one.
So, for "mid-range local", I'd recommend
Kahvila Suomi (former dockworkers' greasy spoon, slowly heading upmarket, mildly inconvenient location) and
Kosmos (old-school, traditional, very central and pricier but not ridiculously so).
A minimal Finnish menu reader:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Finland#Eat
Last question: Is there a Finnish drink that I should make sure I get a few of during my trip? (e.g., akin to drinking a caipirinha in Rio) - or should I stick to beer (vodka?)
You can't say you've been to Finland unless you've tried the
lonkero and the
salmari.
Cloudberry liqour (lakka) is also worth a shot, preferably as dessert (it's very, very, very sweet).