It's been years since we've been to Helsinki. We keep saying we'll go back, and this Helsinki culinary thread certainly whets our appetite.

I recall then that the Torni hotel had a small but very delightful restaurant ( we enjoy a salmon soup starter which still resides in our memories if not our stomachs to this day ). Has anyone been to the Torni recently? I also recall a summer beer garden outside the Torni ( O Malleys? ).

Back then, I was just learning Finnish and was not at all confident in the language. Yet my first "real " conversation in Finnish takes place in a Chinese restaurant where they spoke only Mandarin, Finnish, or a little German. Forced to operate in Finnish, I manage to get things done and I remember the irony of the moment when the first time I really use Finnish, it is not with a Finn, but with a Chinese waiter who has his own Sino-Finnish accent. I also recall that it was a very good meal, but also expensive ( $65 USD back in the days before the Euro is circulating).

Barry