My girlfriend and I will be staying in Helsinki in a couple weeks. We only have one night and we're basically foodies on a budget. Can anyone recommend a reasonable priced place with a tasty presentation of traditional/modern Finnish quisine?

What do you consider reasonable?

From value for price perspective you'd be best off having a prix fixe lunch at one of the top restaurants. A three course menu is around 30 euros, including service but excluding drinks. For the lunch option, my two favorites are Chez Dominique (2 Michelin stars) or Postres (1 star). The food is not "typical" Finnish but fuses local ingredients and French traditions. CD is one of the best restaurants in Northern Europe and the lunch is a great deal. Dinner there starts from around 50-60 euros.

For a top-notch dinner at a fairly reasonable price (40-50 euros per head), my favorites include Demo (1 star) and Ateljee Finne (no star yet, but a serious candidate). These two are probably the most Finnish of the high-end places. Ravintola Nokka also serves modern Finnish food from local ingredients. It is not quite as highly regarded as the above two, but it has never disappointed me. Dinner prices are in the same range.

Olo serves what they call modern Scandinavian and some people like it quite a bit (I think it got the Bib Gourmande), but my only experience there was a disappointment.

Hope this helps. If you can define your budget and preferences a bit more, I can try to make a more definite recommendation.

Cheers,
T.

Hmm, the places you mention are probably a bit out of my price range, though they do sound excellent! Unfortunately with the exchange rate being what it is and the fact that we have to eat for 2 weeks, these might be a bit beyond our means. I was thinking something closer to 30 euro a head for dinner. Not necessarily a Michelin star, but not a greasy spoon either. A non-touristy spot is a plus. Keep those suggestions coming.

You might want to try Kuurna -- it is tiny but has a fairly good reputation. The last time I ate there, dinner was something like 28 euros per head. (Sorry, just checked and they are closed until August).

There is a brand new place by a couple of up and coming chefs called Luomo (www.luomo.fi) that is a bit over your budget (38 euros per head) but the place should be interesting; they combine Finnish ingredients with international trends such as molecular cuisine...

Solna (www.solna.fi) is another option.

I strongly suggest you bite the bullet and spend about 40 euros per head; that way you can get some real quality. For 30 you can get OK food, but you probably won't get as much bang for your buck as in the other places.

For 30 or less, one option is Kolme Seppää (http://www.rafla.fi/kolmeseppaa) which is OK, but the food is international/California style.

Cheers,
T.

Just some examples about Helsinki prices. I'll take the Kolme Seppaa restaurant mentioned earlier as example because I know the owner tries to keep his prices moderate for Helsinki. This is considered a mid priced restaurant.

Snails Burgundy style (starter) 12 euro

Forest mushroom soup 11 euro

Mac'n'cheese with chicken 15 euro

Cheeseburger 15 euro

New York strip steak 25 euro

Cheapest White by glass 5,40 euro

Cheapest Red by glass 5,60 euro

Solna seems at an all time high, btw. Had a wonderful dinner there with a largish group some weeks ago. After good asparagus for starter the veal Wallenbergare they had as mains were absolutely brilliant in taste.

[QUOTE=Thalassa;11858839]From value for price perspective you'd be best off having a prix fixe lunch at one of the top restaurants. A three course menu is around 30 euros, including service but excluding drinks. For the lunch option, my two favorites are Chez Dominique (2 Michelin stars) or Postres (1 star). The food is not "typical" Finnish but fuses local ingredients and French traditions. CD is one of the best restaurants in Northern Europe and the lunch is a great deal. Dinner there starts from around 50-60 euros.
QUOTE]

I didn't know about CD's lunch before reading on this thread earlier - an excellent choice!! 3 course lunch at a 2-star restaurant at 30e is a steal - though if you take a glass of wine, some water and coffe, there goes another 30e. Mind, they have lunch only on Thursday and Friday (maybe Saturday, too?) as they open for Wednesday dinner. Mo & Tu closed.

New lunch menu every week.

I'd recommend 3 restaurants downtown - Lasipalatsi, Lappi (=Lapland) and Savotta. All of them are downtown. Lappi and Savotta could be described as "Finnish theme" restaurants and the cooking is good. No Michelin stars, but the OP is not after those :)

I'm not sure I'd second this. I haven't been to Savotta, but at least Lappi is really over-the-top touristy -- the decor is all log cabin, moose antlers and reindeer pelts (see website), and the menu (in about 12 languages) is similarly outre, with bear meatballs, snow grouse, reindeer steaks and all kinds of "Finnish" food that almost nobody actually ever eats. Now, this is not to say that the food is actively bad, it's just pretty darn expensive for what you get.

When I wrote "Finnish theme" restaurant, the word theme should've been in bold :D 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)

I usually try to sample the local offerings wherever in the world I happen to be, with the full knowledge, that the dishes I eat might not be on the dinner table of Local Joe every night.

A few of the "classic" Helsinki eateries with Finnish cuisine:

Savoy - Back to (refined) basics on a constantly high level. An August crayfish dinner can be spectacular.

Lehtovaara - A bit out of the centre. Best bet is the Sunday brunch/lunch buffet.

Sea Horse - Could be found on Manhattan. Urban Helsinki at it's best with workman's fare.

Salve - Ditto, with a maritime twist.

Kosmos - Traditional artists haunt, nice mix of Russian, French and domestic influences on the menu.

Elite - Similar to Kosmos, but with an excellent, romantic summer terrace.

Personally I'm not a big fan of Lapland cuisine but would guess the showcase places in Helsinki are at least acceptable.

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.

Had a dinner there a couple of weeks ago. The beef tenderloin was one of the best steaks I've ever had in Finland (wondering who supplies the meat... cannot be of Finnish origin). But the service hasn't improved a bit from the LSC days which makes me very reluctant to go back anytime soon.

I second these recommendations. Also Kolme Kruunua on Liisankatu in Kruununhaka offers a similar experience to Sea Horse and Salve. Maybe it should be noted that the above mentioned places differ quite a bit regarding the price levels (and "gourmet levels" too. Lehtovaara, Elite, Kosmos and especially Savoy can get heavy on your wallet.

I grew up eating reindeer meat every week (my family got own reindeers actually). I haven't eaten at the Lapland theme restaurants in Helsinki except once at Lappi with an American friend -- both of us were rather disappointed with the food (I bother not to comment the interior at all). Since then I've usually taken international guests, who wanted to try e.g. reindeer stew, to Salve or Sea Horse. Somewhat surprisingly especially many of my Japanese friends have been very happy with those restaurants.

To ORD Finn - are all or most of the above recommendations close to the Hotel Kämp? Thank you for your assistance and guidance.