On the second floor of Akateeminen bookshop, there is the famous Cafe Aalto. The interior of the cafe was designed by the famous Finnish architect and designer, Alvar Aalto, who is often called “the father of modernism”. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware. Among Japanese tourists, the cafe is one of the most popular places to visit in Helsinki partly because of Aalto, but mostly for the famous movie shot in Helsinki. The cafe was one of my most favorite long time ago when I still lived in Tokyo and visited Helsinki occasionally for work. There weren’t that many lovely cafes in Helsinki at that time and I liked cafe Aalto for the location on the second floor of a bookshop (I like bookshops!!!) But after moving to Helsinki, I didn’t come here that often anymore. I actually avoided it as I thought it was too touristy to have a good coffee break.
アカデミア書店の2階にあるカフェ・アールト。フィンランドを舞台にしたあの映画 “かもめ食堂”にも登場したカフェ。フィンランドが生んだ有名な建築家でありデザイナーでもあるアルヴァ・アアルトのインテリアデザインであることでもよく知られている。そんなカフェには日本人の観光客に大人気。日本語のメニューもあったりするくらい。まだ日本に住んでいてたまに出張でヘルシンキに来ていたころ、かもめ食堂なんて映画もなかったころは本屋の2階というのが特に気に入ってよく行ったそのカフェも、あまりに人気の観光スポットになっていたのでだいぶ足が遠のいていたが・・・
Such cafe Aalto surprised us with the generous breakfast this morning. I had Poet’s breakfast which included caffe latte, orange juice, croissant, marmelade, brie cheese and fruits. Look at the above photo! When it was served, I said “Wow!” with unstoppable joy! When I tasted it, I was so glad that we chose to come to cafe Aalto. Each food on the plate was delicious! Orange juice was “freshly squeezed”<3 It was only 10.20€ 🙂 Considering the quality, it was very generous!!!
今日はブレックファストを食べに出かけて大感動。思ってたより全然おいしい！っていうかとてもおいしい。こんなにおいしいフルーツ、フィンランドではなかなか食べたことないしって思うくらい。ブリーチーズもクロワッサンも、そして絞りたてのオレンジジュースも！私が食べた日本語メニューによれば ”詩人の朝食”、 このクオリティで10.20€とは、フィンランドではとってもお得。
And a friend had Aalto’s traditional, coffee/tea, orange juice, toast, butter, cheese, ham, tomato and marmelade. It also looked very nice being really Finnish.
友達が頼んだ”アールト”というのもとてもフィンランド的な朝ごはん (パン、チーズ、ハム、トマトときゅうり、これはフィンランドの典型的な朝ごはんなのだ）で、おいしそう。
As a lot of Japanese tourist come to the cafe there was Japanese menu. And we heard other Japanese people talking at the other table today. But now it doesn’t matter if it’s too touristy or not to be at Cafe Aalto. Their breakfast is irresistible! And I liked the calm atmosphere of the cafe this morning 🙂
こんなおいしい朝ごはんをいただいたら このカフェが観光名所だとかなんだとかもう関係ない感じ。今朝のカフェはとても落ち着いた雰囲気だったしゆっくりと食べる素敵な朝ごはん・・・また行かなくちゃ。