A friend and I agreed to meet in Kuopio. She travelled from Oulu and I travelled from Helsinki at the beginning of 2021. We arrived in Kuopio in the evening.
We had wonderful dinner and stayed overnight at the Lapland hotels. All the Lapland hotels I have stayed have had great food at the restaurants.
Next morning, breakfast was amazing and the best food among breakfast buffet was kalakukko, I think it was Lapland hotels’ version of kalakukko. I understand that the Lapland hotels has local delicacy in their breakfast buffet at each hotel. I enjoyed my first kalakukko ever at this hotel and am glad it was delicious.
After having the breakfast and packed our suitcases, we left the hotel to visit first café of the day. Kahvila Kaneli was in the city center. It opens at 11:00 and we planned to get there at 11:00 so that we can enjoy the café and leave in good time to visit two more cafes where we must drive from Kuopio. It was so important to get there at 11:00! (You’ll understand it better later when I write about other two cafes!)
Kahvila Kaneli was cozy and there were tables downstairs and upstairs. We asked the stuff what their specialty was, and the lady said chocolate cakes. She also told me about their 15th anniversary chocolate cake. Year 2020 was their 15th anniversary. Though we visited there at the beginning of 2021, they still had the anniversary cake and we both chose it. The café was decorated with lots of old stuff, and we were busy taking pictures and having coffee and cake before going to buy kalakukko from the most famous kalakukko bakery, Hanna Partanen, and rent a car at Kuopio station. Now I looked at the time stamp of the photos and think we were about half an hour behind the schedule which was 12:30 departure from Kuopio.
Being slightly behind the schedule as we were fascinated by a church, streets and sunlight and wanted to take pictures, we managed to buy kalakukko, rented a car and started driving to Suonenjoki, which is known as the strawberry capital of Finland. We knew nothing else about Suonenjoki but there was one of the loveliest cafes. We followed navigation of the map and headed to Kahvila Kinuskihuone. We arrived there at 13:37.
From outside, Kahvila Kinuskihuone looked nothing so special. There weren’t many things around as Suonenjoki was a small town. Inside, it was relaxed atmosphere and cute. Once again, we asked the stuff what their specialty was and the answer was “Cheesecakes”. There were many different cheesecakes and she explained all of them to us. Some of them had wrapped candy or chocolate on top of it. I ordered blueberry cheesecake and a friend ordered cheesecake which had a wrapped candy on top of it. I am glad that she ordered it as I could take a photo of one of the special cheesecakes.
Once again, we couldn’t spend much time there. To make it to Joensuu before the last café of the day closed, we had to eat/drink and leave as soon as possible.
The time stamp of the photo of the last café of the day reminds me that we reached Kauppaneuvos café at 16:37! Café closed at 17:00 but we made it! We couldn’t eat sweets anymore, so we didn’t ask for the specialty but ordered Karelia pie for a change. Joensuu is a city in North Karelia and choosing Karelia pie felt appropriate.
Kauppaneuvos café was in the wooden building which was built by commercial counsellors (kauppaneuvos) for the families more than 100 years ago. It houses “Taitokortteli” (art quarter) where you can find handcraft shops, café, exhibition space, and so on. We obviously didn’t have enough time to go around but everything looked lovely. Though everything inside the building was closes at 17:00, we could spend a short time in the inner yard which was decorated Christmassy! We met Finnish ladies who were interested in where we came from and wanted to chat with us. They showed us what they bought at the flea market and welcomed us to Joensuu.
At the end of café marathon day, we headed to Outokumpu to stay overnight. I wanted to stay somewhere cute and found Kyykerin Kartano in the intenet. It took 30-45 minutes by car from Joensuu but it was worth visiting there to enjoy the lovely manor accommodation.
This trip continues…to the next blog.