1917年に独立したフィンランドの歴史は100年ちょっと。その前100年ちょっとがロシア帝国の支配下にあり、さらにそのまえ700年くらいがスウェーデンの一部でした。30秒くらいで理解できるそんなフィンランドの歴史を知っておくとフィンランドで目にするものがより納得の行くものになります。
歴史と聞くとつまらなそうな感じを受ける人もいるかもしれませんが、ちょっとでも歴史を知っていると今目の前にあるものがもっとおもしろくなると思っています。これはどこに行っても同じですね。歴史はまた文化を形成してきたもの。見どころだけでなく、食や人々のライフスタイルや思想を少しでも理解するのに役立つのではないかと思います。
ちなみに私が簡単に作ってみた上の年表。2018年に図書館を入れているのは、この年、フィンランド独立100周年を記念して造られたヘルシンキ中央図書館Oodi（オーディ）がこの年にオープンしたことを示しています。別の投稿で詳しく書きますが、Oodiは様々な意味でフィンランド必見の見どころです。
Ravintola Kannas
Eerikinkatu 43, 00180 Helsinki
Summery
Ravintola Kannas is the place you should go if you would like to good traditional Finnish food. The atmosphere is cozy and relaxing. The space is large, but you need a reservation as it’s a popular restaurant.
Kannas opened on the corner of Eerikinkatu street and Köydenpunojankatu street in Helsinki in 1939 and it’s still there. The restaurant is one of Helsinki’s classic restaurants and serves many different traditional Finnish dishes.
I had heard about Kannas from friends and wanted to dine there for some time. On the cold evening of November, I finally had a chance to go there with the friends who had been telling me about the restaurant and great Finnish food. They were a good help when I was wondering what to order from the menu which listed a lot of nice dishes. I, somehow, had imagined that the inside of the restaurant would be dark and moody, but it was bright and lively with a lot of customers, several big groups were gathering as well. Reservation is a must here. The big groups were at the combined tables in the middle of restaurant hall and we and other small groups of people were at the window tables.
Starter
My friends ordered their favorite, pickles which was served with cream and honey, and homemade sausage with sauerkraut and mustard. It took some time, for me, to make my mind but as I often do, I chose escargots. I hadn’t read the menu carefully but realized their escargots was a bit different from the typical ones. It was seasoned with blue cheese, white wine and garlic and I only realized it when I saw the dish. With the blue cheese, the dish was heavier than I expected, and I left a lot of melted cheese on the plate. In addition to my own starter, I could taste a bit of pickles and sausage and they were both very tasty. Pickles is not my favorite food, and I usually don’t eat it, but it was much better than typical pickles being not overwhelmed by vinegar. Among these three starters, I liked the sausage the best. And next time, I think I will order it.
Photos from left: PICKLES, SOUR CREAM AND HONEY, HOMEMADE SAUSAGE WITH SAUERKRAUT AND MUSTARD, CHEF´S ESCARGOTS PAN seasoned with blue cheese, white wine and garlic
Main dish
Among many nice traditional Finnish dishes in the menu, I chose fried vendace which was served with mashed potatoes, beetroot, pickles and aioli. At the first glance, I was glad that amount of vendace wasn’t too much. In Finland, I have seen dishes with a hill of vendaces on overwhelming amount of mashed potatoes. But this one wasn’t. Appropriate amount is enjoyable. The fish tasted a bit too salty at first, but it worked quite well when I ate it with mashed potatoes. I enjoyed the dish. I also tasted grilled liver which a friend ordered. It was very good! In fact, the grilled liver was one which I thought of ordering at first. Giant pork escalope that another friend ordered was literally giant as the photo could tell! It was also entertaining to see it. Even though it was huge, my friend finished the escalope and chips. It must have been very nice as the friend never compromise on food. The warm and tasty dishes made our stomachs and taste buds happy.
Photos from left: GRILLED LIVER with Creamy bacon and onion sauce, fried bacon, lingonberry jam and mashed potatoes, GIANT ESCALOPE：Pork escalope 300g and country-style fries and either garlic butter or lemon-anchovy butter, Fried vendace, mashed potatoes, beetroot, pickles and aioli
Dessert
Both friends were too full to have dessert, but I wanted to have something sweet. In the menu, I found frozen cranberries with caramel sauce which I like a lot. I love the combination of those ingredients. It’s sweet but not too sweet and I love the bitter taste. Warm caramel and frozen cranberries were the perfect. Great finale of the dinner!
Omadi
Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu 23E (in the hotel Helka)
00100 Helsinki
I visited Omadi with Japanese friends. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were told that it’s only us, four people, who were going to dine that evening. This restaurant has only a counter table and I heard that omakase menu was served to all the customers at the same time. “Omakase” (おまかせ）is a Japanese word that means that leaving the choice to the chef when we are talking about restaurants. I had heard great reviews on the restaurant and been looking forward to dining there.
What I thought about the dining experience
Overall, it was a lovely experience with a lot of interaction with the chefs. As one of the chefs was Japanese, we could talk deeper about Japanese cuisine and ingredients.
I had heard from one of my friends who had dined there before that a chef studied chemistry and chose the way of combining ingredients to bring chemical reactions to create the best taste with ingredients, for example, marinating. The dished tasted nice but I wonder if it could have been much less tasty if the raw fishes were served without such method. Would tuna be less tasty if it was served only with soy sauce and wasabi? I wish I had an opportunity to compare the tastes between simply prepared dishes and the dishes created utilizing chemical reactions. Am I asking too much? Maybe…
Sushi served at this restaurant was done with edomae method. Sushi’s history goes back to Nara-era, about 1300 years ago and to preserve the fish from Tokyo Bay, salt, vinegar, and boiling method were used. Tokyo was called “Edo” at that time. At Omadi, I was not sure about the sushi rice they used for the edomae sushi. The explanation was they chose the best rice available which works the best for edomae sushi, but it was not my kind of rice. A friend, Tokyo native, said that she liked the rice and edomae was perfect. So, it’s pretty much about preference.
They do not accommodate dietary restrictions as they cleared says in their website. It might be difficult to serve wider customers while people have many different dietary requirements nowadays and it was accommodated at almost all other restaurants. But if you like fish and Japanese food, or sake, it’s worth visiting Omadi and see if you like their style of food preparation. As to myself, I would go there again if I had an opportunity to do so.
Below, have a look at the dishes that we had.
One of us loves sake and she wanted to know all the sakes they have and try something which she ca not usually find in Finland. Unfortunately, they did not have sake list and had to show us many sake bottles. We hoped they will make a list soon. In cases, variety of sake was extensive.
The course started sashimi, bass, arctic char, and yellowtail. The way they prepared sashimi was not ordinary. Sashimi is usually eaten with soy sauce and a bit of wasabi. But here, all sashimi was either marinated or seasoned and soy sauce was not served.
Tartar of medium fatty tuna（中トロ） with caviar was one of my most favorites in the course. Both medium fatty tuna and caviar are my favorite foods, and the combination was impressive! Texture of tuna was perfect.
Tempura（fritter）of fermented matsutake mushroom. Matsutake is the most appreciated, thus the most expensive mushrooms in Japan. An occasion to be able to taste matsutake is regarded special. In Finland, you could pick up matsutake for free in the forests. Texture of flitter was light and crispy which I liked.
Grilled tuna cheek meat, soy mirin cured egg yolk and ginger juice. I love all dishes served with eggs. This was not exception.
Chawanmushi, Japanese steamed brothy custard). Borth was made from mushrooms, bonito flakes and kelp.
Grilled king fish belly, rice, and nori.
Sushi: Scallop. I forgot to take a picture of sushi but scallop shell. I did not even remember what kind of scallop dish I had but friends reminded me by sending pictures. I was too excited about a big, beautiful scallop shell.
Sushi: Pulled crab meat, miso (internal organs), fat of crab with fresh wasabi from England. I had to ask which part of carb has fat they used. We were familiar with miso and meat of crab but did not know about fat.
Sushi: Yellow tail with Yuanji sauce. Yuanji is made of soy sauce, mirin, sake and citrus fruit.
Sushi: Red (lean) tuna marinated in soy sauce.
Sushi: Fatty tuna (the fattest part). I loved it. I prefer fatty part of tuna than lean part. And I was happy for the opportunity to eat the fattest part of tuna in Finland.
Sushi: Neck of tuna and pickled radish. I do not like Japanese pickles very much but this one was ok.
Miso-soup in a nice bowl.
Koji rice ice cream with dried umeboshi(pickled plum) and shiso (Japanese basil). Unfortunately, the flavors were not my thing. I do not like umeboshi… But I am sure it tastes very nice if you do not dislike umeboshi. All three of my Japanese friends liked it.
This year, the laskiaispulla season started much earlier than I had ever remembered. Laskiaispulla is one of my most favorite things in Finland. It’s obvious that there are a lot more people who love laskiaispulla than me. I saw the first laskiaispulla of the season as soon as the new year started!
私が、フィンランドで一番好きなものの一つがラスキアイスプッラ。フィンランドは食大国ではないけれど、このプッラは本当に最高！実はそんなふうに思っている人はたくさんいたようで、ラスキアイスプッラシーズンが始まるのが年々早くなっている。今年は年明けとともにシーズン開始という驚き。
At the beginning of the year, I noticed laskiaispulla at the bakery in the local shopping mall. Since then, I had wanted to have it. On the 5th of January, a friend and I visited Kanniston Leipomo in Punavuori, Helsinki, after having lunch. To our surprise, there was only one piece of laskiaispulla left though it was before 15:00! So, we shared one piece. It was after lunch and half piece of laskiaispulla was appropriate, I think. When we talk about laskiaispulla, we often discuss which filling you would like, berry jam or almond paste. I usually choose almond paste but there wasn’t a choice on the day. We enjoyed the last piece of laskiaispulla with berry-jam filling. Kanniston’s history goes back to 1914 and it’s one of my favorite bakeries in Helsinki. I could always rely on the bakery!
年の初めにショッピングモールのベーカリーでラスキアイスプッラが売られていることを確認してから気になって仕方なかった私。1月5日に友達とランチをしてから、ラスキアイスプッラを食べようと思って向かったプナヴオリ（ヘルシンキ）の Kanniston Leipomo。まだ15時前だというのに最後の1個しか残っていなかった。友達と半分個して食べることに。ランチの後だから実はそのくらいがちょうどよいねと思いながらもそんな時間にもう売り切れになってしまうことにすごく驚いたのだった。ラスキアイスプッラと言えば、ホイップクリームと組み合わせるフィリングがジャム派かアーモンドペースト派かということがよく話題になるが、この日は最後の1個。選択肢はなく、ジャム入りのものをいただいた。カンニストンは1914年の創業の老舗ベーカリーで、パンを食べたくなったらここに来れば間違いないと思っている。そんなわけで、フィリングがなんであれ、ラスキアイスプッラをおいしくいただいた。
As to laskiaispulla, I missed most of the season last year as I was in Japan. M, one of my most trusted friend when it comes to food was telling me, via messenger, about laskiaispulla with different fillings that Chjoko, a popular chocolate shop in Helsinki, was offering . He sent me such messages with different pictures and I was jealous, naturally. Even though I was in Tokyo where you can find pretty much everything yummy, I missed laskiaispulla. I was looking forward to the laskiaispulla season 2022 so much and checking Chjoko‘s Instagram posts every day so that I wouldn’t miss any of their special laskiaispulla!
ラスキアイスプッラと言えば、実は昨年は不要不急の用事があり、このシーズンを日本で過ごしていた。グルメ友達Mからヘルシンキで人気のチョコレートショップChjokoで色々な種類の限定ラスキアイスプッラを出していてとてもおいしいという写真付きメッセージを何回かもらった。おいしいものがどこよりもたくさんある東京にいながらもそれがとてもうらやしましくて、来年こそはと思っていたのだ。その来年が今年！チョコ（Chjoko）のラスキアイスプッラシーズンはいつから始まるのだろうかと毎日インスタをチェックしていた。
Finally, Chjoko posted about their laskiaispulla marathon which continued for 7 weeks. They were going to offer laskiaispulla of the week. Every week, their special laskiaispulla has different fillings. The same special pulla is available only for a week. I felt I had to try the marathon. 🙂 The first day of the marathon was 14 January. I planned to get to the chocolate shop at 11:02-03. I texted the friend M that I was on the way by tram without expecting he would come there at the same time. He texted me back saying he was already queueing! I replied to him with a surprise face emoji, and he said it was only him queuing. (hahaha!) While we were chatting, the tram arrived at the stop near Chjoko. When I arrived at the chocolate shop, M had already got laskiaispulla as take away. He was proud that he was the first person who got the special laskiaispulla but, I was the first person (customer) who tasted it as I ate it in their cafe. 🙂 I enjoyed the special version of the week. I visited there again in the same pulla week and tried the basic version, raspberry & dark chocolate whipped cream. It was actually my most favorite of all marathon laskiaispullas.
そしてついに、チョコがラスキアイスプッラマラソンを発表。7週間にわたり毎週、その週にしか食べられないデラックス・ラスキアイスプッラを出すという素晴らしいもの。さらに7週間ずっと変わらないベーシック・ラスキアイスプッラもある。1月14日、第1週目の初日、開店時間11時に、でも11時ぴったりとか11時前に到着して外で待っているのもちょっとイケてないと思ったので11時2～3分くらいに着くトラムに乗って行くことにした。途中、グルメ友達Mに、「トラムでチョコに向かってるところ」というメッセージを送ると、「僕はもう並んでるよ」という返信（笑。「まじ～？」（私）、「いや僕だけ」（M)という、盛り上がるばかばかしいチャットをしているうちにチョコに到着。テイクアウトしたMは、僕が今シーズン一番にラスキアイスプッラをゲットしたと盛り上がっていたのだけれど、実は最初に食べたのは、お店で食べた私！デラックスバージョンをいただき、また同じプッラの週に再度友達と訪れベーシックバージョン、ダークチョコレートのホイップクリームとラズベリーも食べてみた。実は、私はこのベーシックが最終的に一番好きなフレーバーだった。
It sounded fun to try laskiaispulla with different fillings every week for seven weeks. However, eating hamburger-size laskiaispulla with chocolate-based filling was not easy. Sometimes, I almost gave up though I finished all of them! When I talked about it with a classmate of the Pilates class, he said to me, “Don’t give up!”. It sounded like that I was trying a real marathon! I got familiar with staff of Chjoko. I didn’t have to tell her what I wanted every time. She knew exactly what I wanted, laskiaispulla of the week and coffee with milk!
7週間、毎週チョコで今週のデラックス・ラスキアイスプッラを食べるマラソン、絶対やってみようと思って始めたのだが、いくら甘いもの好きでもチョコレートショップのチョコレートベースのフィリングのハンバーガーほどの大きさのプッラを毎週食べるのは楽ではなかった。ボリュームありすぎ。ときどき甘すぎて途中でギブアップしそうになったこともあった。まるで本当のマラソン。毎週行っているピラティスのクラスでこの話をしたら、クラスメートから『Don’t give up（笑）』とも言われたりも。チョコのお店の人とも顔なじみになり、オーダーしなくても今週のデラックス・ラスキアイスプッラとミルクを入れたコーヒーが出てくるようになった。
I ate 7 laskiaispulla in 6 weeks (6 different special versions and one basic version). One more week to go. The 7th-week pulla was chosen out of last 6 verions by vote. It was the legendary pistachio. I was busy at work and had had the pistachio before. So I decided to skip it and finished my laskiaispulla marathon.
6週間で7種類（ベーシック版を含めて）食べて、あと1週。お店の人からもあと1回だね～みたいなことを話して最後のラスキアイスプッラの発表を待った。7週目は6週間のプッラの中でどれが一番おいしかったかというインスタでの投票の結果選ばれたピスタチオバージョンだった。迷ったけど、仕事が忙しくもう食べたことのあるものだったのでまた食べなくてもいいかという結論になり、7週目はパスして、私のラスキアイスプッラマラソンは終了した。
The 6 special laskiaispulla of the marathon were as follows.
さて、その6種類のデラックス・ラスキアイスプッラは以下の通り。
1. blueberry＆toasted white chocolate – blueberry ganache, lemon-white chocolate whipped-cream.
ブルーベリーとトーストしたホワイトチョコレート、ブルーベリーガナッシュ、レモン・ホワイトチョコレートホイップクリーム
2. Milk chocolate-hazelnut gache, hazelnut-cacao spread, hazelnut-milk chocolate cream, caramelized hazelnuts and roasted hazelnuts!
ミルクチョコレートとヘーゼルナッツのガナッシュ、ヘーゼルナッツ・カカオ スプレッド、ヘーゼルナッツ・ミルクチョコレートクリーム、ヘーゼルナッツのカラメル、ローストしたヘーゼルナッツ
3. White chocolate cream with lemon, lime, orange, chocolate crumbs, filled with bitter dark chocolate grapefruit ganache, caramelized kumquat jam
レモン、ライム、オレンジ、砕いたチョコレートの入ったホワイトチョコレートクリームと、ダークビターチョコレート、グレープフルーツガナッシュ、金柑をカラメル化してジャムにしたもの
4. Legendary pistachio, white cholocate-pistachio cream, pistachio ganache, raspberry jelly and pistachio 伝説のピスタチオ、ホワイトチョコレートとピスタチオのクリーム、ピスタチオのガナッシュ、ラズベリージェリー、ピスタチオ
5.Milk chocolate cream, chocolate cookie pieces, coffee-white chocolate ganache and fresh cloudberry in the middle
ミルクチョコレートクリーム、チョコレートクッキー、コーヒー・ホワイトチョコレートガナッシュ、真ん中にはフレッシュクラウドベリー
6. Chjoko X Snickers
Caramel-chocolate cream, dark chocolate ganache, caramel heart, salted nuts and caramel-salted chocolate bar pieces
キャラメル・チョコレートクリーム、ダークチョコレートガナッシュ、真ん中にキャラメル、塩味のナッツ
Now, you might expect to hear which one was the best. But, after eating different flavors, I realized that the best one is up to your taste. For example, a friend liked the one with orange, but it wasn’t my favorite as I am not a big fan of orange in sweets.
さて、ここでどれが一番おいしかったのかという話になるかと思うのだが、実際いろんなフレーバーを食べてみて、そしてほかのお店のラスキアイスプッラも食べてみて思うのは、どこが一番かというのは自分の好みによるところがとても大きいと思う。例えば、私はスイーツにオレンジが入っているのはあまり好きではないけれど、それが好きな友達はオレンジの入っているラスキアイスプッラがとてもおいしかったと言っていた。フレーバーに関しては本当に自分の好みのフレーバーによるのだと思う。
By the way, I ate the last laskiaispulla of the season, at Kahvila Kariranta, in Lahti. They noticed I love laskiaispulla looking at my Instagram account and I received a message from them. They told me they have the best laskiaispulla in Lahti. I replied and told them that I knew they were one the best and my favorite cafes in Finland. I had also had their laskiaispulla before. I happened to have an opportunity to visit Lahti for work. After working intensely, we visited the cafe. They also had special versions of laskiaispulla, but I had the traditional one with almond paste. Both the bun and the cream were soft and light. I loved it. I had filtered coffee with laskiaispulla as I always do. Filtered coffee goes better with pulla than cafe latte or cappuccino.
ところで、今シーズン最後のラスキアイスプッラは、私のインスタの投稿を見て招待してくれたラハティにあるKahvila Karirantaでいただいた。ここはラハティで私が大好きなカフェ。以前にもラスキアイスところで、今シーズン最後のラスキアイスプッラは、私のインスタの投稿を見て招待してくれたラハティにあるKahvila Karirantaでいただいた。ここはラハティで私が大好きなカフェ。以前にもラスキアイスプッラを食べたことがあった。インスタのメッセージで、ラハティで一番おいしいラスキアイスプッラがあるから食べに来て、と言ってくれた。たまたま仕事でラハティに行く機会があったので、思ったより激務になった仕事の後に立ち寄って、とてもおいしいラスキアイスプッラをいただいた。パンもふわふわ、クリームもふわふわ。ここでもスペシャルバージョンがあったのだが、オーソドックスにアーモンドペーストの入ったものを選んで味わった。もちろん、プッラのお供は普通のフィルターコーヒー。プッラにはラテやカプチーノよりもしっくりくる。
I ate a lot more laskiaispulla than I have written here. I feel I ate too much this season and am thinking of having only one next season. At least, I don’t think I will try the marathon. 😉 It is not healthy to eat a lot of sweets. However, in the cold and dark season, something playful brings fun in the life. Keeping playful spirit is important. Perhaps, I shall come up with healthier ways to brighten the days in winter.
このほかにもあちこちでラスキアイスプッラを食べ、食べ過ぎ感。来シーズンは1つだけにしようと思っているが、きっとまたついついもっと食べてしまうだろう。でもさすがにマラソンには挑戦しないと思う。甘いものを食べるのはヘルシーなことではないけれど、こんなふうに遊び心あふれることをするのは暗くて寒いフィンランドの冬に楽しみをもたらしてくれる。来年はもう少しヘルシーな遊び心あふれることをやってみたいと思っている。
Last Sunday, I went out for a walk with a friend and her dog. It was a cold day and wind was harsh as often it is in the city center of Helsinki. Three directions out of four are sea in Helsinki and it’s often windy.
We walked to Lapinlahti to have coffee at Metsä Paahtimo. I had known about it but hadn’t been in the cafe. In the menu, I found all-day breakfast and ordered Columbian breakfast. It’s because I love toast with butter more than anything. I think the bread was from Primo which is selling bread in Lapinlahti on weekends. And butter on the toast was plenty! I enjoyed warm butter toast so much. It could be the best toast available in the town.
Raw chocolate had salty taste together with a bit dark chocolate. I loved it!
As to coffee I had, it was too light for me. It’s a matter of preference and I like dark-roasted coffee. My friend said she liked her latte. And I would like to try other coffee there some time.
We enjoyed our conversation in the relaxed atmosphere of the cafe. The breakfast and a good friend made my day despite of the cold weather outside.
I spent three nights and five days in Tampere last week. On Tuesday afternoon, I took a train to Tampere and stayed one night at the hotel to prepare for the early morning next day. I woke up at 4:30am and headed to sauna to do live streaming to an event in Tokyo. I came home in the afternoon and the next day, again, I took a train to Tampere for other lives from a sauna to Japan for the following two days. While I was in Tampere, I had opportunities to see old friends and visit a couple of cafes.
Kahvila Siiri
Kahvila Siiri was lovely and cozy in Lempäälä. Lempäälä is not exactly in Tampere but it’s about 20-minute drive from Tamere city center. A friend who lives Lempäälä took me there by car after I had visited his place. Another friend came from Tampere to have coffee with me and took me back to the hotel.
The cafe in the old wooden house was atmospheric everywhere and there were difference rooms and spaces which made it more interesting than one big space of cafe. Though a friend and I were talking about how nice it would be to be here in summer, I thought the cafe was perfect for the cold, dark and rainy (and eventually snowy) day. The warm atmosphere made me feel comfortable and happy despite of the harsh weather outside.
It was an e-mail I received from Mr A.L in Tampere who I don’t know. But after Iltalehti wrote about my cafe trips, he wrote to me and recommended this cafe and another cafe. He said Siiri’s korvapuusti is the best. So, I ordered korvapuusti and I loved it. 🙂 It wasn’t small, but I ate the whole with pleasure! Thank you for the tip, Mr A.L!
Kahvila Siiri
Uotintie 5, 37500 Lempäälä
Tahmelan Huvila
My workplace while I was in Tampere was a sauna at an old villa Tahmelan Huvila located by the lake Pyhäjärvi. There are various events organized at the villa. And there is a small cafe and library.
The sauna seems to be heated several times a week. While we were there for live streaming, sauna was heated at low temperature but the steam from sauna stove (löyly) was great!
During breaks, we had tasty home-made breaksfast and snack. Everything was yummy but the best was warm bun on the last day. It was so good and gone so quickly! We were 8 people. I am hoping I will visit there again, even only for the bun! As we are busy eating the yummy bun, I didn’t have time to take pictures if you wonder where the photo is. At the cafe, one could buy home-made cakes and pies.
Tahmelan Huvila
Uramonkatu 9, Tampere
Cafe Pispala
Cafe Pispala is one of my most favorite cafes in Finland. When I heard that we will be on live from Tahmelan Huvila, I was delighted to find out that it’s close to Cafe Pispala. I love the American pancakes. And it’s the only place I could have American pancakes in Finland as far as I know!
Cafe Pispala
PISPANKATU 30, TAMPERE
Kahvila-Ravintola Wanha Pehtoori is located in Helsinki at the boarder to Vantaa. It’s a café in a farm premises. The farm is famous for sunflowers in summer. I have visited the cafe twice, once in summer and the another time in winter when there was much snow on the ground. I had heard that they offer one of the best munkki (Finnish donut) in Finland and wanted to go there. As it was a bit far from city center of Helsinki, I had to wait for the opportunity. I suggested friends with a car to go and have coffee there one summer afternoon. Even before seeing their premise, we noticed it’s a popular place. There were a lot of cars parking on the side of the nearby roads. At this point, I was already so excited. It’s a good sign! There is relatively large area of outdoor seating. I ordered munkki and coffee for myself and enjoyed them in the nice yard.
Second time was at the beginning of January 2021. My boyfriend was borrowing friend’s a car. We wanted to go for coffee after 19:00 on Sunday. At such time especially on Sunday, it’s challenging to find a good café. I remembered this café and looked for the opening-hour information in my phone. It’s open till 21:00! Wonderful! In the middle of almost nowhere, such a nice café is open till 21:00. It is wonderful. We were not sure about where to park the car but hoped there would be a parking nearby so that we wouldn’t have to walk a lot in the snow. Luckily, we found the seems-to-be official parking space which was close enough to the café.
It was winter and the tables and benches in the yard were covered by snow, and it was too cold to sit outside and drink coffee. At the previous visit, I didn’t know there was a café space inside the building as well but this time, we found it. There was also a tent set up in the yard. Being already so impressed by lovely yard covered with snow and decorated with lights, we went inside the wooden building where the café was. It was cozy. All customers seem to be enjoying the cozy atmosphere, warm or cold drink and sweets or savory with good company.
I had again munkki and coffee. I had such a lovely time. We liked how they decorated the yard, outside and inside of the café. Being such a nice cafe in the farm is something unique.
Kahvila-Ravintola Wanha Pehtoori
Haltialan tila
Laamannintie 17
00690 Helsinki
https://wanhapehtoori.org/kahvila-ravintola/
A friend and I planned a trip to Vaasa, Pori and Tampere. The friend came from Oulu and I travelled to Vaasa at the end of July. The trip was to finalize my cafe tour of the 30 loveliest cafes in Finland featured in the Iltalehti paper. After visiting a cafe in Kustavi, I had only two cafes left. One was in Vaasa and Pori. So, we planned to visit both Vaasa and Pori.
However, in Vaasa, we found the cafe, Raawka, was closed for their summer holiday. We got disappointed about it, yet, enjoyed Vaasa a lot visiting Kvarken archipelago and finding great restaurants.
We took Onni bus from Vaasa to Pori after spending two nights and three days in Vaasa. It’s a shame that main cities on the west coast of Finland are not directly connected by train. It would be nice to have such a railroad all the way from Kemi to Turku (and Helsinki).
When we arrived at Pori bus station, our friend kindly came to picked us up and drove to the Petras Cafe.
Appearance of the cafe wasn’t as fancy as most of the loveliest cafes listed in the Ilatalehti. However, we noticed it was quite popular among locals. There were customers of all ages. It’s a cafe loved by locals, I realized.
Also, the cafe offers extensive selections of sweets, food, and drink. I think you could see many of them in the above photo. “Diversity” felt right to describe Petras Cafe.
We had been eating a lot of food and sweets by the time we got to this cafe, and it was close to our dinner time. And portion of the sweets looked big. We decided to share one strawberry cake which was nice.
When we were leaving the cafe, we noticed the sign “Kahvi 1€” with a picture of a dog. We wondered if the coffee is 1€ only for dogs 😉 But we concluded it is 1€ for everyone including dog. We talked about such a thing only for fun, of course.
Only one more cafe to visit to complete the 30 cafes featured in the IL article. At the end of the trip, we were already making a plan for the next visit. I am actually writing this post on the train to Vaasa right. I have asked the cafe if they were open today and they confirmed it. I can’t wait to get there!
This post is related to the Iltalehti article “Japanilainen Yumi kiersi Suomen kahvilat: ”Suomalaisilla on aarre” “
Petras Cafe
Yrjönkatu 11, 28100 Pori
I had one of the best tasting menus I had ever had at the HOTEL NESTOR & RESTAURANT BACK POCKET , in Korpo. We took a bus from Turku, where a friend and I stayed previous day, to Korpo. The bus was full, but most passengers got off at Nagu. We found our bus stop as soon as we got to the island of Korpo. On the way, we took ferries while we were still on the bus, and it felt special.
We checked in the Hotel Nestor and waited for the dinner time enjoying the calmness of the hotel. Service of the hotel staff was great! Our room was specious as we booked a room for four people. This was the only available room when we made a reservation in June.
18:00, we went down to the restaurant.
The tasting menu started with wonderful drink. I asked for mocktail and got alcohol-free sparkling wine with elderberry syrup and a slice of lime. It was fresh and lovely!
Appetizer was green carpaccio: cucumber noodle, olive oil, herbal oil, yogurt ice cream, matcha and lemon sorbet
When the friendly waitress explained about this dish and told us it’s consist of cucumbers and so on, I was a bit skeptical. I don’t like cucumbers in general and would leave them in the plate if cucumbers were in the dish. But this time, I told the waitress only food I can’t eat was tomatoes. I am glad that I didn’t say that I can’t eat cucumbers when I tasted it. I would have missed the point of the tasting menu if I had told them that I couldn’t eat cucumbers. I didn’t feel I was eating cucumbers while I was tasting the dish. I was delighted when the waitress told us that the white stuff is yogurt ice cream and on top of it is matcha and lemon sorbet. I like yogurt ice cream, and anything made of matcha. I think the point of this dish was yogurt ice cream. It made this dish special. It upgraded the flavor of this dish.
The second dish was Nestor Pea Soup: peas, horseradish, cream fresh, onion, herbal oil, and spring onion. It’s hard to say which dish was my most favorite but Nestor pea soup could be the one. Horseradish created the fresh taste and made the flavor amazing; I think.
The third dish was scallops and scrambled eggs. Truffle, truffle juice, breadcrumbs, tapioca pearl, soy sauce and balsamic are other ingredients. I love both scallops and eggs. A dish which includes both was amazing especially when it was decorated with truffle. The harmony which all the ingredients created together was exquisite.
The first main dish was whitefish, siika (in Finnish), with new potatoes, champagne and mustard sauce, fried seaweed.
The second main dish was Finnish beef tenderloin cooked with dry yeast, pickles, brown butter cream, herb purée, and malt cracker. On the side, there was baked carrot and Béarnaise sauce.
Both main dishes were marvelous! Harmonies created by all the ingredients gave us joy.
And finally, dessert! A friend and I had different dessert as the original dessert in the menu included vodka and I can’t torelate alcohol at all. My dessert was homemade vanilla ice cream with blueberries, goat cheese mousse and marshmallow. The original one was blueberry sorbet with vodka and honeycomb. (Looking at the photos, I am not sure if I got the ingredients right though). Sometimes, dessert could be overwhelming after already eating a lot, but their dessert was light and tasty, and we were happy about it.
What a lovely dinner we had! Everything was perfect including friendly and professional stuff! The restaurant will be closed for autumn/winter season from September, but they will serve tasting menu to the hotel guests even in the off season. And I think it’s worth visiting there even only to eat!
We went for a walk in the surrounding after dinner and went to bed early as I had to leave the hotel early in the next morning for work. The hotel prepared breakfast already in the evening and delivered it to the room so that I could eat something before taking a bus at 6:30AM. Thank you, HOTEL NESTOR & RESTAURANT BACK POCKET . You are the best! I will be back.
HOTEL NESTOR & RESTAURANT BACK POCKET
Österretaisvägen 45
21710 Korpo
While we were in Turku, I decided to visit Cafe Art. I had been there several times but realized I didn’t have photos.
I took a bus from Sokos Hotel Kupittaa to the riverside of Aurajoki. On the sunny day, there were a lot of people walking by the river.
Many people were at the tables outside, in front of the cafe but I stayed inside the cafe. I hadn’t known about it before but got to know “Cafe Art has received the title of `Barista of the Year’ no less than six times” reading the website before visiting the cafe. So, I was definitely up for good cup of cappuccino. Though I had thought I wouldn’t have any pastries or cakes as we were going for dinner just after the cafe. But croissant looks very nice, and I ordered it with cappuccino.
The cafe was very busy and the customers including myself had to wait for coffee longer than we would feel comfortable. A lot of people were around the counter and it felt restless. Nevertheless,coffee was nice! The croissant was also nice and I think it would be excellent when it was freshly baked in the morning.
This is “Art” cafe. There were several paintings on the wall and grand piano in the cafe. I thought the above painting of the cafe itself was nice!
Interior is classic and calm. I sat in the small room that I could see the bigger hall of the cafe and enjoyed a quiet coffee time.