Laskiaispulla Marathon ラスキアイスプッラの季節

Posted on by Yumi

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。

Heart-warming toast on the cold day

Posted on by Yumi

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.

3 things I liked the best this time in Tampere

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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

Rawkaa in Vaasa

Posted on by Yumi

I travelled to Vaasa and a friend joined me from Oulu in July. It was supposed to be the last trip to visit 30 cafes listed in the Iltalehti. The plan was to stay in Vaasa for two nights and three days to visit Rawkaa, one night two days near Pori to visit Café Petras and stay one night two days in Tampere on our way back home. Tampere is a good location for both of us to go back to the places where we live.

On the first day of the trip, a friend and I met up each other at Seinäjoki where we had to change the train to Vaasa. It was already evening just before 18:00 when we arrived at Vaasa. Everything is nearby in Vaasa city centre. Our hotel was about 5 min-walk from the station. We had pre-ordered take away sushi and tempura from a restaurant in the same block as the hotel. Looking at the website, I thought this must be a good place to get Japanese food. My instinct was right (again!). Though we thought it was in the same block as the hotel, but it was in the same shopping centre where our hotel was. We enjoyed the warm tempura and nice sushi in our hotel room.

Next day, we went to the café and realised it was closed for summer holiday. Shocking, but we immediately agreed to travel to Vaasa again in August. My friend had joined me several trips to visit cafes and she said she would like to join the final trip of those.

Even though we couldn’t make it to one of my main purposes for visiting Vaasa, we enjoyed the city and the surrounding. And we liked the idea to come here again next month.

We visited one of the UNESCO world heritage sites in Finland, Kvarken archipelago taking a summer bus organized by Visit Vaasa. We were picked up at one of the pick-up points in the city centre, and bus was comfortable. I had wanted to visit this archipelago for long time. I thought it was fascinating that the archipelago has been continuously rising from the sea. According to the UNESCO website, “Since the last retreat of the ice from the High Coast 9,600 years ago, the uplift has been in the order of 285 m which is the highest known ”rebound”. ” This natural heritage consists of Kvarken and High Coast of Sweden. We enjoyed the view of the special archipelago from the observation tower Saltkaret in Svedjehamn.

In the same island there was a nice café/restaurant, Salteriet. We heard from a friend that salmon soup at the café was a-must. And we were glad that we tasted it. We shared the soup and pulla-pudding as dinner time was approaching and we wanted to taste both. Both salmon soup and pulla-pudding were great!

On the third day, we enjoyed lunch and took a bus to Pori to visit one of the 30 cafes featured in the Iltalehti article.

On 20 August, I took an early morning train from Helsinki to Vaasa. A friend joined me travelling from Oulu.

I had been anxious until I saw the café was open even though I had asked the café if they would be open on their regular opening hours. I didn’t see it’d be an option to visit Vaasa again only to have coffee at the café.

Rawkaa was also in the compact city centre which was only 1-2 minutes from our hotel. It was open and we had colourful pieces of raw cake. I chose strawberry & lime cake, and my friend chose mint chocolate.

It was quiet in the café. Having visited all 30 cafes listed in the Iltalehti, I was happy.

After visiting the café, the first thing in Vaasa this time, we walked to the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art where we saw the most impressive photo exhibitions I had ever seen. We hadn’t known what to expect at the museum, but recommended by friends, we thought it would be a good idea to visit there. The photographer, Erik Johansson seems to be creative, indeed. I recommend you to at least to have a look at this website, and if there was a chance, you should go to see his works.

In the evening, we had great dinner at the Restaurant Hejm. Previous time, we had lunch and agreed to have dinner there when we would come back to Vaasa. My friend offered my mocktail to celebrate the completion of my café trip.

Next morning, I took a train back to Helsinki, and later she took a train to Oulu.

Rawkaa

Pitkäkatu/Stora långgatan 34 65100 Vaasa/Vasa

https://www.caferaawka.fi/

Kahvila-Ravintola Wanha Pehtoori

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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/

Petras Cafe in Pori

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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!

Petras Cafe
Yrjönkatu 11, 28100 Pori

Cafe Art in Turku

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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.

Kahvila Maggia – Another lovely cafe in Kustavi

Posted on by Yumi

We took a bus to Kustavi’s main bus station which was located in the center of Kustavi after checking out from Peterzens. There were several restaurants, bars, and cafes. While our bus went to some other direction and came back to continue to Turku, I thought it was a good idea to have coffee at Kahvila Maggia which was mentioned at hs.fi. . There was a bit less than one hour until the bus has come back to the main bus station and the bus driver kindly said we could leave the biggest luggage we had in the bus. I like small cafes by the road in the countryside. Kahvila Maggia is one of such cafes. It was easy to spot the cafe from the bus when we were on the way to Kustavi Handicraft Center on the previous day. There was a clear sign of “kahvila” and the building is iconic that I could remember from the hs.fi article.

Peopele were enjoying coffee in the terrace that afternoon we got there. The whole setting looked lovely.

Looking at different delicious cakes, buns, and sandwiches, it wasn’t easy to choose one. But my instinct was telling me to have either Omar cheesecake or Brita cake. I ordered the Brita cake, and after that, my friend asked the staff the recommendations. The answer was either Brita cake or Omar cheesecake! So, my instinct was right.

My friend ordered Omar cheesecake and I was happy knowing that I could taste her cheesecake as well as my cake. The cheesecake was a bit too sweet for me as I had thought it might be and I was glad for my choice. Both pieces were cute in the photos.

After enjoying coffee and cake in the terrace, we went to the bus stop to re-catch the bus to Turku where we spent one night to be prepared for the trip to Korppoo. Our original plan was to go around Turku archipelago trail but for several reasons, we decided to modify the plan this time.

Kuopio, Suonenjoki and Joensuu – Three Cafes a Day

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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 15^th anniversary chocolate cake. Year 2020 was their 15^th 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.

Asemapäällikkö, Lahti – One of the 30 loveliest cafes in Finland

Posted on by Yumi

I was re-counting the number of cafes I visited out of the 30 loveliest cafe in Finland one evening and realized that the cafe I thought I visited wasn’t the cafe which was in the list. One of my most favorite cafes in Lahti is located at the old station building of Lahti. As soon as I saw the word “asema” (station in Finnish), I thought it was that cafe. But a couple of weeks ago, I realized it wasn’t the cafe.

I met the Iltalehti journalist who wrote the cafe article one morning in July. In the afternoon, I asked my boyfriend if he would like to visit the cafe in question in Lahti. And we decided to go immediately and left for the Helsinki central station to catch an IC train to Lahti.

We found the Aemapäälikk ö next to Lahti railway station, the one which is in use. It was a pastel blue wooden building. I had never noticed it till then though I had visited Lahti by train several times.

As we were thinking of having late lunch after visiting the cafe, I meant to have something small or only coffee. But I saw the rahkapulla, Finnish cream cheese bun behind on the table behind the counter and had an instinct that it was freshly baked. And I couldn’t help ordering it. My instinct about food is always right! It was still warm and the cream part which was melty! I asked for a small bag to take away half of it when I ordered it at the counter, but it was too good to leave the half. So, I ate the whole.

The wooden Jugend-style building of Aemapäälikkö, “station manager” in Finnish, has been there since 1912 and station managers and the families had lived there. So, naturally, there are photos and history of the station and railway are on the wall! I think such interior decoration could thrill the rail-fans!

As to interior decoration, I liked the wallpaper of the bathroom! Don’t you agree with me?