Villa Lilla ヴィッラ・リッラ

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Villa Lilla
Laturinkuja 10, 02650 Espoo

先週末、土曜日に訪れたレストランVilla Lillaはとても素敵な場所だった。なにもかもがほんとうにおいしくて、フィンランドでも最高のお店の一つだと思う。

Last Saturday, I had an opportunity to visit a lovely restaurant, Villa Lilla, which is located in Leppävaara, Espoo. All the dishes we had were delicious and it’s one of the best restaurants I have ever dined.

親しい友達から「今度の土曜日、Villa Lillaに行ってみませんか？」というメッセージが届いたこと。その土曜日はなにも予定がなかったし、彼女が行ってみたいと思っているお店なら期待できると思ったので即答。「行きましょう。」混み具合を見てみようと思ってウェブサイトの予約のページに行ったら、なんと予約できるのは11時半のみ。すぐに友達にメッセージを送り、11時半で予約するということに即決。早速予約を入れて、この時間ならブランチかしら？と思って、ちゃんとサイトの情報やメニューを見てみる。やっぱりブランチだった。

“Would you like to go to Villa Lilla this Saturday?” I received a message from a close friend. I didn’t have a plan on the Saturday and said “Yes!” immediately. I looked at the reservation page of the restaurant’s website to see how busy it could be and if we would need a reservation. And I realized that only 11:30 seating was available. (Maybe only one table!) I informed it to the friend, and we quickly decided to make a reservation. After making a reservation, I thought that they might offer brunch on Saturday and looked at the detail. And yes, it is brunch time and only brunch menu is served.

Fresh foccacia: It was warm and soft. We usually try to avoid bread but couldn’t help eating at least two pieces each though I don’t remember how many pieces we had.

焼きたてのフォカッチャ：温かくてふわふわ。ふわふわというのはフィンランドではめずらしい感じ。いつもならパンは控える私たちもこのおいしさには抵抗できず、少なくとも一人２切れは食べてしまった。

Starter: It was beautifully presented! We loved every single flavor. The ingredients were fresh and tasted pure. The smoked salmon had appropriate amount of salt while it tends to be salty at other restaurants or when I buy it from the shops. The dill in the crayfish skagen was fresh and provided lovely flavor. I usually don’t appreciate dill very much, but I loved it here. Pork (I guess) was marinated with basil and flavor of basil was beautiful. Gooseberry chutney tasted fresh with a bit of sourness. Vegetables were marinated very well, thus I could eat peppers joyfully though it’s not my favorite vegetable

前菜はとても美しい盛り付けで、一つ一つとてもおいしい味付けだった。新鮮な食材の風味が実直に活かされている味。スモークサーモンはどこでもたいてい塩がきつすぎるのだが、ここのスモークサーモンはちょうどいい塩加減。ザリガニのスカゲンに入っているディルは、たいていちょっと風味が強すぎるのだが、このスカゲンのディルは素晴らしいバランスで風味に貢献していた。新鮮だとこうなるのだろうか。豚肉（だと思われるもの）はバジルでマリネしてあって、これもまたとても新鮮（バジルも新鮮ならこんなマリネの仕方も新鮮。）セイヨウスグリのチャツネは少し酸味がきいていて、これがなかなかよいアクセントに。野菜のマリネもとてもよい味で、いつもならあまり気が向かないパプリカもおいしくいただいた。

Main：Beluga lentils & basil mayonnaise with roasted beef fillet. There were three choices, meat, fish or vegetable to be served with lentils and basil mayonnaise. A friend and I both felt like meat. The taste and texture of the beef fillet and other stuff delighted us. It was perfect.

メイン：ビーフフィレのローストとベルーガ・レンズ豆、バジルのマヨネーズ。ベルーガ・レンズ豆とバジルのマヨネーズとの組み合わせに肉、魚、野菜の主菜のチョイスがあったのだが、私たちは二人とも肉気分。味も食感も最高のメインだった。

Cranberry financier & salted caramel made our experience much more delightful. Financier is one of my most favorite sweets. I loved the contrast of the flavors, sweetness of caramel and sourness of cranberry. Simple filtered coffee, of course, worked very well with the dessert.

デザートはクランベリーフィナンシェと塩キャラメル。３コースブランチの素敵な締めくくり。フィナンシェは大好きなスイート。さらに酸っぱいクランベリーと甘い塩キャラメルの相反する風味が創り出すなんとも素晴らしい味。そんなデザートと一緒にいただくのはシンプルなフィルターコーヒーがぴったり。

大満足の素敵な土曜日のブランチ。コーヒーは別料金ながら、この豪華なブランチコースが33€というのは、フィンランドではとてもお得。サービスもよく、お店の雰囲気も素敵でわざわざエスポーのレッパヴァーラまで電車に乗って出かけて行く価値はある。こんな場所にこんなお店がという意外性もこのお店の魅力かもしれない。駅からも歩けるので私たちのように車がなくても大丈夫。お店の前には駐車場もあるので車も便利。Villa Lillaは約２年前、まだコロナ禍にオープンして現在にいたる。オーナーはヘルシンキで人気のいくつかのレストランも手がけている。シェフPerttu Paulastoが創り出す素晴らしい味に魅了されて大人気のレストラン、次回はランチに出かけたいものである。

What a lovely Saturday brunch! The lovely brunch course was only 33€, reasonable in Finland. Service and atmosphere were also great. It worth visiting, all the way, Leppävaara to dine at Villa Lilla. It’s within walking distance from the train station and there are parking spaces in front of the villa. Villa Lilla opened the door about two years ago, still during so-called corona time, by the successful owner who also owns Muru, Pastis, Fiasco?, Finnjävel and Sue Ellen in Helsinki. The restaurants that the head chef Perttu Paulasto create amazing flavors is busy with a lot of customers. I am thinking of trying lunch next time!

murasaki ムラサキ

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murasaki
Korkeavuorenkatu 47 00130 Helsinki, Finland
More info

Today, I suggested my gourmet friend/collaborator to go to Murasaki for lunch. Murasaki is a Japanese restaurant which opened on the first day of December. With recommendations of friends and a Japanese chef, I had been looking forward to tasting Murasaki’s “teishoku”, Japanese set menu, lunch.

Murasaki challenges “Japanese food = sushi, ramen or tempura” concept which most people think of when they think of Japanese food in Finland and many other countries. The chef Saki would like to introduce other Japanese food, especially, the ones we eat at home in Japan.

The lunch menu consisted of such home-cooked dishes and the tastes reminded me of what I used to eat at home.

I chose simmered chicken wings with sweet vinegar soy sauce for main and sesame tofu and spinach in broth. Both are typical side dishes we eat at home in Japan. The lunch was served with a bowl of rice and miso soup. Warm main dish was perfect for the cold day with a lot of snow on the street. Side dishes were also lovely and remined me of Japan.

The friend chose the stewed pork belly with sweet soy sauce with the same side dishes as mine. Pork belly dish also looked perfect for this kind of weather. And it looked authentically Japanese.

Murasaki is open for “teishoku” lunch (11:00 -13:00) and in the evening as Izakaya (17:00 – 21:00) for seven days a week. Izakaya (Japanese pub) serves small dishes as they do in Japan. There are good selections of sake and other drinks. There is only chef Saki working in the restaurant and he is open for requests and suggestions.

Price of lunch is more expensive than average lunch, but quality is great. Also, the teishoku has enough volume and satisfies your appetite. Chef Saki had worked in a traditional Japanese restaurant in Kyoto going through strict chef training. One can trust his cooking skills.

There is a L-shape counter and a table for 6 people. We sat at the counter and enjoyed talking with the chef. It’s possible to book a table via FB or Instagram.

Ravintola Kannas

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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.

One of big groups had left. Immediately tables were cleaned and next group came.

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!

Kaskis, Michelin one-star restaurant in Turku

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Reservation
This year, restaurant Kaskis became Michelin one star restaurant. It was the first time that a restaurant in other cities than Helsinki was chosen to by Michelin in Finland. Even before they became Michelin-starred restaurant, I had heard it was a great restaurant from many reliable sources and tried to book a table. But I never succeeded to secure a table.

Recently, I looked at their booking site without any expectation and found two dates were available in September. I booked a table for two thinking “cancelling is much easier than booking”. I asked a friend who lives in Turku area, and she immediately said “Yes.”

Logistics
I had been so much looking forward to dining at Kaskis. But there was something I needed to figure out. The last available transportation from Turku to Helsinki where I live was 21:15 express bus. I asked them how long it usually takes for customers to finish the whole course. They said, it usually takes 3.5 hours but could try to squeeze it into 3 hours. Our reservation was at 18:00 which is the time the restaurant opens. I figured I couldn’t make it back to Helsinki and booked a hotel room in Turku. It made my evening much more relaxing.

Dining experience at Kaskis was unique. They, especially, the head chef, seem to enjoy Michelin status a lot. From my experience, it was different from other Michelin restaurants.

First thing I noticed was the Michelin figure at the entrance. I had never seen such a figure at the restaurants though my experience is limited. It made us smile and laugh. At the shelf near the entrance, there was a Michelin star!

One of the snacks served had a shape of Michelin star. Of course, it was tasty, and I liked it a lot.

The chef brought us the first dessert saying, “Let’s eat Michelin”. It was dessert which shape was Michelin star.
The chef was so much enjoying the Michelin status, in a Finnish way, in my opinion. My friend wondered if he has Michelin star tattoo. He had a lot of tattoos on the arms but no Michelin star we recognized. On the way out from the restaurant, I asked him if he had Michelin start tattooed. Of course, he did. He didn’t have enough space on his arms, the tattoo was in his chest. And he told us the story. He went to Norway without telling others about Michelin thing, but he called his Tattoo artist that he wanted to book an appointment. The tattoo artist was fully booked and wouldn’t be available for a while. However, the tattoo artist heard about Michelin star after it became public and called the chef that he could come immediately. The chef greeted every single customer when they were leaving at the door. And both customers and the chef seem to enjoy the conversation. We also did enjoy it.

Menu
Menu was rather simple, such as snacks, crayfish, mallard (duck), carrot, white fish, beef, dessert and berries. However, each dish consisted of, actually, a couple of dishes and offered variety of ways of enjoying each ingredient.

Snacks

Rapu/Crayfish (the first starter)
Crayfish starter was served with two kinds of sourdough bread from bakery Å. One of them was archipelago bread. We love bakery Å located on the Kakola hill which has been recently developed. Their breads and pastries are one of the best in Finland. There were two kinds of spreads, one was whipped butter flavored with dill and another was sour cream flavored with salt and lemon. There were pickled cucumbers and pickled stems of dill. Crayfish meat was nicely presented. There was soup made from Finnish freshwater crayfish. Rhubarb was served to add flavors to these dishes like lemon does.
I liked that crayfish was in the menu as it was a still crayfish season when we dined there. I appreciate seasonal flavors. I liked the soup together with delicious pieces of bread. Crayfish makes wonderful soup.

Table was full of dishes and I thought it was better to take a video to show all of them.

Sorsa/Mallard (the second starter)
We didn’t know the word “mallard” and had to ask what it was in Finnish (sorsa). It’s a wild duck. I loved the taste and texture of the hey-smoked mallard. There was another dish which consisted of Finnish corn, broad bean, green pea, corn puree topped with homemade chili oil in the middle, confit of mallard legs and mallard sauce. I liked it a lot! All ingredients brought beautiful harmony to the dish. Among them, corn puree was my most favorite though. The wild duck was from Inkoo and reminded me of equally great duck dish I had some other restaurant several years ago. Inkoo seems to be the place for wild ducks.

Porkkana/Carrot (the third starter)
Finnish carrot with pickled elder flower berry and flower, homemade cottage cheese seasoned with summer flowers, carrot and yellow raspberry. It was fun to see carrot shape made of carrots. The cottage cheese was tasty (I love cheese!) and flowers made it lovely (I love flowers!)!

Siika/White Fish (the first main dish)
White fish (I think it’s grilled), white fish raw, kales, cabbages, fresh herbs, mussel stock made from Thai green curry sauce. I am not sure about the mussel stock part (no memories!), but we were surprised by the combination of Thai curry sauce and other ingredients. But it was fresh and lovely. Texture of the white fish was nicely farm and worked very well with the sauce.

Nauta/Beef (the second main dish)
Tenderloin stake, tartar, beef tail ragoût, rosetta potato… at this point, we were close to completely full. I would usually skip potatoes, but it was too good to skip. All of these four dishes were great but my most favorite was tartar because I love tartar and the flavor and texture of the meat were perfect!

Marja/Berries (dessert)
Michelin-star shaped sourdough bread ice cream sandwich and berries and Granité. We were so so so full but couldn’t help eating both desserts. Combination of berry and Granité was refreshing!

Lastly, (more) sweets! Pihlaja, the oldest candy produced by Fazer still on the market. The wrapping was from Fazer’s candy, but the chef made the candy! He told us he collected wrappings after his kids had eaten the candies.

So many dishes with so many different ingredients and flavors! The atmosphere of the restaurant was easy-going, and you don’t have to dress up. I mean that you could dress up, but casual clothing is also welcomed. The chef is friendly and fun. It was very difficult to make a reservation, but I am glad that I finally had an opportunity to dine at Kaskis.

Kaskis
Restaurant Kaskis
+358 44 723 0200
Kaskenkatu 6 a • 20700 Turku • Finland

P.S. Their sister restaurant “Kakolanruusu” is also superb!

Omadi

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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.

Hotel & Restaurant Nestor

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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

Take-away dinner – 3 course menu from Kuurna

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From the beginning of the week, restaurants, cafes and pubs are allowed to operate only to offer take-away as part of restrictions to cope with the pandemic. Many nice restaurants are offering take-away dishes now. Taking this opportunity, we decided to try different styles of take-away this week.

KUURNA GOES TAKE AWAY
Last spring, when there was the similar restriction to the current one, a friend of mine who knows about food told me that they had amazing take-away dishes from Kuurna. As soon as the new restriction was announced, I looked at the restaurant’s website to see if they would offer take-away menu again as I hadn’t had a chance to try it last time. And I found they would do it! So, I e-mailed them to make an order last week and received a cheerful reply. They told me that menu changes every week and I need to check the menu on Monday to tell them our choices of dishes. At the same time, they reserved the pick-up (take-away) time for us. (Often, they are sold out!)

Take-away menu, KUURNA GOES TAKE AWAY, is 3-course menu, starter, main and dessert. There are three choices for starter and main and two choices for dessert. Basic price of the course is 37e but if you chose certain dishes, a couple of more euros would be added to the price.

On the pick-up day, Thursday, we walked to the restaurant as we thought it was a good opportunity to exercise. It took about 25min. And we took a taxi to come home to keep the warm food warm.

Pike wallenberg, smoked butter sauce, roasted potato

We were already excited when we saw packages in the paper bag. (fyi, all the packages were eco-friendly and they looked cool!)

Even though the course menu should starter from the starter, we started with the main dish as it was a warm dish. Both pike wellenberg and roasted potato were very good. Texture of the roasted potato was perfect, not being too soft! My wellenberg was gluten-free version.

The starter was tartar steak. It’s Kuurna’s classic and a dish I can’t help ordering when it’s in the menu. It was delicious. I think the spring onion was working very well to create the great flavor of the dish. I had never seen tartar in such a package, and it looked cute and exciting with egg yolk. The package reminded us of burgers, but much better thing was inside.

Dessert was fantastic! The photo is my gluten-free version of dessert. I don’t have the exact name or ingredients but guess the cream was mascarpone. The main ingredient was pear which was the same as original non-gluten-free dessert, pear and mascarpone tart, pecans. Cream was so delicious, and meringue was soft and nice.

Even though this was fine dining experience, we ate very quickly! It was so nice, and we didn’t (want to!) have a pause to have a conversation. We are grateful for the amazing take-away menu and a message from the restaurant made us smile.

The cutest restaurant I’v ever had lunch

Posted on by Yumi

Last month, I had a great lunch at a restaurant in Kadriorg district in Tallinn. I told about it to a friend back in Helsinki. He told me there is another lovely restaurant in the same area. As he is such a foodie, I trust his recommendations! I wanted to go the restaurant he told me about as soon as possible.

As soon as a friend and I saw the cute house, we were so excited! What a cute restaurant!

Inside was lovely as well. I liked their choice of colors a lot.

And I loved that we got the table with a wall decorated with rose wallpaper. Roses are one of my most favorite colors.

Not only the cuet appearance of the restaurant, but also food was amazing there.

Fresh pasta was great! Both starters were very nice but I will try tiger prawns which a friend of mine had as they taseted “wow” next time. Piña Colada sorbet was refreshing!

All in all, our experience at Mantel & Korsten was superb and we are already wondering when we should go there again! By the way, the name, Mantel & Korsten, means “jacket & chimney”. Mantel is not “almond” which people who know Finnish might think of.

MANTEL JA KORSTEN
Poska 19a, Tallinn 10216, Estonia
https://mantel-korsten.ee/en/