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Restaurant review: NJK – time stands still, dining continues

4 07 2014

NJK, the villa-type unique summer restaurant, located on the small island of Valkosaari, was built in 1900. It is one of the most popular locations for festivities and one of the most popular crayfish restaurant in Helsinki. Suprisingly there was no wedding party on that specific Saturday when we had dinner. Usually it is really difficult to get table during summer weekends.

Before dinner, if weather allows, you must enjoy aperitives at the second floor small terrace. From there you can also see restaurant Saaristo which is located on island Klippan. It is one of the several island restaurants in the foreground of Kaivopuisto. (review posted 22.6.2013)

There was few days left to try special 5 dishes Archipelago herbs menu, which 2 of us decided to order. Each portion included some Finnish herb from the restaurant’s own greenhouse. Portions were also named by the herb used to prepare dish. You could also choose recommended wines which we also did. Especially red wine deserved special attention.

Also chose 2 menus from a la carte list; those portions are marked with +. And with these dishes the wine choice was a bottle of Villa Huesgen Schiefer Riesling from Mosel. Dry and balanced German riesling.

SWEET CICELY

White fish ceviche and +NJK’s fish assortment

First herb dish was white fish ceviche. White fish (lavaret) is one of the best Finnish fishes and when it is served spiced and raw, it is always worth to try. Cicely paired well with white fish but saltiness ruled over a little bit. Excellent starter for dinner anyway.

Fish assortment included herrings, white fish roe with creme fraiche and onion, small smoked vendaces, shrimp skagen and salmon with mustard-dill dressing. But this was not all although most famous and best Finnish fishes were already on the plate. In addition to an assortment of fish, NJK served new potatoes and creamy morel mushroom sauce.

Campo Viejo Cava Brut Rosé, Spain 10 cl

Campo Viejo rose cava paired well with tart and salty ceviche. However, it did not beat Lanson Rose which we sipped for aperitives at the small 2nd floor terrace while enjoying sunny day and maritime landscape.

CHIVES

Mussel risotto with grilled scampi

After tasty ceviche we were served delicous risotto. Cooking time for rice was perfect and scampi complemented taste of mussels nicely. Not sure if flavor of chives was enough strong but excellent primi piatti anyway.

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Barossa Riesling, Australia 12 cl

We were first served inadvertently red wine which should have been the third wine. It suited well with risotto, maybe even better than this riesling we got before finishing risotto. Rieslings are our favourite white wines but maybe this one required more acidity with risotto.

ITALIAN PARSLEY

Herb roasted fillet of lamb with dark parsley sauce and +Pike-perch with lemon beurre blanc

Third dish from herbs menu was fillet of lamb which you could have been changed to pike-perch if you would have preferred fish. Parsley suited well with the meat which had perfect rose inside.

Pike-perch had as a side dish cauliflower pyre which we asked to change for one of the portions. Fish was well prepared and tasty. Pike-perch is not so common fish to be served in restaurants in Finland. If it is on the a la carte menu, order it.

Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz, Australia 16 cl

Jacob’s Creek reserve shiraz rose to our favourite from all four wines. Deep and balanced bouquet as well as flavor. Wine which you should have in your wine cabinet. Perfect pairing with lamb but also with risotto as mentioned earlier.

CURRANT LEAF

Thyme flavoured melon with currant leaf sorbet

Sorbet came in handy after lamb. Perfect food melter before dessert.

MINT

Strawberries with mint and lime mousse and +Chocolate and fudge ganache with blackberry sorbet

Mousse looked like ice-cream and first thought why serve ice-cream after sorbet. Fresh and sweet strawberries are always perfect way to end the dinner.

Chocolate dessert was master piece. Really sweet fudge but sorbet suitably slimmed it down not to bee too heavy.

Mumm Demi-Sec 10 cl

Dessert champagne was second best of the pre-selected wines. Port or sweet wine would have been too twee for strawberries but even for chocolate dessert. Excellent choice by sommelier.

NJK maintains traditions of letting customers to choose avec for coffee from drinks trolley instead of ordering it from list. Might be costly if you do not know what you have chosen. We did.

Restaurant NJK is a one of the few classic restaurants in Helsinki, like Savoy. You should invite your foreign quests there in order to get them familiar with Finnish archipelago and food. And both only from 2 minutes boat trip distance and a stone’s throw away from Market Square (Kauppatori).

Regarding the headline, time stands still at restaurant NJK. And it really does when you step into the buiding and sit at a table. If all the boats in NJK yacht club harbour were old sailing boats, then you really would wonder if time has gone back.

Food at NJK is excellent but unfortunately this time there was some instability in service which should not be there, not at NJK. Waitresses should be guided to details when it comes to menu and drinks, although she would be temporary worker. However, arrangement of aperitives at the 2nd floor terrace earned 5 points which increased service grade. And overall grade is high due to unique milieu, solemn but relaxed athmosphere and dinner entourage.

REVIEW: FOOD 4+/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 5-/5

http://www.ravintolanjk.fi/en

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Tags: Helsinki, NJK, Restaurant NJK, restaurant review, Wine
Categories : Champagne, Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

Restaurant review: Minos – genuine Greek food

29 06 2014

Restaurant Minos is over 25 years old restaurant which serves traditional Greek food. Clear proof of authenticity is language used by waiters/waiteresses; they talk to each other in Greek. Minos has pleasant covered terrace which can be used also in winter time, as it is heated. We always choose to dine there because you can observe by-passers at the same time. In the summer Minos has it’s own spot in popular Kamppi shopping center terrace area serving Greek wines and Mythos beer. We started our journey to Greece there.

Unfortunately photos are not the best quality because in bright sun shine some shadows covered parts of the portions.

For starters we chose of course Tzatziki yoghurt and cucumber salad, Dolmades vine leaves stuffed with rise and herbs and this time also Tiger prawns fried with garlic, butter and white wine.

Greek starters are always delicious, still miss taramosalata from holidays, but unfortunately it is not available at Minos. Tzatziki was made from genuine Greek yoghurt, not from Finnish or German and therefore really enjoyable. You can purchase similar dolmades from supermarkets in tins but so what, they were excellent. Only three prawns 😦 could have eaten six because the cooking sauce was so scrumptious.

For main courses we had Grilled corn fed breast and halloumi cheese and Gyros grilled pork with pita bread and tzatziki.

For corn fed chicken you had to choose side dish and we chose potatoes because vegetables included too much onions. The size of of halloumi cheese could have been bigger. Gyros in pocket bread is one of my favourites but it is also good at Minos. Of course pork is a little bit greasy but you do not eat gyros every day, do you?

And for dessert Your choice of hand made ice cream, vanilla, chocolate truffle or raspberry sorbet with cherry or chocolate sauce.

Sorbet was excellent, not frostwork which meant that it had been prepared at the restaurant kitchen.

With food we had Greek white wine 2009 Petra, Kir-Yanni. Wine list lets you understand Petra is from 2009 but it’s vintage was 2013. Wonder why restaurant does not take the vintage away because it does not mean so much when it comes to Greek wines?

Minos is one of our favourite restaurants in Helsinki for meny reasons. We like Greek food and Minos prepares it well. All waiters and waitresses have Greek background and it is nice to hear them speaking their mother language. And dining at terrace, either under glass roof our outside is always pleasure. Therefore overall grade is high.

Note that restaurant is not open on Sundays.

REVIEW: FOOD 3,5/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

http://minos.fi/

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Tags: Greek food, Greek restaurant, Minos, restaurant, Restaurant Minos
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: Blue Peter – 2014 2nd review

26 06 2014

I believe we dine at Blue Peter over 10 times per year and mainly in summer time. Therefore it makes sense to post a review regularly in order to confirm the level of quality. Compared to last year free salad buffet for diners is not anymore available. You need to order starter, if you want to eat such, which we anyway often did earlier despite of the buffet.

This time for starters we had Warm smoked white fish, salad and mustard-dressing and Green asparagus, Parma ham and hollandaise sauce.

You can order also this delicious salad for main course, but it suits well for starter. You seldom get white fish (lavaret) on top of salad; therefore order it, if you have a chance. Green asparagus was cooked like it should be, not too soft. Parma ham paired well as well as hollandaise but the amount of sauce was overwhelming.

For main courses we ordered Grilled salmon, teriyaki-sauce with pumkin pyree and Cheddarburger, minced beef steak and french fries.

Salmon is always delicious and with pumkin pyre even better. Burger is one of the best in Helsinki, but has the beef steak shrinked? Must try again soon.

Most important, of course, are desserts. And of course Crepe, strawberry jam and vanilla ice-cream and this time also Ice-cream and berries.

As mentioned in earlier review, crepe is really scrumptious. But now Blue Peter had added lactose free vanilla ice-cream on it’s menu which was warmly welcomed by us. So far only standard ice-cream but our wish had been fulfilled.

Behind the window there were also some other diners enjoying of stand-up meal.

Friday evening when we dined at Blue Peter was one of the busiest for them. Big private party and yachtsmen enjoying dinner before weekend sailing. However, head waiter was as calm as usually and arrange us window table although had first some troubles to sit at another table. And despite the pressure in kitchen portions earned a little bit better points than in previous review, as well as overall grade.

Restaurant review: Blue Peter – all year round open yacht club

REVIEW: FOOD 4-/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

Etusivu

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Tags: Blue Peter, Helsinki, Restaurant Blue Peter, restaurant review
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: Havis – Midsummer’s Eve dinner

21 06 2014

Restaurant Havis used to specialize only in seasonal Finnish and Scandinavian seafood. Restaurant consists of three different dining room styles. Dining room Havis looks as historic as building restaurant is located. Reserved window table from this room. One can see new Finnar SkyWheel at Katajanokka and old Market Hall through the windows. Vanha Kauppahalli was re-opened on the 9th June 2014 after being renovated almost 2 years.

Dining room Kitchen includes open-plan kitchen and dining room Terrace is more relaxed sheltered patio which might be cold depending on weather.

You can not call Havis fish restaurant any more, because it serves also hamburgers and caesar salads. Wider menu might be due to hotel Haven, which is a member of Small Luxury Hotel of the World. Hotel Haven is part of the same Royal Ravintolat Group as three restaurants in the same building including Havis.

Midsummer is quiet period in Helsinki and most restaurants are closed. Partly because of this, restaurant was full of mainly tourists.

Havis had special Midsummer menu with only 2 starters, 2 main courses and 2 desserts. Almost cancelled reservation when noticed that but luckily decided to keep the reservation. We got the table we had requested, first table on the right by the window next to the entrance. Also all portions were lactose free which is still really rare. We tried all portions.

STARTERS

Asparagus soup with vendace roe

Asparagus tasted enough and structure of the soup was perfect. Green asparagus was properly cooked, not too much.

Fishplate with local fish and season potatoes

Cold fishplate included herring, baltic herring, smoked fish mousse, salmon tartar and white fish roe. Excellent assortment of Finnish fishes accompanied with new potatoes with butter and dill.

MAIN COURSES

Char-grilled arctic char with summer vegetables and false morel stew

Arctic char is rare fish at the restaurants which made this portion special. Summer vegetables were baby carrot, peas, green asparagus, early cabbage, potatoes, radish and cauliflower. For tourists good chance to taste fresh Finnish vegetables on one plate.

Roasted beef marble fillet with bean cassoulet and Bearnaise sauce

Roasting time had been consummate but unfortunately meat included parts which were chewy. Cassoulet and sauce paired well with meat as well as glass of Capitel San Rocco Valpolicella Superiore Ripasso. Wine had suitable amount of tannins but was also round at the same time.

DESSERTS

Cheese selection with Havis crisp bread and compote

First of all thanks to our waiter who wrote down the names of cheeses because have to try to find Klosterkäse from Austria from supermarkets because it was really tasty. Other cheeses were Fourme Dambert from France, Capratraminer from Italy and Brie de Meaux from France which is always unbeatable white cheese. Wonder why Havis does not serve Finnish cheeses?

White chocolate pannacotta with marinated strawberries

Dessert without lactose but includes milk, well done Havis!

We had for white wine Prinz von Hessen Classic Riesling which paired well with starters and arctic char. Dry and enough minerals and acidity, not too dominant but complementary.

The old ship on the back end wall was heading to …..?

Roasted beef lowered a little bit the food points but otherwise dinner was delicious. Especially using lactose free milk products is big plus. Overall grade is high because it is great that Havis is open on Midsummer’s Eve and we got exactly the table we had been requested when making on-line reservation.

REVIEW: FOOD 4/5 – SERVICE 4/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4,5/5

Typical Finnish summer weather forecast: “If it does not rain, it is cloudy or sunny. Sometimes or usually all three at the same time”.

http://www.ravintolahavis.fi/en

https://fi-fi.facebook.com/SkywheelHelsinki

https://www.facebook.com/Vanhakauppahalli

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Tags: Finnair SkyWheel, Havis, Helsinki, Juhannus, Midsummer, restaurant, Restaurant Havis, restaurant review, Vanha Kauppahalli
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

Taste of Helsinki 2014 – review of tasted portions

15 06 2014

First of all big thanks to Taste of Helsinki founder Barry MacNamara for organizing ticket change from Friday to Saturday and inviting us to opening ceremony for invited guests. Due to work obligations outside Finland we had to suspend the participation by one day and therefore could not either join the opening ceremony on Thursday.

Taste of Helsinki is a culinary festival, which takes you on a journey through the gourmet flavours of some of the best restaurants in Helsinki and Finland. It is also unique chance to get familiar with fine dining restaurants at the same time without paying high prices for gourmet food. We participated third time, the same number of times the event has been organized. This year the weather has been typical Finnish summer, rainy and cold. Challenging for outdoor events.

Below you can find pictures with comments of some of the best small dishes restaurants served.

Bertha: Cod, bean, scallops 5-/5

Excellent combination, cod and scallops was served as a crispy croquette by Tampere restaurant

Juuri: Terrine of cured perch 5/5

Perch is one of the best Finnish fishes and served like this on of the best portions

Bistro o Mat: Anise spiced salmon with prawns and avocado 4+/5

Fresh spiced salmon and shrimps are always tasty but anise flavor was hidden somewhere. Kirkkonummi is home town of this restaurant

Smakbyn Åland: Fish tartar from the Baltic, crayfish and white fish roe 4,5/5

Excellent ensemble from restaurant in Åland owned by celebrity chef

Emo: Crab cake with fennel 5/5

Bull’s eye, maybe the best of the best, croquette tasted of crab and fennel accomppanied perfectly

Postres: New potatoes and anchovy butter 4/5

New potatoes belong to Finnish summer and butter was tasty but too simple compared to any other portion

Emo: Spring chicken with spring cabbage 4,5/5

Chicken skewer was grilled in front of you, with some more spices would have been unbeatable

Postres: Smoked salmon in Can and Postres archipelago bread 5/5

Makes you drooling, Finnish summer hit and should be available from supermarkets for Mid Summer fiesta

Farang: Coconat caramel pork 4,5/5

Farang knows how to use spices, long queues all the time proved time, pork maybe too much kassler (pork loin) type

Bertha: Chocolate, banana, Brazil nuts 5/5

Happy endings! Lucky we did not miss this one. Unfortunately so many starters did not allow more dessert portions

Plan was also to taste Oscar Hot Dog with veal, asparagus, and giant prawn from Kaartin Hodari & Hummeri, but the queue was so long all time. In the cold wind it was more convenient to stay sheltered from it.

To summarize, all tasted portions were impressive which can be seen from the points. I really hope that there will be 4th Taste of Helsinki because plan is to visit there twice. Quite difficult to try all portions at the same day. Also have to taste olive oils which were available at the fair. And wines, Kung Fu Girl Riesling and Miss Harry, paired well with dishes tasted. Vindirekt, the importer of these wines, made also best offers for glass of wine.

Event itself gets 5-/5 points and only cold weather was the reason for not giving 5. With sun shine it would have been 5+/5.

There will be separate post about champagne Taittinger tasting later.

http://www.tasteofhelsinki.fi/

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Tags: Finland, food, gourmet food, Helsinki, restaurant, Taste of Helsinki
Categories : Champagne, Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

Restaurant review: PureBistro – with Bib Gourmand status

1 06 2014

PureBistro is a modern bistro and bar with two terraces next to the Market Square in Torikorttelit buildings. Restaurant is owned by Michelin star restaurant Luomo (on the 2nd floor) chef”s Jouni Toivanen and Mika Mattila. That explains partly why PureBistro is one of the five Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants in Helsinki and earns to keep that status.

Dining room at PureBistro is quite small and therefore in the summer time you might decide to dine outside, if temperature allows that, which it did not on the last day of May. If you dine inside, ask for window table and you can enjoy sea view and observe bustle at the Market Square. That is exactly whatwe did.

Menu is short – 3 starters, 3 main courses and 2 desserts. If you choose 3 course dinner, the price is 45€. One option is to have drink at the bar and taste some small bites, in Finnish Snadit. As English and Finnish versions of the names of the portions are not exactly the same, I included both language versions.

After placing order customers will get fresh bread paper bag on the table.

Starters we ordered had fancy names; Hamashi Sashimi with Avocado & Seaweed Piikkimakrillisashimia, avokadokreemiä, soijaa ja levää and Carpaccio, Bloody Mary Sorbet & Tallowvinegar Kotimaista rotukarjaa, bloody mary sorbet ja emmentalia.

Sashimi was fresh and side dishes accompanied fish in oriental portion well. Lack of salt was only minus. Beef carpaccio was so soft that it could have eaten with spoon. I am not sure if kitchen tried to create picture of hedgehog on the plate, but portion looked like it.

For main courses we had two times Fried Trout, Cauliflower & Cassis Ahvenanmaan taimenta, kukkakaalia ja herukkaa but requested some changes to one of them. Restaurant created excellent version of this portion by replacing cauliflower with ratatouille.

Trout itself was perfectly fried, you could also eat fish skin as it was enough crispy. And what is most important, fish was not over-fried which happens too often also in so called good restaurants.

For desserts ordered Tosca, VanillaIceCream & MilkXoco Toscakakkua, vaniljajäätelöä ja maitosuklaata and “Macedonia De Frutas” Liqourice “Hedelmäsalaattia” ja lakritsisorbettia.

Tosca cake was scrumptious. Amount of toffee sauce was maybe too much, but had to eat all of it anyway. Take a look at how fruits and sorbet was placed on the plate! PureBistro really has an artist in the kitchen, remember the hedgehog.

Had to order bottle of Tesch 1 Liter Riesling for two reasons; riesling weeks with special menus had just ended but Tesch riesling was still available and the unsual size of the bottle (1 liter) is rare apparition.

Wine paired well with all dishes we had; well, maybe not with desserts. Dry, about 6 g/l sugar if I remember right what waitress told, and balanced acidity and minerality.

As we got window table, overall grade is 4,5. Propably next time we shall dine at the terrace; waiting for warmer summer days….Service is in balance with kitchen’s creativeness and skills.

PureBistro is genuine Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant and actually one of the first fine dining bistro type of restaurants in Helsinki. Nowadays there are several sophisticated bistro restaurants close to each other, like Gastrobar Emo, Gastropub Rikhard’s, Spis and Copa’s y Tapas. Reviews of there restaurants can be found by using search. Also previous PureBistro reviews can be found the same way.

REVIEW: FOOD 4+/5 – SERVICE 4+/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4,5/5

purebistro.fi

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Tags: food, Helsinki, Michelin Bib Gourmand, PureBistro, restaurant, restaurant review, riesling, Tesch, Wine
Categories : Bar, Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: El Cafe de Bolsa – Malaga, Spain

28 05 2014

El café de Bolsa is located at hotel Molina Lario serving hotel guests with breakfast, lunch or dinner. It has two different atmospheres: an interior space and an exterior courtyard. In both spaces you can taste Spanish cuisine, modern and up-to-date with Andalousian roots.

We had breakfast each morning at the restaurant, but also tried lunch in order to evaluate it better. We were only ones having lunch at dining room, couple people seemed to eat something at patio.

Promising start was small delicious green olives which were brought to the table. Unfortunately this was the best part of visit.

Our intention was to try 3-4 different half portion starters/tapas. We chose four but after placing the order waiter seem to be apalled and said loud “That is too much!”. Well, if that would be too much (of course we would not have emptied all plates), then we should have to settle for two.

We ordered Potato salad with “pil pil” prawns and maynonnese and Iberian serrano ham croquettes with marinated onions.

Potato salad was greasy and seemed to have extra oil. Prawns were soft which meant that they were not enough fresh. Second best part of the lunch were croquettes, they actually were tasty.

Four main courses had Sea bass with small dried tomatoes served with lemon and thyme sauce and Beef tenderloin, potato and vegetable cake, mushrooms and foie gras sauce.

Fish was over cooked and portion included too much sauce. Beef was dry, almost well-done although asked medium. Side dishes were not so palatable as name of the portion let you imagine.

El Cafe de Bolsa tries to serve also customers who do not stay at the hotel, it even has own web site. However, it is difficult to develop kitchen for other purposes than breakfast and business usage, if you do not have enough customers providing feedback. Modern interior, delicious breakfast and hotel itself raises overall grade.

REVIEW: FOOD 2/5 – SERVICE 3/5 – OVERALL GRADE 3+/5

http://www.cafedebolsa.com/en

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Tags: El Cafe de Bolsa, Malaga, Molina Lario, restaurant
Categories : Food, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

Restaurant review: Toscanini

25 05 2014

Restaurant Toscanini has received its relaxed atmosphere from Tuscany, Italy. Menu is based on essential elements of Italian kitchen, such as olive oil, herbs, tomatoes and Tuscan cheeses and cold cuts. In addition, bread is baked daily by restaurants own baker, or is it?

Location is perfect, almost opposite of Svenska Teatern and Stockmann. Famous BW- restaurants, Gaijin and Boulevard Social are neighbors. Being part of Klaus K hotel means that many of the dining customers also enjoy luxorious hotel premises. Design hotel with white decoration in the lobby. Klaus K and it’s restaurants were recently acquired by Kämp Group which might have been the reason for lame service.

Because of excellent weather we had late lunch at the terrace. No one wants to eat in as you can see from the picture above.

Started lunch with Campari Sodas which is always appropriate way to lead to the right mood. Bread basket came right away after ordering; foccaccia was not as fresh as it should have been, but tapenade was delicious.

Lunch started with Antipasto variety for two including two type of salami’s, parmesan cheese, small olives, artichokes, grilled sweet peppers and mushrooms.

If restaurant is Italian, it can not flop in serving traditional Italian starters. Nor did Toscanini. Everything on the plate was perfect, fresh and you could imagine to be in Tuscany.

For main courses we had Sautéed fillet of cod with seafood flavoured Nerone rice and Braised lamb neck with fried lemon polenta and Marsala sauce.

Unfortunately these portions brought us back to Helsinki and Bulevardi. Cod was way too much over-salted but shrimps and octopus pieces in rice compensated a little bit. Lamb was tender but dry and it seemed that salt had been completely forgotten. Wonder if polenta had been prepared at the restaurant kitchen, because it tasted and felt like industrialized product?

Service was this time the weakest link. We have been at Toscanini several times before, but now there were too many failures.

We had to order mineral water twice, had to remind waiter to bring wine glasses (soave and chianti of course) we had ordered and never got menu back again in order to be able choose desserts. Therefore just ordered coffees and chardonnay grappa. As I wrote earlier company has new owner, which may have impacted to the service, if employees are worried about restaurant’s future.

Toscanini used to participate in Taste of Helsinki, but not this year. Will miss tiramisu they have served there.

It is always great to eat outdoors, at nice terrace, therefore overall grade is higher.

REVIEW: FOOD 3+/5 – SERVICE 3-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4-/5

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Tags: Antipasto, food, Helsinki, italian restaurant, Klaus K, restaurant, Toscanini
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Review: Spaghetti Opera – Show & Dinner

18 05 2014

Humorous Spaghetti Opera is three-course meal and show package which is presented at Helsinki Music Centre (Musiikkitalo). Spaghetti Opera twists and turns of the winding up of Mozart’s opera buffet–style. At that time, the opera was a popular entertainment, listened with picnic baskets or sitting at the dinner tables.

The music in show was gathered from known and most popular opera songs like Mozart and Vivaldi, and they are song in the original Italian, as well as a fun, musical re-Finnish translations. Presentation costumes and expression takes out the most of the opera world’s delicious clichés.

Simple buffet included following dishes:

Prawns fried in garlic butter on the rocket–melon salad, lemon aioli

Roasted red peppers, asparagus salad, pecorino cheese

Air–dried pork neck ravioli salad

Ciabatta and foccacia, tapenade
• • • • •
Chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella, tomato and white wine sauce

Sliced potatoes seasoned with sage

Roasted spring onions and carrots
• • • • •
Tiramisu and coffee / tea

Food itself was quite OK. Salads were fresh and olive tapenade excellent. Chicken was a little bit dry, but it is difficult to prepare it for buffet because it might stay too long in the heater. Tiramisu was sweet and moist like it should be. We also got lactose-free cake instead of tiramisu which demonstrated flexibility of kitchen.

There were some differences on the serving table compared to menu. Could not find lemon aioli, think is should have been in separate bowl. Only ciabatta, at least we did see any foccaccia. Chicken breast was not stuffed with mozzarella, some cheese might have been on the top of chicken.

Show was brilliant! Story was about dandy and two sisters in triangle drama. Snobbish dandy role was played credibly and with talent. He tried to dupe two sisters but they set up trap and dandy was beaten. Actors or singers were from music theatre Kapsäkki which is coalition of actors and singers.

Wine list was so short that we could not find white (2) or red (2) wine to accompany food. Therefore only option was to order cava which suited for dinner enough well. Unfortunately restaurant did not know how cava should be served because we had to ask for cooler. Other diners drinking cava just settled for warming up their cava bottle on the table. And the “cooler” which we got, was actually red wine pitcher. There was some ice at the bottom of “cooler” but cava bottle did not even touch ice cubes.

There are couple of theatre restaurants serving dinner during show but frivolous opera is refreshing way to replace theatrical presentation.

When serving improves this may be hit in the future. Vodka Martini for aperitif was served in wine class, already told about the cooler, …. But part of clumsiness was compensated by not taking charge of aperitifs. Therefore overall grade is 4 and show earns anyway 4,5.

REVIEW: FOOD 3,5/5 – SERVICE 3-/5 – SHOW – 4,5/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4/5

http://www.musiikkitalo.fi/en

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Tags: Helsinki, Helsinki Music Centre, Kapsäkki, Mozart, Musiikkitalo, Opera
Categories : Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant

Restaurant review: La Reserva 12 – Malaga, Spain

16 05 2014

La Reserva 12, located in the center of Malaga, next to the Larios Street, Constitution Square, the Picasso Museum and the Thyssen Museum, is qenuine Spanish restaurant.

Restaurant has terrace, which seemed to be always reserved during lunch and dinner times, stylish tapas bar and dining rooms at the 2nd floor. You can see after stepping in that you have entered into fish restaurant. That might be the reason why locals enjoyed the place. We did not see any tourists in this restaurant during our dinner neither at the terrace when we passed it by several times during our stay in Malaga.

First of all you must order cava, if you dine at Spanish restaurant. Actually we tried to order Gramona III Lustros, but it was finished. That dropped overall grade right away. Instead we had Gramona Imperial which was anyway good choice. You can buy that also from Alko stores in Finland, but it costs more than in this stylish restaurant (VAT….). Cava is made from Xarel.lo, Macabeo and Chardonnay grapes; Chardonnay makes the cava taste balanced and therefore extremely enjoyable.

For starters we ordered Spanish Potato Salad with Prawns – Ensaladilla Rusa con Langostinos and Baby Squid – Calamaritos.

Potato salad was excellent and it really included prawns. At restaurant reviewed in coming post we had totally different portion. For one person amount of mayonnaise would have been too much but as we shared starters, no problem with that.

Baby squids were hot, fresh, crisp and tasty; just as they should be. Some lemon drops on top of calmaritos and plate was quickly emptied. Excellent kick-off for the dinner.

For main course ordered two Grilled Sole – Lenguado a la Plancha portions which is always easier for the kitchen.

Fish was also delicious, perfectly fried and no sauce at all to ruin it. Side dishes were simple but as sole is also quite simple, and also easiest fish to get rid of fish bones, they paired well. Starters were quite big, so it was easy decision to focus on fish.

This time no dessert as it was quite late and starters made their job.

Our hotel (Molina Lario) was only few steps away from La Reserva 12. First we wondered, if restaurant just placed reserved signs on the table in order to bluff, but every day all tables were occupied by diners at lunch and dinner times. Also tapas bar seemed to be crowded, especially in the evenings.

Pictures are taken at times when dinner time has not yet started and after it. Finns usually eat a little bit earlier than rest of the Europe.

La Reserva 12 is right place if you are looking for genuine Spanish athmosphere and Spanish dishes. You will not see tourists like in almost every other restaurant or tapas bar near pedestrian precinct and old town.

Service was a little bit rigid but polite. I believe restaurant tried their best in the dining rooms also when it comes to interior; and as a matter in fact they managed quite well. Worth to visit, if you are in Malaga.

REVIEW: FOOD 4-/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

http://www.restaurantelareserva12.com/EN

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Tags: cava, La Reserva 12, Malaga, restaurant, sole, Spanish restaurant, tapas, tapas bar
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: Rikhards Gastropub – Chef Hans Välimäki is back!

13 05 2014

2 Michelin star chef Hans Välimäki is back in business with new restaurant concept. Restaurants were opened early May in the same building where Chez Domique located.

Välimäki is fine dining restaurant with only 8 seats and Rikhards Gastropub more casual place, but with a touch of gourmet. As we received early warning that bookings can be made, we managed to get table less than two weeks from opening of Rikhards.

Decoration of Rikhards Gastropub is like name indicates; pub-styled, masculine and a little bit gloomy. Customers had not yet totally found restaurant, as there were empty tables in the late evening.

Restaurant Välimäki was behind closed doors, but it seemed to be booked-up. 1st Tasting menu with wines costs there a little bit over 300€ per person.

For starters decided to try 4 different portions: ”BAGNA GAUDA” Tarragon & watercress dip w/ season’s vegetables à la Master Ducasse…, ”POP CORN” Seaweed & chicken skin served with sesame, soy & truffle sour cream, SPICY CHICKEN WINGS (HV´S CHICKEN BASKET) Served glazed with kimchi mayonnaise. “Sticky fingers…” and NEW POTATOES WITH HAUGESUND HERRING New potatoes, dill butter & herring caviar.

Waiter suggested to start with “Pop Corn” which was brilliant idea. The dish, you can not get in any other restaurant, was extremely interesting; tasted like pop corn but fortunately impossible to find out taste of chicken skin. Eaten with fingers this starter with dips was excellent. “Pop Corn”, would say is more or less appetizer, because you do not seem to eat anything, threfore it requires another starter to accompany.

Then we tasted herring caviar with potatoes. Caviar was hidden under the potatoes and “oh boy” it was delicious. Must have been smash hit on May Day lunch! As starter has three potatoes, you would not necessarily need to order any other starters.

Then chicken wings, suitably spicy and not too sweet; with mayonnaise really scrumptious combination. Ended starters with fresh vegetables; again the dip was excellent.

For main courses we had ”BANGERS & MASH” Salsiccia sausages with potato mash, cucumber & gravy of course… and TORSKRYGG A Swedish classic: codfish seared in brown butter, egg, shrimps, horseradish & velouté sauce w/ dill & mussel.

Three big, luscious and suitably flavored Italian sausages where on the top of mashed potatoes. Must say that if you want to eat all three, take light starter. One mistake was that cucumbers were forgotten, which made the portion look really simple.

Codfish was also delicious. However, the amount of sauce could have been smaller. It seems that main courses are quite sturdy, which suits to the concept.

After Salsiccia sausages (could not eat all three) and codfish still had to try desserts and ordered KAKKUPALA Piece of cake with the sauce you wish and ICE CREAM & SORBETS.

Lemon tart (Kakkupala) was perfect, especially meringue made in the restaurant kitchen, was great. Ordered first toffee ice-cream, but as it was too salty for dessert and got vanilla ice-cream instead.

Food in Rikhards Gastropub is excellent. Hans Välimäki fills the bill which might be quite high due to his previous success. Without those two small slip up’s (forgotten cucumber and toffee ice-cream), food grade would have been close to 5.

Service was professional and polite. I have seen too often hypocritical, over-lively service leaving sometimes feeling you are treated like a child. Here it was better.

Overall grade would be higher, if pub interior would be more soft. And when confirming reservation, restaurant mentioned that table is reserved for 2 hours, which is quite short time for aperitifs, 3 course meal and coffees. 2 1/2 hours would be worth of 4,5 out of 5.

REVIEW: FOOD 4,5/5 – SERVICE 4+/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

http://www.rikhards.fi/

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Tags: Hans Välimäki, restaurant review, Rikhards Gastropub
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: El Meson de Cervantes – Malaga, Spain

8 05 2014

Tapeo Cervantes is already well-known for its traditional and new, creative tapas. Gabriel Spatz, founder of the original, a professional restaurateur from the Argentine, came to Malaga in 2008, decided to stay and opened El Tapeo de Cervantes at Calle Carcer 11 in the old quarter. El Meson de Cervantes was opened later at Calle Alamos 11 in order to meet the demand by customers. Location is at the backyards of old town, far away from tourist flows. Both restaurants are now on Tripadvisor top 3 list.

Main allurement are tapas which you can order in three different sizes; tapas, 1/2 raciones or full raciones. You could also choose from restaurant menu different type of starters, main courses and desserts but menu is quite short. If you want to eat tapas at the dining room, you need to ask them in a polite way, although waiter might say that they are meant to eat at the bar.

We ordered two 1/2 raciones from tapas menu and all the rest from restaurant menu. Actually most of the dishes are the same. Dinner started with Pimientos del Padron, Warm salad of tuna, roasted peppers and green leaves and Patatas bravas.

Small salted green peppers are good choice to compare the quality of restaurant. These were excellent and what is most important, not too salty.

Tuna was perfectly fried as you can see in the picture below, not too well-done; therefore not dry. This portion is not so typical for tapas restaurant, it is an example of the high quality level of el Meson de Cervantes.

When potatoes arrived I first thought that “what the heck”, ketchup! But the sauce was made in restaurant, looked like ketchup and maybe included some, but it was deliciosly spicy. Perfect sauce for patatas bravas.

For main courses we had 1/2 raciones of Argentinian entrecote with fried potatoes, salad and chimichurri, Wild boar stew with sweet Malaga wine sauce and crispy rosti and full portion of Racion del dia which was Dorada fish with fennel.

Entrecote was medium as requested, proof can be found in the picture below. Stew was excellent, some exotic spice made it one of the best dishes of the dinner. However, rosti was no so crisp but that did not bother.

Fish, in turn, was a slight dissappointment. It was prepared too early and fish skin was not anymore crisp.

After main course we tasted some Manchego cheese which was quite young. Maybe serving cheeses of different ages would have made the gusto inclusive.

Dinner ended with Apple tart and vanilla ice-cream which was bull’seye. Difficult to beat warm, sweet and soft apple pie with cold ice-cream….

And the red wine…excellent choice. Wineyard states: “Deep, intense red with notes of ripe red fruit, tobacco, cedar, and truffles on the nose: very clean, intense aromas. Good body on the palate, with fine tannins from careful barrel-ageing, and very well-balanced. Ample mouth-feel with light notes of liquorice and a long, silky and elegant finish”. Exactly what 200 Monges Reserva 2006 was. Tempranillo 85% made the softness, Graciano 10% and Garnacha 5% gave the character. If this was reserva, would definately like to taste gran reserva.

El Meson de Cervantes serves premium tapas and Spanish food in a relaxed athmosphere. If you decide to dine at restaurant you can watch chef’s preparing portions in the open kitchen. You can also eat in more restful environment and enjoy to be served by professional waiters. Tapas bar provides opportunity for close social interaction. It was so crowded with customers that it was hard to get through when leaving. Restaurant is the place to visit out of hundreds of tapas bars and restaurants in Malaga, if you travel there.

REVIEW: FOOD 4/5 – SERVICE 4/5 – OVERALL GRADE – 4+/5

http://www.elmesondecervantes.com/eng/index.html

http://www.vinicolareal.com/vinos.php?familia_vinos=31&id_vino=1

Comments : 4 Comments »
Tags: 200 Monges Reserva 2006, El Meson de Cervantes, food, Malaga, restaurant review, tapas
Categories : Bar, Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

Restaurant review: Torero – Spanish whiff

23 04 2014

Torero is Spanish type of restaurant chain locating in 5 cities on the same premises as Sokos Hotels. Same Spanish concept is used in Sevilla restaurants in the capital area. We dined at Torero Joensuu during Eastern time.

Menu consists of pinchos, tapas, fish and meat from the grill and other delicious sounding food. You could even order paella, which is not the easiest one to prepare.

After ordering we were first served warm tomato-goat cheese soup with fresh bread. Quite nice gesture from the chain restaurant to serve actually quite delicious appetizer. Have you ever served real appetizer in chain restaurants?

As friends of tapas we decided to try them as starters. We ordered Tapas Penedes Piquillo peppers filled with cream cheese and chorizo groats, Tapas Las Palmas (what a name…) Chicken breast, celery salad, piquillo peppers and chorizo crumb and Pimiento de Padron Salted sweet green peppers.

Green peppers were as good as in most places in Spain, enough soft and not too much salted. Chicken breast was the weakest link, meat was already dry but celery salad compensated a little bit. Piquillo peppers were also excellent, maybe a little bit too much cream cheese but it did not bother.

For main courses we had 2 x Chicken breast, creamy sherry pepper sauce, Spanish vegetables and French fries and 2 x Grilled salmon, shellfish sauce, roasted beetroot, pak choi, roasted almonds and tortilla española.

Chicken portion was not so Spanish as it could be; why not includ Papas Arragudas instead of French fries? Did not either understand why vegetables were Spanish; standard oven vegetables. However, for chain restaurant, basic portion. Salmon was overcooked but beetroot was roasted perfectly. If you like Spanish omelette, you would have liked this one.

For wine we chose Chilean Tormenta from Viogner grapes from Torres, which paired well with all dishes. Grapes are organically grown which makes the purchase more sustainable.

Torero is good choice for hotel restaurant, if you like Spanish-style food. Suggest to focus on tapas and pinchos because they are delicious. Of course every dish is not made from the very beginning in the kitchen but you get full belly and mostly can enjoy the food.

REVIEW: FOOD 3+/5 – SERVICE 4-/5 – OVERALL GRADE 3,5/5

http://www.raflaamo.fi/torero

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Tags: restaurant review, Sokos Hotels, Spanish restaurant, tapas, Torero, Torres
Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: Bronda – 4th BW restaurant in Helsinki

9 04 2014

Bronda, the 4th restaurant in Helsinki by Tomi Björck and Matti Wikberg, opened it’s doors on Monday 10th, 2014. Located on the corner of Eteläesplanadi and Korkeavuorenkatu, large space with high ceilings and big windows with otherwise plain interior design, offer interesting dining experience. Nautical roof lamps and mirrors on the wall are eye catchers.

The lounge bar is open until late and it offers view to Park Esplanade. It surely will be one of the most busiest bar in the district.

Bronda name comes from the building restaurant is located.

Bronda’s dishes should reflect Europe and particularly countries Spain, Italy and France. The food is meant to be shared as in other BW restaurants Farang*, Gaijin* and Boulevard Social (*reviews available on reijosfood.com). Bronda concept is copied from those succesful Bib Gourmand restaurants; even same drinks with same exotic names are served.

First look at the menu was challenging; you could choose from snacks, fresh and/or warm dishes. So we decided to choose one of the two tasting menus, Menu Esplanad, with suggested wines.

Dinner started with Sashimi, aioli prawns and sorrel which were served on a wooden plate. Sashimi was prepared from lavaret (whitefish). Fish was soft and mellow and shrimps were fresh of course. In overall excellent combination after sorrel soup was poured into the bowls.

Second dish was Beef tartar with butter milk and dried bread. If your read menu, you can see that there are lot’s of different ingredients used. I am not sure, if we could find all of them, but beef was tender anyway. This was also the first dish to be shared, so portion had to be divided in two parts.

Then we were served third and fourth dish at the same time; Fish stewed Basque style and Risotto Milanese. Basque style meant mussels, chorizo and sherry flavored stock. Tempting, but at the same time challenging dish for the kitchen. Fish itself was ok, but one of the 5 mussels had not opened. No chorizo taste at all, actually one small bite was found. Risotto had waited serving some time as it was not so warm anymore. To prepare perfect structure, kitchen needs some more practice.

Last so called main course was dissappointing. On the menu it says Cotoletta which means schnitzel. However, more detailed description tells that you should get crisp pork chop. Bronda served dry Wiener Schnitzel with fennel salad and tomato compote. This dish dropped food grade below 4. I am sure this dish will not be as such on the menu in the future, but side dishes could be the same.

Dessert should have been Tiramisu, but as we had asked one menu lactose-free, one portion was replaced with Lemon pie Bronda without informing beforehand. However, both desserts were delicious and crowned the dinner. Pie included rosemary and thyme which made the experience exciting.

When it comes to recommended wines they are overpriced. You pay 50€ for 2 1/2 glasses of basic wines. Choose instead a bottle or glass from the list, because some wines are quite reasonably priced. For the tasting menu first wine should have been riesling but it was replaced by gruner-veltliner. Second glass, pinot noir, was poured from 1,5 litre bottle. Third, dessert wine, was 5 years old Madeira which paired well with desserts.

Bronda was full when we entered and was still full when we leaved. Relaxed athmosphere and loud background noise make restaurant perfect place for group gatherings. As snacks and some food are served in the bar, it will be the the most succesful part of concept. You can see Park Esplanade from the windows while dining and at the same time can observe other people present in the bar. Although portions are well designed and look impressive, propably food is not the main issue. Main idea is social interaction.

REVIEW: FOOD 3,5/5 – SERVICE 4/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4-/5

http://ravintolabronda.fi/?lang=en

Read also this http://nyt.fi/a1305818948042

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Bronda, food, Helsinki, Park Esplanade, restaurant, restaurant review, Wine
Categories : Bar, Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review

Restaurant review: Presto – A mangiare!

29 03 2014

Italian restaurant Presto was opened on the 19th February, 2014. Restaurant concept consists of trattoria, caffe bar, prosecco lounge and shop.

Location is excellent, next to the Espa (Park Esplanade) and in the same building as restaurant Savoy. Presto replaced at the same time restaurant Katsomo, which used to serve Savoy theatre customers.

You can find traditional Italian dishes from the a la carte list like bruschetta, pasta, risotto and pizza. One speciality are mozzarella starters, which are served on a wooden plate with side dishes like salami, bresaola or parma ham.

Best way to evaluate the level of Italian kitchen in Finnish restaurant is to try those traditional dishes.

Started the dinner with Aperol Spritz, glass of Prosecco and excellent Focaccia, which was served after placing the order. First restaurant in Helsinki in which I have seen serving Aperol Spritz as aperitif and it is on the drinks menu. Unfortunately it was too dry, not enough Aperol.

Continued with Italian trattoria dishes and ordered for starters Bruschette with Bresaola and from Mozzarella bar Mozzarella di Bufala with artichokes and olives. We did not choose any cold meats with Mozzarella, as we had Bresaola with traditional bread.

Bruschettas were excellent and pieces of Bresaola tender. Could not be better in Italy. Also Mozzarella with side dishes was enjoyable. Soft and moist cheese comes from Italy; therefore difficult to screw up. Some restaurants use mozzarella made from cow milk and that is inexcusable.

For main courses chose Pasta Orecchiette all’arrabiata Pasta with spicy tomato sauce and Salsiccia sausage and Melanzane alla Parmigiana Eggplant casserole.

As pasta’s and one risotto are not listed as “Primi Piatti”, expectation was that they would be enough big to be main courses. Pasta was enough big, but unfortunately it did not meet Italian pasta requirements. Tomato sauce was not enough spicy and it lacked sweetness. Or at least sausages should have been spicy, if sauce was not. Eggplant casserole was luckily delicious which compensated dissappointment is pasta.

Had to try desserts and selected from the list Torta alla Presto Pie of the day and Gelato Self-made ice-creams.

Both were mouth-watering! Lemon pie was really delicous and Peanut ice-cream and Cherry ice-cream one of the best ever tasted. It is possible just to drop by for espresso and dessert, which we shall certainly do.

Presto claims to be trattoria, not ristorante, which is true. Recommend to ask table downstairs or from the small plateau between ground and second floor. You can see Park Esplanade plus downstairs is anyway more lively. Trattoria is on the second floor. Choose that if you want to eat at more restful dining room.

Prosecco Lounge in the 3rd floor has special hours between 16.00 – 18.00 on work days, but is is mainly reserved for theatre visitors. It was empty when we checked it at about 22.00 on Friday evening. The decor is the same as it was in restaurant Katsomo, not Italian type. If you take a closer look at the figures in the pictures on the wall, you might found some interesting.

If pasta would have been better, Presto would have got 4 for food grade. Higher overall grade 4+ comes because of nice concept which has not actually existed in Helsinki before, when it comes to Italian kitchen. Reasonably priced fresh and delicious food (most of them) in an relaxed athmosphere.

Wine list is short but again prices for wine glasses are reasonable. Some local, so called Italian restaurants, serve wine from barrels with low prices but the quality of wines is lousy. Presto serves proper Italian wines, no reason not to choose house wines.

REVIEW: FOOD 4-/5 – SERVICE 4/5 – OVERALL GRADE 4+/5

http://www.ravintolapresto.fi/

https://www.facebook.com/prestohelsinki

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Tags: Aperol Spritz, bruschetta, Espa, food, Helsinki, Italian kitchen, italian restaurant, Italian wine, Mozzarella di Bufala, Park Esplanade, pasta, pasta all'arrabbiata, Presto, prosecco, restaurant, Restaurant Presto, restaurant review, Wine
Categories : Bar, Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel

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Review: Spaghetti Opera – Show & Dinner

Restaurant review: La Reserva 12 – Malaga, Spain

Restaurant review: Rikhards Gastropub – Chef Hans Välimäki is back!

Restaurant review: El Meson de Cervantes – Malaga, Spain

Restaurant review: Torero – Spanish whiff

Restaurant review: Bronda – 4th BW restaurant in Helsinki

Restaurant review: Presto – A mangiare!

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