Restaurant Demo is a 45 -seat Michelin star restaurant that opened its doors January 2003. Demo serves high class food combined with personal and friendly service. Demo is owned by chefs Tommi Tuominen & Teemu Aura. Their goal is to offer a chance to top quality dining, in a relaxed and cozy environment. Means that Demo is casual Michelin star restaurant in Helsinki. Background music includes lounge music, Sade Adu but also more fast tracks. Waitering is also easy-going but professional.

Demo earned it’s first Michelin star in 2007 and has been able to keep it for five years. Restaurant is open only in the evenings from Tuesday to Saturday. On Saturday you can only choose Menu fo the Day of 4, 5 or 6 portions, which you do not know beforehand. You can also order wine pairings instead of bottle or glass of wine chosen by sommelier. Oldest wine served with food was this time from 1989.

Menu started with Greetings from kitchen; salmon and roe which were perfectly complimented with delicious wasabi sauce. One small spoonful, could have eaten at least five of them.

First course consisted of crayfish, fennel and gherkings. Great combination! Crayfish, which is the best tasting shellfish, was soft and juicy. White wine with first course was Savignon Blanc from Spain; rare grape for Spanish vineyards. Savignon Blanc is not the favourite one, prefer usually Riesling, but this time it suited well for the crayfish.

Second course was Forest deer carpaccio with carrots, fennel, parsley and delicious paste. Roe or forest deer was so tender you could have eaten it with a spoon.  White wine served tasted a little bit too much for butter. It was again from Spain; interesting that you can not find any Spanish white wines from wine list.

Third course was Pan fried cod, mussel fregola and lemon grass sauce. Cod was prepared with orthodox way, meat of the fish was cooked to a turn and skin was crispy and delicious. Mussel fregola matched well with fish and cooked like pasta should. This time white wine was Chardonnay from France. Wine aroma and flavour was oaken as Chardonnay’s usually are but not so buttery as it could have been.

Fourth course and first dessert was Cheese selection and house nut bread. Enjoyment started from the left with milder cheeses. When stronger white mold cheese smeteld in the mouth felt like it could not become better. However, when salty and strong blue cheese ended course, earlier evaluation was wrong. Kitchen also had taken into consideration one of our wishes and served sweet Ravioli instead of cheeses. For cheeses wine was sweet vintage red which tasted almost port wine. For ravioli wine was sweet white wine.

Bread seemed to be one of Demo’s specialities. House nut bread with cheeses was excellent but focaccia and bread with fennel were super excellent!

Fifth course and second dessert was Arctic cloudberries with yogurt and popcorn. Popcorn was pleasant surprise and the whole portion scrumptious. White wine served was sweet and it was perfect match with dessert which was not too sweet.

With coffee and tea kitchen served small confections which were luscious. After eating two pieces already thought that third might be too much.

One interesting detail was that you can find small pictures of owners/chefs on the restroom wall’s.

Restaurant Demo deserves Michelin star because of excellent food experience. One change in selection of wines for food; grade for food experience would have been 5.

Restaurant became almost full in the evening which meant that service became a little bit slower. Started dinner quite early when there was only few people seated. Got greeting from kitchen and two first courses quite quickly which meant that had 3 wine classes simultaneously at the table. Would have hoped a little bit more balanced timing for waitering, but staff explained well the contents of portions and what wine was served with each dish.

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

http://www.restaurantdemo.fi/demo_en

https://reijosfood.com/2012/03/14/michelin-star-restaurants-in-finland-2012/

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/web/Restaurant/Helsingfors_Helsinki-00120-Demo-119682-41102