Restaurant review: BBQ House in Kamppi shopping center

5 04 2015

BBQ House - reijosfood.com

Restaurant BBQ House is situated in Kamppi shopping center. Restaurant has heated outdoor terrace, where we dined, which expands in the summer to a large bar and terrace area. BBQ House is specialised in steaks and meats, name should also tell it. If you decide to dine inside or terrace is full, you can watch how chefs manage to do they work in open kitchen.

The Argentinian touch, which restaurant used to have, has almost disappeared during the past years. Portuguese language is menu is still there.

Started the dinner with restaurant offer wine, only 15€ for bottle of French sparkling wine. Excellent price/quality ratio in Finnish restaurants.

Henrideblanc at BBQ House - reijosfood.com

For starters we chose Tapas dishes. From alternatives we decided to taste Marinated vegetables and artichoke, Shrimp toast and Kangaroo meat with sweet potato chips. 

All three tapas starter were basically ok. No surprises, enough tasty and enjoyable. Wonder why restaurant has kangaroo meat on list, it does not suit with other dishes.

Tapas in Bbq House - reijosfood.com

Tapas at Bbq House - reijosfood.com

For main courses ordered Chicken and Reef perch (scope fish). For these dishes you have to choose sauce from different alternatives and side dish from 5alternatives.

With chicken tried rum-pepper sauce and sweet potato fries. Excellent combination and when chicken breast still has some skin on it, taste improves.

Never have seen Finnish restaurants serving Reef perch. Is this the way BBQ House tries to tease customers like with kangaroo meat.

With fish had BBQ salad and chimichurri as sauce. Paired nicely with fish, but price for quite small portion is high.

Chicken at BBQ House - reijosfood.com

Fish at BBQ House - reijosfood.com

Sitting at the heated terrace is convenient although outside temperature is close to 0C degrees still in April. You can watch what happens at Kamppi Square and front of Tennispalatsi, biggest cinema complex in Finland.

Terrace dining raises overall grade.

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

BBQ House: pihviravintola – helsinki – kamppi – narinkkatori

Kamppi Square

previous review available https://reijosfood.com/2012/03/10/latino-flavours-at-restaurant-bbq-house/


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Categories : Food, Food and Wine, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: BBQ House

11 04 2013

Restaurant BBQ House is situated in Kamppi shopping center. Restaurant has heated outdoor terrace, where we dined, which expands in the summer to a large bar and terrace area. BBQ House is specialised in steaks and meats, name should also tell it. When we visited restaurant there was Argentine weeks with special menus. If you decide to dine inside or terrace is full, you can watch how chefs manage to do they work in open kitchen.

As a S-Group co-op member you can get discount for some portions. This year you can enjoy bottle of champagne Nicolas Feuillatte at the the price of 39€. However this champagne can not be ranked in top ten, but if you can get bottle of champagne in restaurant for the price of mediocre wine, go for it! And this time it was colder compared to experience in Casa Largo.

ChampagneNicolas Feuillatte

For “Entrades – Appetizers” we chose Tapas dishes. From 5 alternatives we decided to taste Marinated vegetables and artichoke and Shrimp mousse and crostini. Both portions were quite OK. Combination of shrimps, mousse and crostini was clever, enough juicy and tasty.

VegetablesShrimps

From “Prato principal à sua escolha da nossa grelha de pedra vulcânica – Main course of your choice from our lava rock grill” ordered Corn-fed chicken. For these dishes you have to choose sauce from 6 alternatives and side dish from 4 alternatives. Decided to choose Portwine-balsamic sauce and BBQ House salad. Big salad portion compensated a little bit the small size of chicken. Otherwise quite delicious.

Corn-fed chickenBBQ House salad

From “Pratos à maneira de bbq house – Meals à la BBQ House”  ordered Entrecosto de porco bem cozido ao molho glacé BBQ Slow-cooked pork belly with BBQ glaze served with escabeche marinated vegetables and sweet potato fries. Pork was prepared well because meat came off easily. Sweet potato is welcomed ingredient for french fries. Easy to prepare at home also.

Slow-cooked pork

Sitting at the heated terrace is convenient although outside temperature is close to 0C degrees still in April. You can watch what happens at Kamppi Square and front of Tennispalatsi, biggest cinema complex in Finland. Terrace dining raises overall grade. Might have given 4- for service but one waiter poured champagne classes almost full and served main course first for male. Other waitresses were polite and helpful.

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

http://www.bbqhouse.fi/

Kamppi Square

Last year 2012 visited two times at the same restaurant, previous review available https://reijosfood.com/2012/03/10/latino-flavours-at-restaurant-bbq-house/


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Categories : Food, Helsinki, Restaurant, Restaurant review, Travel, Wine

Restaurant review: Kaarna

22 07 2012

Visited restaurant Kaarna second time this year. Last visit was not so succesfull for many reasons, but location and athmosphere attracted again.

https://reijosfood.com/2012/01/

Kaarna Bar & Kitchen is a laid-back Finnish restaurant with a Scandinavian twist. The restaurant opened in April 2009 offers simple and distinct flavours and wide selection of beers of microbreweries. Because of its central location, Forum shopping center, restaurant is easy to find. Its two floors (street bar in ground floor and dining room and “living room” in 2nd floor) offer an atmospheric setting for a longer get-together as well. Restaurant has two entrances, one is by the Mannerheim street and one is in the Forum shopping center on the 2nd floor. This entrance is closed when the shopping center is not open.

From Nordic Tapas (Snapas) list ordered our favourite Kaarna fish plate and Potato waffle, white fish roe and sour cream. Fish plate includes smoked vendace from Kitka, fresh salted salmon, old-fashioned pickled gherkin and sweet and sour rye bread. Always enjoyable and provides good example of traditional Finnish fish foods. White fish roe was delicious as always and especially suited well with potato waffle. Usually roe is served with blinis or toast bread.

For main courses Roasted salmon with false morel sauce and dill-potato bake and Fried white wish with horse radish and melted butter, asparagus and mashed potatoes. Had to send back false morel sauce because of sand/stones. It is very important to wash false morels well, otherwise might be dangerous for teeths. Both fishes were over roasted and fried, however smashed potato was tasty.

Interesting that kitchen uses same red sweet sauce as decoration for every dish.

Restaurant had improved a lot from last visit. Starters earned 4- but main courses downgraded points for food. Because of window table, view and affordable food pricing, overall grade increases.

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

http://www.ravintolakaarna.fi/


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Restaurant review: Kappeli

14 07 2012

Restaurant Kappeli – “the pearl of Espa” –  was opened to the public 1867 as summer restaurant but since 1970’s it has been open all year round. Latest renowation was in autumn 2011 still keeping same traditions in building structure. In the summer one can also dine at the outside terrace which is at the end of the building behind main terrace. If one wants to sit in the middle of the main terrace but inside, ask for oriel window table for two. It is small but charming and one can even watch bands and singers on stage opposite the restaurant.

A la carte consists of menus honoring famous Finnish artists or writers like Eino Leino, Sibelius and Juhani Aho. It also includes Finnish traditional fish and meat dishes. Wine list is artless and expensive which provides opportunity for the restaurant to improve it. Service needs some experience, forgot to serve us bread and no towel or cloth for Prosecco bottle.

For starters ordered Kappeli’s fish assortment – smoked salmon mousse, cold smoked Baltic herring skagen, smoked whitebait, cold smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and Caesar salad and chicken. Fish assortment was diverse but skagen was too salty.Wonder also why scrambled eggs were included? Caesar salad was as it should be.  Even the chicken was much better than last year, without skin and fresh. Great improvement!

For main courses had Grilled whitefish with spinach, Hollandaise sauce, potatoes with dill, butter and onion and Smoked salmon with creamy false morel sauce, potatoes with dill, 
butter and onion, baked tomato and zucchini. Whitefish was a little bit over grilled but potatoes in their butter onion sauce were excellent in both portions. Salmon was also a little bit too much smoked. Good achievement was that both portions were warm, almost hot.

In the summer the terrace of Kappeli is always crowded. Most of the diners inside were tourists; heard Spanish and German in nearby tables. Because of historical building and athmosphere Kappeli earns 4 as an overall grade.

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

http://www.kappeli.fi/index.php?id=frontpage


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Restaurant review: Memphis

30 03 2012

Restaurant and bar Memphis is located in Kamppi shopping center. It is part of  HOK-Elanto Group; biggest restarant owner in Helsinki. Memphis is intended for young adults but pay attention that on Friday and Saturday evenings one has to be at least 20 years old. DJ plays music during those evenings. Restaurant accepts reservation if you have at least 8 person in your group but be sure your table is at upper level by the wall not at lower level. Tables by the bar are more or less quite primitive to dine. One can also watch cooks at work in open kitchen.

A la carte list is quite demanding for “fast” food type of restaurant because you can choose e.g. from  Rocking Woks, Roasted Organic Bread, Low Fat and Carb or Chicken and Duck  and as you can also see from the names of portions. When one arrives, popcorn bowls are waiting at the tables. We were told it would take at least an hour to get main courses (actually took one hour 20 minutes) but starters would be faster (took 40 minutes). Motivator to order starters?

For starters we ordered Mozzarella Sticks (quite ok), Sesame Chicken Sticks Battered sesame seed chicken sticks with aioli (word chicken should not be part of this portion as it includes about 2% chicken), Holy Halloumi Halloumi cheese with apple and cucumber salad and harissa oil (ok) and Teriyaki Shrimps Sesame seed king prawns with spinach and teriyaki sauce (also OK)

For main courses we ordered Memphis Burger Classic Two beef patties total 150 g with bacon and cheddar  and De Luxe Burger Two beef patties total 220 g, with bacon, cheddar and Memphis BBQ sauce (simple, positive things: bread was made from wholemeat and french fries were enough crisp and salted). Teriyaki Tuna  Orange pepper-spiced grilled tuna steak 180 g with teriyaki sauce (waiter asked for roasting time, ordered medium but was served over well-done). Chicken Caesar Grilled chicken breast, Romaine and iceberg lettuce, Caesar dressing, organic bread and Parmesan shavings and Shrimp Caesar Teriyaki-flavoured king prawns, Romaine and iceberg lettuce, Caesar dressing, organic bread and Parmesan shavings (too much Caesar dressing) . Memphis Steak Hoisin-flavoured grilled beef sirloin steak with grilled pineapple, jalapeño, aioli and fries (pretty ok). Low Fat Chicken Grilled chicken breast 150 g with harissa-infused quinoa, red onion, soy beans, sweet pepper, Romaine lettuce, orange yoghurt and grilled fresh pineapple (ok also for well being food).

Memphis is easy-going place and attracts people to stop by if they use Kamppi subway or bus station and place is OK for that. But during busy times it takes too much time to get food unless you are prepared to stay at least 2-3 hours and not hungry.

REVIEW: Food 2,5/5 – Service 3+/5 – Overall grade 2,5/5 (dining aspect)

http://www.memphis.fi/kamppi.html


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Restaurant review: BBQ House

10 03 2012

Restaurant BBQ House is situated by Greek restaurant Minos at Kamppi shopping center. They even share toilets. Restaurant also has heated outdoor terrace which expands in the summer for large bar and terrace area. BBQ House states it provides latino kitchen and it is specialised in steaks, no suprise by the name. When we visited restaurant there was Aussi weeks with special menu,not so close to latino? Interesting is that BBQ House has lava rock grill, quite unique in Helsinki and Finland. Also you can watch how chefs manage to do they work in open kitchen.

If you are co-op member you can get discount for some portions and collect points.

Also interesting detail is that dishes on the menu are also in portuguese but of course also in English and Russia. Latino flavour?

Tried to make table reservation same day but was told it is not possible anymore. Restaurant was full when we arrived and we were offered call back if we liked to dine. After 1/2 hour waiting time in a near by bar we got polite call; our table was ready. Great service!

For “Entrades – Appetizers” we chose Tapas which were not like Spanish Tapas. From different alternatives we decided to taste Springbok antelope, glazed with passion fruit and Caramelized pork flank. Antelope is not so common; as a matter in fact can not remember any other restaurant offering it. In portion there were quite small pieces of antelope and the shape was like cold meats. Pork also was like cold meat; not exactly what you would expect, but anyway very tasty. Most of the portion consisted of potato salad; small suprise as it was not mentioned in menu. Another choices for us were Giant shrimps and Bloody Mary soup and Artichoke with veggies. Interesting name for the soup and both were good.

“Prato principal à sua escolha da nossa grelha de pedra vulcânica – Main course of your choice from our lava rock grill” Sounded good, so we ordered Beef tenderloin and Breast of corn-fed chicken. You could then choose “Com um molho à sua escolha – With a sauce of your choice” from six different sauces and “Acompanhamentos – With a side dish of” 4 different choises. Decided to dine low carb food and chose Caesar salad  and Country-style salad, no potato fries this time. Beef tenderloin was ordered as medium, but  it was medium minus  minus… However Rum and pepper sauce was one of the best ever tasted and perfect match for meat. Also salad under Caesar sauce was crisp but Country salad was maybe too simple although it included quinea; quite rare in Finnish kitchen.

With few amendments in starters ingredients we would have given 4 as a grade for food.

REVIEW: Food 3,5/5 – Service 4/5 – Overall grade 3,5/5

http://www.kattaakaupungin.fi/ravintolat_en0.html

http://www.bbqhouse.fi/

Visited again restaurant in July; fewer appetizers in the list but otherwise as good experience.


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Piper-Heidsieck Brut Champagne for 39€ at HOK-Elanto restaurants

11 02 2012

HOK-Elanto restaurants offer bottle of Piper-Heidsieck Brut Champagne for 39€ in all their restaurants until end of 2012.

This is one the World Desing Capital Helsinki 2012 offers. There are also many WDC menus available in the same restaurants. Usually you do not get bottle of champagne under 60€ in restaurants. All HOK-Elanto restaurants can be found http://www.kattaakaupungin.fi/en.html. HOK-Elanto is one of the main sponsors fo WDC Helsinki 2012. But you have to own S-Bonus card to get the bottle for offered price.

We tasted this champagne at Restaurant Kaarna and found it tasty and crispy.

You can not even buy this champagne  from Alko which is an independent limited company wholly-owned by the Finnish Government and administered and supervised by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. You can find Alko price list in english behind this link http://www.alko.fi/products/hakutulos

More about Piper-Heidsieck champagnes http://www.piper-heidsieck.com/home.html

Also more info about World Design City Helsinki 2012 http://wdchelsinki2012.fi/en


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