Reijosfood

Yes Yes Yes is bar & restaurant where food just happens to be vegetarian or vegan. Spot was opened in November 2017 by the same chef’s who run popular restaurants The Cock and Holiday. One can not find meat or even fish on the menu but milk products in some dishes make restaurant vegetarian.

In the past there was McDonald’s in the same place. Transformation to totally different style and cuisine has been enormous. Most of the tables are by big open windows. Two bars are mostly meant for diners, to eat there does not require table reservation which is otherwise necessarily to make.

Menu includes so called Munchies, small snacks, Dips and Tandoori breads, Roots & Greens, Comfort Plates, Extras and Sweetie Pies. Pricing is simple; 10€, 12€ or 14€ per dish. But as food is more like shareable tapas dishes regarding to our waiter, you shall get all dishes almost at the same time to the table.

Recommendation for two: Order 4-5 dishes and share at least 2 of them. Sizes of dishes are like racion, not tapas. We ordered 6 dishes, which is a little bit too much although two of them were dips with tandoori bread.

First we got Comfort Plate Rigatoni, kuri squash, ricotta, pistachio pesto and burnt tomato and Roots & Greens Charred kale, persimmon, parsnip chips and toasted sesame. Pasta was cooked as it should be, not too much. Combination of cheese, pesto and tomato matched well with rigatone. From vegan dishes kale was the most attempting. Again chef”s were able to create a tour de force from vegetables.

After 5 minutes we got Munchies which were Halloumi fries, pomegranate and coriander and Cauliflower tempura, sweet pepper sauce. Although these should be small dishes there were actually the biggest one. Hallomi fries were tasty with sauce and spices but even for two this dish quite filling. Cauliflower was excellent, not too hard either soft. Interesting observation was that if felt and almost tasted like fried calamari.

And almost right away crispy tandoori breads with two dips Kuri squash, pine nuts, sun-kissed apricot and ginger and Beetroot, aubergine, blood orange and olive oil. Dips were interesting, first one was almost sweet and we even thought that apricots were figs. Dark dip paired better with breads, at least in our mouths.

Wines have been chosen by Riikka Sukula who owns a wineyard in Italy with his husband, TV celebrity chef Jyrki. Ordered Spanish Alma de Casa (Soul of the House), which is produced from Monastrell (80%), Cabernet Savignon and Syrah grapes. Full-bodied red wine with hints of dark berries. As it has been stored for few months in oak barrels, it made the wine more round.

Yes Yes Yes will be the most popular vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Helsinki this year. Although it is January and for some people the month one tries to avoid alcohol which also leads to less visit to restaurants, restaurant was packed full most of the time. Even the bar chairs were occupaid by diners.

Food is excellent, requires extra innovation to prepare dishes with not so known ingredients. And for vegans very welcomed new spot.

Because all dishes came almost at the same time and our table was full of plates, might make sense to order first few and after eating those order more.

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

https://www.yesyesyes.fi/