From intimate 16-seater restaurants tucked away in suburban side streets, to sprawling cafes overlooking the waterfront, Helsinki’s restaurants offer a healthy, wholesome way to taste the best that Finland has to offer. While some people come to the Finnish capital looking for classics such as lohikeitto (salmon soup) or karjalanpaisti (meat stew) the following restaurants in Helsinki offer thoroughly modern classics, using fresh Nordic produce.
Want to learn more about dining in this part of the world? Read One Mile’s Boost your health with tasty Nordic diet recipes.
Grön
Intimate, botanically inspired Grön offers two set menus – one of which is fully vegan. These menus shift according to the seasons, but always feature the best and freshest Finnish and Nordic produce. Executive chef and owner Toni Kostian sources ingredients from trusted producers, the ocean, and Grön’s own farm located at Sipoo (about 40 minutes by road). Foraging is also popular here.
To read more about foraging tours in Finland and other parts of the world, read Off the Eaten Paths.
On the night I visited Grön, courses included a tomato tartlet filled with roasted garlic, ramson and gooseberries, followed by roasted beetroot with herbs and, finally, edible blossoms and fresh blueberries with woodruff ice cream. The naturally leavened sourdough bread to start was also something of a revelation.
This is a small 16-seater affair with an open kitchen, so prepare to get a little cosy with staff and fellow diners. This diner’s small size also means you’ll need to book well in advance to secure a table.
Grön is so serious about sustainability that it has posted a comprehensive plan and principles on its website. These include preserving summer produce for fallow winter months, the use of meat protein only from farms which satisfy Finnish welfare standards, and the exclusive use of Scandinavian materials in furniture and décor.
Where: Albertinkatu 36, 00180 Helsinki Finland
Yes Yes Yes
Just say Yes Yes Yes. It’s a bar, a restaurant, and an Instagrammer’s dream. Fight your way through the foliage, order a glass of rosé and prepare yourself for a visual, taste and olfactory treat at Helsinki’s leading vegetarian restaurant.
Select something from the piping hot tandoor oven which assumes pride of place in the open kitchen, or perhaps explore the ‘roots and greens’ section of the menu. How good does grilled pumpkin, served with saffron hollandaise, miso glaze, horseradish and marjoram sound?
Other categories on the a la carte menu include ‘munchies’, ‘comfort’ foods, and ‘sweeties’. Want to delegate the decision-making? There’s a four-course set menu that can, if you wish, be accompanied by an alcoholic or ‘nude’ beverage pairing for an additional charge.
Describing itself as “a bustling bar and restaurant where the food just happens to be vegetarian”, Yes Yes Yes challenges the notion that Finnish food must always involve fish. Or reindeer. Or elk. You will, of course, find all the usual suspects, including berries, currants, oats and assorted nuts and seeds.
The kitchen staff make all components from scratch, using high quality seasonal produce sourced from local farms. How could you possibly say no to that?
Where: Iso Roobertinkatu 1, 00120 Helsinki
Allas Restaurants
Located on the first floor of the Allas Sea Pool complex overlooking Helsinki’s waterfront, Allas Café & Terrace offers wholesome, affordable lunches which are popular with the business crowd and leisure seekers alike. Post-pandemic, it’s also become popular with remote workers, I’ve heard.
Soup of the day (parsnip with sage and peanuts on the day I visit) comes with green salad and carve-your-own bread. Work up an appetite beforehand in one of Allas’ three pools, pencil in time for a postprandial sauna, or simply relax as the maritime scene unfolds before you.
Looking for something more substantial to gnaw on? On the second floor, you’ll find Seagrill. The lunch menu here offers two dishes which rotate with the day of the week. At the time of writing, Friday lunchers, for instance, had a choice of smoked salmon penne or cauliflower or halloumi salad. Lunches include a starter salad, homemade bread, and coffee or tea.
Seagrill’s pricier a la carte menu offers ‘snacks’ such as oysters, ‘share plates’ like whitefish ceviche and spicy BBQ chicken wings, and ‘large plates’ including grilled trout, marbled steak, and a harvest green salad. Climb one flight of stairs higher and you’ll find yourself in the Allas Sky Bar which offers the best water views of all from morning until night.
Where: Katajanokanlaituri 2a 00160 Helsinki
Nolla
What’s not to love about Nolla? The Nordic region’s first zero-waste restaurant offers fine dining using locally sourced, organic produce. Attempting to reduce the 70,000 kilograms of waste the average restaurant produces in a year, nothing wrapped in single use plastic is permitted through the door – demonstrating that creative cuisine and environmental credentials can contentedly co-exist.
A seasonal four or five course menu at Nolla, consisting of house bread, two or three starters, a main course, and dessert, is packed with taste and value.
Typical starters include fried parsnips with pickled pear and salted lemon gremolata or deer tartar with yellow foot chanterelles and black walnut cream; mains range from smoked goose to roasted pumpkin to catch of the day. Desserts? How does celeriac ice cream sound?
All meat is sourced from local producers, while fish comes from Finland’s extensive lakes and seas. Vegetarian and vegan menus are available on request (and with sufficient notice).
Nolla also fills quickly, so make a reservation as soon as you have your travel dates. If they’re fully booked, try your luck with one of its sister outlets, Restaurant Elm or Restaurant Nolita.
Where: Fredrikinkatu 22, 00120 Helsinki
