Miika Lönn, Hans Välimäki and Arto Rastas also run the restaurant on Kluuvikatu, Bistro Bardot.

Hans Välimäki and Arto Rastas, together with their team, are set to open two new restaurants in the heart of Helsinki in the autumn of 2023. The new Italian "bistro" and the British-inspired gastropub will emphasize seafood and game dishes. The Italian Bistro Gina will open its doors at Korkeavuorenkatu 34 in early September, serving customers from Monday to Saturday. Bistro Gina will be a casual and informal bistro-brasserie, serving seasonally inspired and high-quality Italian classics.

Restaurant Palace, located on the southern shore of Helsinki was chosen as Finland's best restaurant for the fourth consecutive time. Photo: Andres Teiss

Ravintola Palace in Helsinki has been named Finland's best restaurant for the fourth consecutive year. The restaurant industry professionals voted Palace as the winner of Finland's 50 Best Restaurants list. BasBas from Helsinki was ranked second, and Kaskis from Turku was third.

All of the top 10 restaurants on the list were located in Helsinki, including Bistro Bardot, Vinkkeli, Luovuus kukkii kaaoksesta, Savoy, Grön, Café Savoy, and Alexanderplats.

Dishes by Savotta restaurant.

It may be a surprise how exotic and varied the food in Helsinki can actually be. If you do end up taking a trip here, you will be umming and scratching your head on what cuisine to single out for yourself. But finding a great place to dine should not be a gamble, but an informed decision. Here are a few tips and suggestions to start with.

There is good news for those Helsinki residents who have missed the Lebanese restaurant Farouge. The owners have re-opened the legendary restaurant in a new location. The new Farouge located in Fabianinkatu 9 on the street level of Hotel Fabian is now much bigger and fancier, but with the same old warmth of service and quality food as before. 

Founders Viviane and Aki Kallio are well known to many of their regular customers from their old restaurant in Yrjön St. 

If you are a culinarist and always looking out for new and extraordinary tastes you are certainly familiar with Kobe beef. Named after the province in Japan where it originates from, the Kobe beef is from the Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle raised in that area according to strict rules set out by Kobe Beef Association.  In addition to geographical and strain restrictions, the meat must have a marbeling ratio of 6 and above and a quality score of 4 to 5 in order to be granted the  trademarked brand of Kobe Beef.

SINCE KORTTELI on the 5th floor of the Kamppi Shopping Center with its variety of restaurants opened over a year ago it has been hustling and bustling. One restaurant where you can be sure to often see a queue at the door is Hoku. The restaurant has 66 seats and the most coveted tables are the ones by the windows, overlooking Narinkkatori square and Helsinki’s center, the cathedral shining in brightest white in the background.

THERE IS no question, that sushi has taken hold in Finland, and especially in Helsinki. But things were a bit different back in 2015 when the first Luckiefun’s restaurant opened in Sörnäinen. Fast forward to February 2018, Luckiefun’s sushi buffet can now be found at three locations in Helsinki and at one in Vantaa.

The restaurant at Fredrikinkatu 49 in Helsinki’s centre is just about a year old by now. It looks modern and seems to follow the clean lines of Scandinavian design, incorporating a lot of wooden elements that add warmth to the room, while the aquarium adds to a pleasant atmosphere.

WHAT IS this colorful bowl, filled to the brim with fresh, tasty ingredients you ask? Well, it is a Poké bowl! And if that doesn’t clarify things for you, EAT POKÉ HKI manager Jaden is happy to explain the correct pronunciation, the origins and how to build the perfect Poké bowl. 

“It is actually pronounced ‘poʊˈkeɪ’, and it originates from Hawaii. The dish is however heavily influenced by Asian flavours like soy sauce, sesame oil, roasted sesame seeds, fresh chili, cilantro, and garlic,” explains Jaden while we are sitting at a cozy window table in the new EAT POKÉ HKI location on the second floor of Aikatalo.

Poké is a raw fish salad, and in Hawaii the traditional main toppings include fatty tuna and octopus, sliced and cut into cubes.

Restaurant Roster in Helsinki Offers Quality Food Outside the Mainstream 

The idea behind Roster, a bar and restaurant in the heart of Helsinki (right next to Helsinki’s oldest wooden house), was built on Paul Hickman and Kari Aihinen’s vision of adding something new to Helsinki’s restaurant scene. The central concept is simple: preparing and serving quality food using the best ingredients, superb service and great ambience. The name Roster refers to the vision of building a team of pros as well as to the selection of food, wine and drinks that the Roster team would like you to eat and drink with them.

Restaurant Api is a new Nepalese restaurant located in Punavuori. Relocating to Helsinki in the summer of 2017, the restaurant was previously based in Kokkola. “We were known as the best Nepalese restaurant in town,” says owner Nirmal Gautam. “Because of our success in Kokkola we were able to come to Helsinki.”