It has been a while! Again! Who knew selling sake and other Japanese drinks would be so time-consuming? And then there is the old writer’s block popping up again, which I may have used as an excuse for laziness in the past, but which has come back for real to bite me in the behind judging from the piles of unfinished pieces or articles that go nowhere. By my account this is the fourth writing reboot, let’s see how long I can keep it up this time ;).
First up, a look at our recent travels across the Baltic States, which find themselves a bit out of the spotlight, which glares so bright on what is going on in the neighboring Scandinavian countries. Based on our three weeks travelling from Helsinki to Vilnius, I am quite confident in stating that it is high time that people start paying more attention to what is happening here. First up, Helsinki!
Helsinki may not be the first name that pops up when people talk about it-cities for foodies, but you would be very wrong to ignore it. There is a strong culture of locally sourced food, and Vanha Kauppahalli, the old market hall is a good place to start. We visited the city in autumn, and the stalls outside of the market where overflowing with freshly sourced mushrooms and wild berries, staples of Finnish cuisine, whereas inside you could get everything from dried reindeer meat to fifty shades of cured salmon. It’s a lovely market to browse and to taste tiny bits of delicious food.
On the night of our arrival we paid an impromptu visit to Fisken på disken, located in the Kamppi shopping mall. Now normally just the notion of having food in a shopping mall would send shivers down any foodie’s spine but this was not your normal fastfood-dominated food court.
As expected in a restaurant that specializes in fish, the white wine selection is quite strong, especially in comparison with the brief section of reds. The selection is quite neat with a distinct focus on acidity, ranging from the likes of German and Austrian Riesling to classic Chablis and crisp Albarino. Prices are what they are in Finland, partially thanks to Alko’s monopoly on the distribution of alcohol, so from an outsider perspective it is difficult to see real value, but in the Finnish context it looks quite reasonable.
We opted for the X-Berg 2017 Riesling, produced by Markus Lunden in the Rheingau. Markus is since 2011 the cellarmaster of Weingut Georg Breuer, one of the classic estates in the Rheingau, and he has been producing tiny quantities of wine under his own label since 2007. Fresh stone fruit on the nose, and a rich impression on the palate (richer than I usually get from the Rheingau), on a mineral spine make this indeed a great match for our meal.
The menu is quite concise, which allows for frequent changes to ensure the freshest and most seasonally apt food. I believe that you cannot spend your first 24 hours in Scandinavia without tasting anything pickled or cured, so the herring was a fine starter, only to be trumped by the autumn specialty that is crayfish. Cooked in a lovely broth and accompanied by a deceptively simple buttered toast, it was fantastic, so succulent and reminiscent of the sea that we kept on ordering them! Our main courses were up to par, with a standout being the seared monkfish with chanterelle mushrooms and a dill sauce, and a perfectly fine portion of fish & chips.
Now, Fisken på disken excels at fish, but there is a lot more to contemporary Finnish cuisine. Heidi Makinen recommended Juuri, a restaurant that wants to safeguard the strong regional cuisines that have shaped the country’s food tradition. The aim is to go back to local ingredients, resisting at times international influences, yet without becoming too dogmatic. Their website states for instance that dill originated in India centuries ago, but has since become such an important part of Finnish cuisine that it would be foolish to ignore it. Techniques used are likewise traditional with a modern touch to it, and a lovely focus on lightness, perfect for an easily digestible lunch.
The lunch consists of ‘sapas’, reasonably priced sharing plates that give you a good idea of how diverse and local Finnish cuisine can be. We opted for basically everything that was on offer, and needless to say, disappointed we were not. One of the best dishes I ate during our trip were the carrots with butter milk, a dish that should not be as good as it was. The bite of the carrot, combined with the softness of the buttermilk made for an excellent combination. The ubiquitous pickled herring with mustard seeds and dill was fine, as was the rainbow trout with fennel and gooseberry, combining true staples of Finnish cuisine. Unfortunately, the main course, pork belly with leek was perhaps a tad simple following the originality of the sapas.
The winelist is consistent with a focus on small producers who work natural or at the very least in a sustainable manner. It’s not the biggest list, but quality is high with an even focus on France, Germany, Austria, Spain and a bit of Italy. Given that we still wanted to explore the city afterwards, we stuck to the suggestions by the glass. Otherwise, I would surely have ventured deeper into the great selection of German wines (including a Mosel estate that I find to be on the up, Franzen), Goisot in both colours, or in the great Loire wines of Domaine de Bellivière.
Loimer’s 2017 Langenlois Grüner Veltliner was good with the food, especially the pork belly, but I was really pleasantly surprised by Valminor’s Davila 2016, produced in Spain’s Rias Baixas. It has the freshness and spritzy character that you would expect, yet with a lot more substance to it, which I would credit to it being a blend of Albarino, Loureiro and Treixadura (whereas 95% of all wine in Rias Baixas is based only on Albarino) in combination with an extended lees contact following fermentation. Its multifaceted character made it the perfect match for the sapas.
Loimer’s 2017 Langenlois Grüner Veltliner was good with the food, especially the pork belly, but I was really pleasantly surprised by Valminor’s Davila 2016, produced in Spain’s Rias Baixas. It has the freshness and spritzy character that you would expect, yet with a lot more substance to it, which I would credit to it being a blend of Albarino, Loureiro and Treixadura (whereas 95% of all wine in Rias Baixas is based only on Albarino) in combination with an extended lees contact following fermentation. Its multifaceted character made it the perfect match for the sapas.
It is of course a snapshot view of but two restaurants in the lovely city of Helsinki, so I am in no position to make any meaningful statements on what Finnish cuisine is about. I can say that there is an inspiring confidence in what we tasted, as well as a respect for locally sourced ingredients, two realizations that already make me want to book a new trip!
Up next: Estonia.
I have a friend, who certainly is a foodie, who told me Helsinki is his favourite city, and everyone I know who goes there loves it. Looks pretty gastronomically exciting to me.
It’s a fantastic city, but for the moment I have the feeling that it is more on a word to mouth basis that people discover it, and there isn’t yet a ‘big’ reputation like Copenhagen, which is a shame in a sense, but good for those who don’t think of reservations ;).