Writer Betsa Marsh is taking RealFoodTraveler.com readers on a jaunt to the Baltics. The first stop in our series is Helsinki! Become immersed in the experience of the sights, smells and flavors.
 

Salmon soup and buttered black bread are a perfect welcome to Helsinki. 

Baltics by the Bite: First stop Helsinki!

Aren’t all foodies part scent hounds? I’m returning to one of my favorite countries, Finland, and, sniffing dill on the market air, declare it time for soup.
It doesn’t matter what the clock or the calendar says—my taste buds are more than ready for that first spoonful of salmon soup: buttery, creamy, with potatoes, leeks and peppercorns. Crowned with chunks of coral-fleshed fish, whispering of the sea.

Every food culture has its comforting broth bubbling over the fire, and salmon soup is a favorite along many a coastal path. But I like to think I can taste Northern waters in every spoonful.
I’m revisiting Helsinki with an American friend, Pat, and we’re meeting up with my long-time travel buddy, Ritva Mueller. As a Helsinki native and member of the Finnish Gastronomy Society, the group that selects Best Restaurant in Finland each year, she’s the perfect guide to savoring our way through Helsinki.

That’s how we find ourselves at På Kroken (“On the Hook”) fish shop in the Hakaniemi market place, with me hovering over my steamy bowl of salmon soup. It’s paired with buttered rye bread, black as obsidian, chewy with whole grains and occasionally sweet with a near-molasses bite. As perfect as a lunch can get.

But Ritva’s not done, dashing down the vendor row to snap up a slab of mustikkapiirakka, Finnish blueberry pie. The tartness of summer bubbles up through the lattice.

Finnish blueberry pie, mustikkapiirakka, stretches the tartness of summer far into fall.

Snacking on sweet air in Helsinki

Just in case we need a snack, we swing by Bakery pH7 for what Ritva has crowned the best macarons in Helsinki. Again, who are we to argue?

Just to make sure, we fill a box with caramel, Nutella, blueberry, raspberry and black currant dainties. That luscious crunchy top and bottom, jolts of berries and cream within. Yep, Ritva’s right again.

A baker nestles macarons in their box for us at Bakery pH7 in downtown Helsinki.

Craving reindeer in Helsinki?

Yes, a reindeer burger’s on the menu at Kiila Food and Bar in downtown Helsinki. Ritva’s husband, Ziggy, a fine chef, pronounces it good and offers a slice to everyone.

I stick with shrimp and the shared plank, brimming with buffalo mozzarella, roasted potatoes, Serrano ham, Kalamata olives, tomato salad, manchego cheese and fig compote. Crunching things up is the seedy crispbread, paired with lime aioli. The bar part of Kiila keeps the glasses filled, and we toast with “kippis.”

This is a lively place, with celebratory groups swinging by quickly for the affordable champagne and others settling in for the night. The waiters never rush us to the door to make way for the sippers, so it’s a convivial mix all round.

Kiila blends creamy cheeses and jams with crispy seed breads on its plank.

Nordic tapas in Helsinki

Maybe it’s time to switch gears, and Ritva points us to Casa Largo tapas, two floors anchoring a corner of the busy intersection between the Helsinki train station and the Hotel Metropole. Pat and I will have our last night in Helsinki on our own, before joining Ritva for the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia, in the morning.

The late afternoon’s balmy, so it’s time to snag a café table on the sidewalk, order a drink and watch the world amble by. Did we really look like these travelers just a few days ago, wrestling luggage over cobblestones and straining for street signs? And, we’ll look like that again tomorrow, lugging suitcases onto the tram, heading to the ferry terminal. But for now, we’re sophisticated Helsinkians pausing to toast another perfect day.
Later, we move upstairs for a table above the black-matte chandeliers. There’s more than a little edge to the baroque touches of this Spanish restaurant, with Latino tunes wafting down.

It’s time for sharing delicately grilled shrimp and salad with marinated vegetables. The olives, too, are marinated, and the bread is made for its aioli. Cava sparkling wine brings it all together. Farewell, lovely Helsinki, until we meet—and eat–again.    — Story and photos by Betsa Marsh

For a change of taste, it’s Casa Largo for tapas: grilled shrimp and salad with marinated vegetables. Add marinated olive and bread, plus Cava sparkling wine to bring it all together.

When You Go To Helsinki:

TIP: Finnish restaurants include the food tax and tip within the total, so there are no fees beyond the bottom line.

 Hungry for more? Learn more about the Baltics in Betsa’s other articles about the region, like Tallinn, and Riga. Read articles about other destinations by Betsa Marsh, here.