Eating well in Helsinki: Chef and Sommelier

The episode about Finland of 'Antoni Bourdain: no reservations' was aired in TV few days ago and gave an unfair gastronomic view of Finland's offering.

Eating 'well' is an understatement today. I guess I should say eating VERY-OH-SWEET-MOTHER-OF-ALL-THAT'S-HOLY well.

The restaurant is called Chef and Sommelier and it is a small (20 people tops) and cosy place. The service is outstanding: very fast without being overwhelming and what's best, they really love what they do.

The menu is seasonal and you can have several combinations of 3, 4 ... or 9 dishes tasting menu. Suffice to say we went for the full option, I'd be regretting so much right now not having done that.

It all started with a glass of cava. The sommelier did put an especial emphasis on the fact that it was from Massís Garraf, the mountains and not the plains, which makes a difference. The cava happened to be Vall Dolina (our selection for our wedding incidentally). Excellent.

You can find the ongoing menu in their website. I'll try to do a quick run through, but I'm afraid that not being a native English speaking person I can't give justice to what we ate. Plus, I do not remember all the detailed explanations that came with the dishes (which were so engaging!).

I won't go into the wines because I don't remember their names and I'm not an expert. We asked the sommelier to recommend us what suits the food best. There were a glass for each pair of dishes: one for appetizers, one for first courses, one for main courses and one for desserts. Two whites, two reds; totally different from each other and absolutely brilliant.

Not-on-the-menu appetizer:
Onion puré, chip of home grown artichoke, sitake mushroom and infused sitake mushroom broth. So much flavor in such small package!

Appetizers:
Tomatoes from Svarfvars farm. These were home grown small tomatoes prepared in several ways and served with flowers from one of their gardens. The slow oven dried tomato was fantastic, as was the tomato jelly. How can tomatoes be this good?

Crayfish soup. In the bottom there's some perfectly cooked crayfish meat with a bit of apple bits salad and then they pour the soup. The soup isn't traditionally boiled, but infused. They do it with the shell, bring it to boil together with cream and tomato and then let it rest at 60 or 70 degrees for quite many hours. It is very difficult to pick the favorite... but this one may be the most outstanding.

First courses:
Whitefish with fennel. From the bunch, maybe the least outstandingly brilliant. Don't get me wrong, it was very, very good but goodness can be expected from siika.

Gumbostrand. I don't understand how pasta with vegetables (beans, sweet peas ...) can be that good. And the parmesan sauce just brilliant.

Main courses:
Lamb from Åland. They actually serve you four different cuts: tenderloin, roast, entrecoté and lamb belly (cansalada!). Good luck choosing the best one!

Mushrooms and roots. Another candidate of star of the night. Different mushrooms done in different ways, including a very earthy dark mushroom and a splendid cep puré. The roots (beetroot, carrots and more) just fit perfectly.

Desserts:
Almond and meadow sweet. Fantastic, especially the cucumber slice soaked in coconut milk that was on top of the almond and meadow cake.

Chocolate and berries. It may sound simple, but it was insanely good. My favorite was the dark chocolate cake with raspberry ice cream on top.

Cheeses. Finnish blue cheese served with crispy rye bread and pear and apple which have been slowly cooked in some special tea.

The bread
They do make their own bread (of course). They served us two kinds of bread: a white bread that it's cooked in different stages so that the inside is soft and the crust is crispy, and a rye bread with rosemary. Next to them came some butter foam.


So, all in all, possibly the best meal I have ever had in my life. And that's a lot to say! And yes, it was in Finland, and yes with local ingredients.

And you'll have to forgive me for the lack of pictures, but it would have been so rude to the food to not concentrate on enjoying it !!!

Eating well in Helsinki: Ravintola Rafla

My birthday gift this year was a dinner in Ravintola Rafla, in Uudenmaankatu 9, Helsinki.

The place is very nice, with a relaxed feeling and it doesn't feel trying to be trendy, it just is. And then we get to the food...

The a la carte menu is really short, but believe me it's difficult to choose, all the dishes sound delicious. This time they had some special asparagus dishes and we went for those as entrées. I took the green asparagus with cold salted salmon and my better half chose the green asparagus with parma ham. Very good.

As main course she took grilled salmon salad. An example of the attention to detail: when served the salad was still fresh and the salmon warm. And then we go to the stellar choice of the evening:

Fillet of beef with pommes frites and bearnaise sauce

When I ordered it I said I wanted it medium. The reply from the waiter, in a very friendly tone, was "don't worry, it'll come as it should". And boy it did.

The meat was so tender that it could be cut with the fork. It was just so good. And the sauce was spectacular! I have to say that I had the sauce with the green beans and the frites, because I didn't want to add anything to such succulent meat. One of the best pieces of beef I have ever eaten. Bravo!

When it came the time to order desserts it was also difficult. She went for the sweet option, I went for the salty one.

Chocolate fondant, with fried white chocolate and capuccino ice-cream

I officially have chosen my favourite ice-cream: that one!

Cheese plate

Why was the cheese plate spectacular? It was about the details, and the size!

Four different cheeses: two slices of blue cheese, two slices of young manchego cheese, two slices of curated gruyére-like and a thick slice of creamy cheese (sort of mild Saint Albray). In the middle three slices of dark nut bread. And to give some contrast some-berry jam.

And the whole plate, the cheeses and bread have been warmed up a little bit so the cheeses were deliciously creamy, while the jam was fresh. Brilliant!

A must go for those that say that in Finland the food isn't so great, you'll be wowed!