Gfron dreams of elintarvikekriisit (Helsinki, Estonia, Christmas Markets & Michelin)

[gfron1]

I'm midway through my trip to Helsinki and Estonia and thought I would get serious about posting before my memory is lost.

 

So a little back story - I've worked 70 hour weeks for at least the last three years and Tyler and I believe our last true vacation was 5 years ago. With the restaurant on a run I've stored away a few extra acorns for the winter and had been planning to have the restaurant take us on a trip. Then around March or April, EdseL sent a message to docsconz on Facebook that linked Ravintola Olo (Restaurant Olo) and said, "This one is a game changer."

 

Now, I don't know if any of you follow their food travels, but those two eat at more Michelin starred restaurants and James Beard restaurants than pretty much anyone I know. They really are exhausting to watch online. But both have become friends over the years and I value their words very much...so when a six word conversation like that happens, I pay attention.

 

Parallel to Edsel's comment I had been stewing over one line from Jiro Dreams of Sushi - "To make great food, you need to eat great food." And I had realized that I hadn't had a good meal in far too long. Before I became a chef I ate at amazing restaurants frequently, but once I got locked into the kitchen, all of that ended.

 

I've been dreaming of a trip ever since. And hence this trip to Helsinki and Tallinn Estonia came to be.

 

We booked our flights through Tripsta.com and did our lodging through AirBnB - both got us great deals. Tripsta tempted me because is scans 2nd tier airlines and airports and we could have flown on some crazy small Russian planes through countries I've never heard of, but we ended up on US Air, British Air and Finn Air for $900 each R/T. We snagged this great apartment right in the center of Helsinki, which is perfect for us since we prefer to walk everywhere and nothing has been more than a 20 minute walk so far. For our trip to Tallinn, we got this one - which, OMG, I could have lived in this apartment for the rest of my life!

 

Let's get onto the trip.

 

We arrived this past Monday night - correction - afternoon after 18 hours of traveling. And this picture seems to sum up our trip so far - dark, rainy and cold.

[gfron1]

We arrived at what felt like the middle of the night, but it was really 4 in the afternoon, but here in Helsinki IF the clouds weren't covering the sun, we would only have daylight from 9:30-3:30ish each day. But with the clouds at best we get a bit of light darkness. We saw a blue sky for 15 minutes on Wednesday and that was the end. So we were tired, hungry and ready for bed, but we knew we needed to stay up if we were going to get our sleep under control for the rest of the week. We checked into our apartment and headed out into the rain for groceries. Tyler only eats 2 eggs, 2 toast every morning, so we bought some eggs and bread along with some other goodies.

We think we got salted butter...this language is so hard to interpret for two guys who only know English and Spanish...so many letters in every word! A couple of types of bread, some chocolates which Tyler, who doesn't like sweets, picked out, eggs, and I got cheese for my breakfasts. For about 30 seconds I was so excited in the grocery seeing all of the new and unusual items, but then as I acclimated I realized, essentially most of the stuff was the standard fare, and much of it was what I would get in the US with Finnish labels.

 

We came back to the apartment, rebundled up, and then out for a quick bite. I did a quick Yelping and found a few nice places around the apartment, but my choice - a Russian bar - was just booze and no food, so we ended up next door at Eerikin Pippuri a kabob place.

Neither

Neither of us knew what we were ordering, but mine ended up looking like a combo plate and Tyler had a stack of gyro meat. And with that we headed home and crashed hard.

[gfron1]

So why Helsinki in winter you ask? I erroneously thought it would be down season and thus cheaper. I was wrong. Like most of Europe, down season is August when everyone is on holiday. Business travel continues so prices aren't aren't weather dependent, and business travel drives the airfare and lodging markets. That said, Finland (actually Lapland) lays claim to being the home of Santa Claus, so its a fun time to be here - its just we're so used to living in the high desert of New Mexico that we forgot what cold can be, and as many locals have reminded us...this isn't cold yet.

 

There are two facebook pages that I've been following religiously in preparation for this trip. One is the Slow Food Helsinki group, and the other is a tourist page. Many of our stops were guided by these two pages.

 

Tuesday we headed toward the Senate Square Cathedral (Lutheran) to see the Christmas Market. And here is that brief moment of blue skies. We haven't seen it since.

The inside of the church was, as Tyler put it, "very Lutheran." He's got a couple of degrees in religion and one in art history so he pontificated on the design choices...and I normally just start to zone out and think about the next meal.

Just below the big steps is the Christmas Market. There were a few hand crafted items, but most were things we had already seen around town, so not much felt special, but it was still nice seeing children enjoying the merry go round and people sipping their glog and gluchwein.

And an odd thing...so my riesling by the glass (Kung Fu Girl) at the restaurant showed up in a booth at the Helsinki Christmas Market...not feeling so special any more.

Tyler is saying he's going to hide my computer, so more later!

[ElsieD]

This is sooooo interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[SylviaLovegren]

Looking forward to hearing about your adventures. 

[gfweb]

Christmas market seems rather spartan, compared to those I've seen in France and Germany.  Perhaps the lights at night will perk it up. Docsconz used to be a fixture here...

[CatPoet]

The joke here is that Finns  got the left over letters no one wanted,

 

Just to give people an idea of the problems facing  gfron.   

 

Savo dialect.  Kokko, kokkoo kokkoo koko kokko! - Koko kokkoko? - Koko kokko. Kokkookko? 

 Kokko (a surname), gather up the whole bonfire! - The entire bonfire? - The entire bonfire. Now will you gather it up?

 

Good luck and you will finds speciality foods, trust me, just dont go for presliced  and eila is lactosfee if you wonder.  I  miss Finland, one day I may return, so have a lovely trip.

[gfron1]

Christmas market seems rather spartan, compared to those I've seen in France and Germany.

 

 

 

I agree. I remember Christmas markets in Germany being much bigger and better - not so much factory made stuff...but maybe they were and my memory is clouded by gluchwein.

Savo dialect. Kokko, kokkoo kokkoo koko kokko! - Koko kokkoko? - Koko kokko. Kokkookko? 

 

That's a bit like our Peter Piper tongue twister! And yes, the language is hard especially after going to Estonia. I was doing good with Kiitos, Hei and hei hei (Thanks, Hi, Bye).

 

Next we explored the city center and got to see some wonderful holiday sites like the displays in department store windows.

I always need something to look for for myself or I get bored. This trip I'm looking for artisanal food products (always), unique boozes, and some stylish clothes - because literally all I wear is jeans, shorts and t-shirts at work. This display was pretty friggin amazing.

We stumbled upon our ultimate destination of Olo...and note, that I look like crap - haven't slept in longer than I can remember between work stress back home and jet lag and well hell I'm getting older!

But Olo will have to wait because we don't eat here til tonight and there are plenty of other great meals waiting for us.

We have a way of stumbling upon things because we walk everywhere and since we don't know the language...we just find things. We popped our heads in a door to warm up and were greeted with "Hei! Welcome to our pop-up restaurant opening day!" Woo hoo! We were their first customers at what they called a vegetarian Marrakech restaurant.

They had two items so we ordered both. Turns out that one was just the sandwich version of the other - a couscous dish with seitan and veggies. It was very good.

So to summarize. We came to Helsinki and at kabobs and now couscous...Looking ahead in the story I see a theme emerging. But more on that later. But the real score was the owner sat down and helped us figure out how to take the ferry to Estonia tomorrow, and even searched out best fares for us along with tram lines to get us to the proper docks - there are different docks for different ships...don't want to screw that up!

I'm still a few days behind on posting, but I have to go to one of my top itinerary items - the big food stall market. I'm skipping breakfast because someone somewhere on this trip told us that we must get porridge for breakfast at the market, and so we will!

[cyalexa]

You do look tired but also happy. I'm enjoying your posts.

[Smithy]

It's very cool that you stumbled into a pop-up restaurant! Did you talk shop with her a bit?

I'm amused and intrigued that you seem to be encountering so much Middle Eastern food, there on a trip so exotically far north. I hope you'll be saying more about that.

Thanks for the Christmas shop photos! it's so long since I was in a big city at this time of year that I forget what it can be like. :-)

[CatPoet]

Nah Kebab has become rather normal  up in the north due to immigration and well even though  Finns don't take in that many, the trend has spread.   We are not so far from Middle East as you think, it is  rather close to us and  if you go to  Turkey  which many do for  a cheap holiday, you find kebab.

 

I hope you get to eat Finnish  food soon!!

[gfweb]

Always amazes me how many Middle Easterners immigrate to the tundra. I'm told Winnipeg has a huge community. If it were me, I'd go for warm or at least temperate.

[gfron1]

It's very cool that you stumbled into a pop-up restaurant! Did you talk shop with her a bit? 

 

We did. There were two "owners," and the other was a former super model. She was very exotic and fortunately, not the twig thin style of super model.

I'm amused and intrigued that you seem to be encountering so much Middle Eastern food, there on a trip so exotically far north. I hope you'll be saying more about that.

 

CatPoet answered this, but the immigrant movement has had other influences. Lots of Nepalese restaurants as well as more expected ones like Chinese, Sushi and Pizza. Subways are everywhere - the American sandwich chain, and BK and McDs too in lesser numbers than Subway. I sit here thinking...if I were an immigrant from any of these countries...why Finland? Its  a great country and there must be some incident that precipitates the flow, but seems an odd choice with such harsh seasons. But, of course, in America with have the same thing with Somalis in Minneapolis which was instigated by formalized relocation efforts.

 

Now, back to the trip.

 

After the pop-up we prowled the neighborhood looking for a shop that was recommended by Slow Food Helsinki - Herkuttalo (Mariankatu 15). Very nice shop, but she specializes in French items so that wasn't quite what I was looking for. She did have a couple of Lapland jams - Black current and Cloudberry.

We were getting hungry so we headed to Sea Horse which was recommended to me by one of the chefs at Olo. 

Ravintola Sea Horse is a landmark in town and the decor reeks of 1981 as does the menu and food styling. But, if you want a slab of reindeer with some beets and potatoes, this is the place to go. I started with some long words that must have meant Sampler Platter because I got beets, potatoes, sour cream, chives, minced meat and other things.

For my entree I was going to go light (and cheap) but at the last second called the waiter back and got the reindeer filet.

While the staff at one of our latter fancy restaurants laughed at me when i said it, this was the most tender piece of red meat I've ever had in my life...including the reindeer served to me at said fancy restaurant. What was even more fun was how the crowd looked like they were straight out of a cold war KGB movie.

 

I can't talk about this trip without emphasizing the darkness. Today is Saturday at around 6 and we arrived Monday in the afternoon. We have seen light not even 30 minutes during this time. Even if the clouds were gone the sun would only be up 6 hours a day, but with the clouds...oye! It is dark, gloomy and wet. Here's the view from our apartment.

[CatPoet]

No you didnt get  sample dish, in Sweden it is called Russian plate, the  Finns have another word for it, which has more letter then it needs to be and every letter is pronounced.

 

The reason for the immigrant, if you get into the Nordic countries, you have it much better then in many other countries, hence they aim for us. And yes it is a chock to the system when they end up in minus 30 and 2 meter of snow since a lot of the  refugee first  housing is in the north.  A friend was certain that  Swedes were immortal because they could live  and breath ice, that lasted 6 months until he started learning Swedish and spring came and he is  from Ghana.

 

I am utterly envious of you!!  Reindeer is one of my favourite meats, 

Edited December 13, 2014 by CatPoet (log)

[Smithy]

I am convinced that the long darkness of the northern countries' winters accounts for the darker creatures of their mythology.

Can you describe the flavor of reindeer meat? Does it taste like beef, elk, lamb, deer? You're working from a small sample space, of course, but what can you say so far?

[gfron1]

Remember the pop-up restaurant woman? Well, she helped us figure out the transport to Estonia. I booked reservations at Neh and we needed to take the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn. We looked at the options and ended going for the cheapest since it was only 2 hours.

We took the morning trip at 08:00 which cost €17 per person each way...not too bad. We were warned to get to the dock at least 1 hour prior which we did, and I'm glad because there was already a large mass of travelers. This is also when we learned that almost everyone drags rolling suitcases behind them...empty! Why you ask. Because they're about to load up on cheap booze and cigarettes. We didn't find the prices that much better but I guess its akin to Americans going to outlet malls which at one time were a good deal, but not so much anymore.

 

We didn't eat on this leg and just parked ourselves in front of the TV to watch the Estonian version of Good Morning America. This is also when I decided that Finns are all super models...every last one of them. Its humbling and titillating at the same time! 

 

We needed a quick bite so we stopped at a pub where I erroneously read the sign as the oldest pub 1893...it was, of course, 1983...the fall of the soviet empire. So, not so nostalgic and in fact kinda a dumpy tourist bar, but the beer was fine.

This is where Tyler learned that pickles dipped in honey and sour cream is oddly good. This is Tyler's look throughout most of the trip. He's gotten a lot of looks which we can't figure out if its because people think he's a "handsome woman," or a trendy American...

Regardless, we headed straight to their Christmas Market which was much better than Helsinki's.

Still small, but better goodies!

Then we wandered and wandered the twisted cobblestone streets. We found St. Catherine's Alley which had some interesting crafts.

The rocks on the left are at the opening to the alley and are ancient tombstones. We didn't find much that excited us as far as goodies, but we really fell in love with this town, both the historic section and the larger city - we would definitely return IN A HEARTBEAT!

 

But back to the task at hand! A trip to Alko...state run booze store where I picked up a few interesting things.

The one on the left I bought because it had crystals on the bottom of the bottle and for no other reason. Kannu Kukk I bought because its sort of the national drink of Estonia. And then the other two...well, they're interesting and not something I sea at home. I haven't broken the seal on any of them to help get them home safely. 

 

And finally, we were off to find our AirBnB which I gotta say was a gazillion times nicer than my house and only and for only $63 a night! I get the sense that some of these former Eastern block countries are finding all sorts of ways to make a living - both of our apartments are owned by people who are making a side living by buying places and renting the out to AirBnBers.

 

A quick nap and then we were across the street to Neh, our first pre-planned fancy dinner.  I'm cleaning up for Olo right now, so more on that later.

[gfron1]

 

Can you describe the flavor of reindeer meat? Does it taste like beef, elk, lamb, deer?

 

 

 Its a tough question asking the differences in red game meats, especially when flavors vary based on whether its wild or farmed, time of year, terroir. I'm keenly experienced in elk, venison and lamb because of the restaurant, and while I don't serve beef hardly ever at the restaurant, I've naturally eaten plenty. This was my first experience with reindeer. I will only speak of farmed because restaurants (at least legally in the US) can only serve farmed and not wild. Lamb older than 6-9 months gets its reputation for the musky flavor. Younger lamb, like what I serve, really only has a bit of that flavor that most people miss unless then do a focused exhale after a bite. Elk comes off more rich/rico to me, with maybe a butteriness in its flavor - big, bold, solid. Venison tends to be much more neutral but still has a not-unpleasant gaminess that makes it interesting. So with my opinion (right or wrong) on the other meats, I'll say that reindeer, in the two instances I've had it on this trip so far, is closer to deer, but clearly the diet is different. It was juicier (maybe just fresher than what I can get) and cleaner tasting - less gamey. Cleaner...that's the word that keeps popping into my head. I'll pay more attention tonight since i'm sure we'll be served some reindeer.

[Hassouni]

See if you can get smoked reindeer heart. I don't know if Finns eat it, but I had some in Sweden and it is now my favorite meat.

[ElsieD]

I only ever had reindeer once and that was in Oslo many years ago and that meal remains the best meal I have ever eaten in my life. And that was MANY meals ago.

[gfweb]

I've found caribou/reindeer and elk to be meaty but not gamey at all. Sort of like an ideal venison with better texture and a touch more fat. But some of that could have been the cut...

[patrickamory]

Loving this narrative - please keep it going!

[gfron1]

See if you can get smoked reindeer heart. I don't know if Finns eat it, but I had some in Sweden and it is now my favorite meat.

 

Just hold your reindeers because we've now had reindeer heart three nights in a row!  Just back from Olo...but first there are bars calling my name!

[gfron1]

And as a teaser the Olo staff told us to go to a specific restaurant for tomorrow. We were going to take it easy but here comes our 4th tasting menu in a row! Good thing we walk a lot.

[Shelby]

I've found caribou/reindeer and elk to be meaty but not gamey at all. Sort of like an ideal venison with better texture and a touch more fat. But some of that could have been the cut...

I totally agree.  Elk is my all-time favorite meat.  I haven't had it in quite some time.  We just aren't up to hunting it and packing it down like we used to......not to mention we don't have a place to hunt anymore in Colorado.

 

Rob, I am LOVING this journey.  Thanks for taking us along.  Oh the cobblestone streets are so lovely.  And the Christmas markets.....just wonderful.

 

I think the stares at Tyler are because he's a handsome man AND trendy

[CatPoet]

Last time I had  reindeer it was dried salted and with beer,   Yeah I am way to far south for  proper reindeer or good  European Elk  ( alces alces) and  roe deer, well I dont know any hunters any more and down here they hunt boar  more.

 

 

Oh I envy  you at Neh!  That is so lovely. I wish  I could eat food as you do!  Curse my delicate tummy!  I want to go to Neh too.

 

Stop saying you are ugly, you are not.  Yes you are Americans  but you don't behave as standard   tourist and that is great, which is most likely a chock to some.. People is now trying to break away from  the past with Russia  by speaking English, so you will find  service minded people speaking English.  

Edited December 14, 2014 by CatPoet (log)