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

[gfron1]

Awake after a short night. The drunks hollered their way home after the 2 am shut down of the bars. The crazy thing is that we got home from Olo at 1:30 am and we think we left at 12:45...not sure how that happened, lots of wine pairings and free glasses of this and that, but we started at 19:00 and I don't think we sat there for 6 hours...very surreal. But back to the trip.

 

So on the way to dinner at Neh we popped into the grocery for some tissues. Along the way we picked up a few chocolate bars made in Estonia.

The light colored one is white chocolate and sea buckthorn and the one next to it was created for their annual garlic festival - and yes, garlic and chocolate go well together. And then looking left we see an indigenous blue horned pterodactyl egg.

Which may become a funnier joke when you see course 7 at Neh!

 

When I research restaurants I start with TripAdvisor which will often put Applebees and #1, and then Yelp which will put Ruth's Chris Steakhouse at #1, and then I start googling "best restaurant in ___" or "most exciting restaurant in ___" and with all of that info I get a lay of the land for who has the best PR teams or serves the cheapest booze. But it gives me a good starting point when I have nothing to go from. Then I scour a few travel sites like RickSteves.com and of course eGullet if there's up to date info. Finally, I'll google "modern restaurants in ___" and "Innovative restaurants in ___" and that normally hones me in close enough to find what restaurants the foodies go to. In this case you really had to look past the restaurants popular with tourists, and the traditional big portioned business restaurants, but then you find Neh. 

We opted for what they call the "Endless Menu." Obviously they've never done Alinea's 24 course dinner like we have

 

I'm not sure why but we made reservations for 6...that's early in this region. Almost everyone goes out from 19:00 to 21:00 and that's it. Not earlier. Not later. As a chef I would love that! Tighten up service and get in and get out. But we were early and the place to ourselves for the first hour. Fortunately again because these Ugly Americans only speak English and Spanish, the staff was fluent enough in English. We did take care to learn Tere and Aitah (hello and thank you). But as the wine pairings continued my aitahs became kiitos became gracias.

 

The staff were so gracious and friendly, and I love when you can feel that a restaurant is genuinely appreciative that you chose them. I felt that here. They started us off with a sparkling riesling and "Beetroots from Rautsi farm with goats cheese from Esna"

The beets were cooked and ground common to the area, while the goat came as a mild, lightly aged cheese and also as a crisp. Parsley oil finished it off. Next was a housemade dandelion schnapps

with "Wild boar terrine with rowanberry and hazelnut"

A less effervescent and sweeter, more traditional riesling was next paired with "Miika's sunchokes with smoked eel and egg yolk"

Then we had the odd pairing of a sherry in the middle of the menu, which worked, but made me re-think the more traditional progressions. "Soup of mushroom with cottage cheese and wine pearls"

This is the point in the night where the photography gets sketchy - my apologies.  A nice chablis was then offered and I asked Tyler if we would ever see a red wine! "Cod with leek and salsify."

We both loved this course - so flavorful and smooth. It was also the only course with a hiccup - not enough of the leek was peeled away so the outer layers were inedible. A palate cleanser of "Gooseberry granité" presented in a split bottle on a moss topped wood disc.

The moss and wood are quickly becoming cliché but the bottle was something I hadn't seen before and was interesting. My inebriated notes aren't legible but some red wine followed by "Quail from Jarveotsa with carrot and buckwheat" and we were instructed to use our hands.

I was half way through the bird before I remembered the picture. I've never been a fan of quail because my golden rule is the effort to output ratio, but it was very tasty nonetheless. (recall pterodactyl joke here)

 

A rioja with "Saare beef cheek with parsley root and bacon"

Cheek, like oxtail, are such hard sells for me in my own restaurant and its too bad because they are my favorite cuts. Perfectly done here. I couldn't figure out if they really had parsley root or if they meant parsnip or simply parsley...whichever, it was good.

 

They served one course on top of this hot pad...we later saw them at the Christmas market and have inspired me to find a local woodworker to do something similar.

One upsell that all of the restaurants we went to did, was "Would you like some cheese before we continue with the menu?" Interesting way to phrase it because of course they're going to charge you but you don't hear it as an upsell...yes, implemented at my restaurant immediately upon return! Three cheeses - 2 aged Danish goats and one local goat with hazelnut bread.

A pre-dessert of "Caramel, sweet cremé and crumble" with Estonian dessert wine.

And finally a port with "Black currant mousse, compote and tuile" I didn't bother photographing because it was  a jar of goo. The chef Yves Le Lay did a fantastic job and I'll say it was on par with the rest of the meals we've had on this trip, certainly deserving of Michelin consideration.

 

After dinner we froze our patooties as we crossed the street to get back to the apartment and crashed into bed.

[gfron1]

The next day we headed back into old town for more touristy stuff. Its a good reminder that Estonia as we know it began not too long ago:

More walls, more arches, more cold

Beautiful doorways

Beautiful cobblestone streets

Beautiful churches

Beautiful history

I highly recommend the guided tour of the underground tunnels - best opportunity to learn of the history of Estonia. You quickly realize that it was occupied by invaders from its beginning until 1994...I would love to do a psychoanalysis of the effect of that on its people. We ended up in the museum tower for lunch - nothing special - Smoked fish salad and mushroom soup in bread bowl.

and Tyler in the throne

and one last beautiful sight before we boarded the cruise ship

For dinner we opted for the cruise buffet. I knew it wouldn't be great food, but I figured it would give me a good lay of the land of regional cuisine.

and this is where I learned the I love pickled fish with creams and dill and such. And who knew I could eat a half a cup of caviar in one sitting!? And who knew that a drunk Russian singing karaoke on an Estonia ferry could be so entertaining!

And so that was our overnight to Estonia. I can't say it enough - absolutely loved Tallinn and really want to return to explore the rest of the country.

[CatPoet]

Estonia it self is much older, it has on and off been its own country but gotten invaded by nearly every one.   I remember the Singing Revolution  and that we were in awe that  Russia didnt  go in with full force.  That  must be the most peaceful revolution in  Europe.

 

 

Anyway, if you want pickled  herring recipes,  I have a ton of them, just ask.

[gfron1]

I could eat pickled herring til I made myself sick! This is my second breakfast today - Tyler finally decided to wake up at 2 in the afternoon. I think he ate one too many tasting dinners

A not-sweet hearty bread of fruit and nuts with rose scented pink pepper salmon

[CatPoet]

I  will translate my father's recipes.  I grew up eating herring in every form there was a  as little, even fried pickled herring.    I cant stand it any more, most likely due to having it 4 days a week sometimes. 

[cyalexa]

I would love to find cheek on your menu when I come in Feb. We see it around here occasionally at authentic Mexican restaurants, usually in a taco. I also enjoy pickled herring but rarely see it other than in a jar. Food destination travel is one of life's greatest pleasures - thanks for sharing yours.

[gfron1]

Just a quick post before we head to our last dinner. I was talking to the kitchen at Olo about some interesting local food products and they said they love to buy a cheese made in Helsinki that is a cheapie at the grocery store, but if you age it, it becomes very nice. So I bought three and we'll see if they make it through customs.

[Shelby]

Boy, you're not kidding about all the letters in the words 

[CatPoet]

I can understand vitmögel, white mold and that is it.

 

Yeah and remember every letter is pronounced.

[gfron1]

I'm back in the states, chilling in PHX before heading home on Thursday. All the loot (cheese, booze, jams) made it safely overseas. Tremendous success!

[gfron1]

Spent the morning prowling old churches. The first is a seldom visited Lutheran church that if I remember correctly is the oldest structure in Helsinki. The outside looks like an old marble building but its actually 100% wood.

The inside is plain bright white and shimmering gold.

Then we headed to the Church of the Rock which has truly breathtaking architecture.

But then we were off for a quick bite. We stumbled into Vivo's Lebanese which was hands down the best non-tasting menu of the trip. So amazingly flavorful! I just did a basic shwarma plate, but it knocked my socks off.

And after the heavy meal, and so much walking, and way too little sleep, I was thankful that nearly ever block has a café, so we grabbed some caffeine to get us ready for Ravintola Ask.

On the way we ran into another cool old church. This one had a millitary graduation going on.

[Smithy]

Welcome back to the States - but truly, I'll be sorry when this topic ends. I'm glad you had more after your 'arrival' note. The Church of the Rock is spectacular!

Did the Customs folk tell you anything about cheeses that they would not have allowed back in?

[gfron1]

Now its time to knuckle down on some serious food! We headed over to Ravintola Ask which has a Michelin star and and a slew of awards including a listing in the Nordic Guide that just came out yesterday. Ask is a finalist for Restaurant of the Year!

And I'll apologize because the photos for the rest of the trip meals just are ungodly dark...just like the country ;p

Ask and Olo were touting their recent rankings in the brand new White Guide that came out:

And you can guess we did the 8 course, 8 wine menu...you'll note that these menus start to look identical in what they're serving.

We were started with rice flour crisps and potato chips with quark or creme fraische. Then a glass of a flute of champagne (Tarrant?) followed by a second snack of fermented carrot with sea buckthorn; fried reindeer lichen with lingonberry, and pudding of blood (v blood pudding) with crisps. The final snack was a cumin scented mayonaisse on roasted turnip with grapeseed oil.

The first wine was a Vinho Verde - Aphros Ten 2012. First course was Elk tartare. We had to do quite a bit of digging with the staff to confirm that to them, elk are what we call moose - you know like Bullwinkle. Not an elk, like a deer on steroids. So this was moose tartare with shaved hazelnuts and raw elderberry.

Next up: Les Bruyeres Arbois Chard 2011 and Celeriac stock with pork belly and bacon and fermented celeriac.

Don Laurent Vogt from Alsace with hay smoked herring and onion ash, house made creme fraiche. Not photo.

Das Ohr Kerner (a varietal I had never had before) with Beet, buckwheat porridge, goat cheese curd, parsley and really yummy puffed, crisped buckwheat.

Girarden Sartenay - a red burgandy with pike, salted ransomberries, fried and cooked jerusalem artichoke, and brown butter. This was our favorite course.

Roccafiore Sangiovese  with parsnip and reindeer stew with reindeer heart, apple raw and granité.

We added the option trio of cheeses (all aged Denmark goat) one being a 17mos house aged hay cheese, and sea buckthorn candied carrots.

I missed the first dessert wine and a dessert of buttermilk along spruce jam, spruce pickle and spruce mousse. The second dessert wine was a Heinrich varietal...really liked it, just don't remember what it was The dessert was cranberry ice cream and warm licorice sauce over sticky toffee pudding and frozen cranberries. They finished us with a plate of acorn ganache, candied parsnip and pine tip caramel.

Coffee was served Chemex conical drip.

 

Really great meal, and a perfect warm-up for Olo.

[gfron1]

Welcome back to the States - but truly, I'll be sorry when this topic ends. I'm glad you had more after your 'arrival' note. The Church of the Rock is spectacular!

Did the Customs folk tell you anything about cheeses that they would not have allowed back in?

Not a word from customs, but we always have a friendly spirit when dealing with beaurocrats! They were overwhelmed the crowd was getting impatient. That said, regulations allow the cheese I brought so it shouldn't have been an issue. I still have quite a bit to upload. My goal is to be done before I start up at work on Thursday. 

[Tri2Cook]

I haven't said much, I know nothing about anything related to where you were, but I've been following and enjoying every word and picture and know more about the area now than before you shared all of this. That meal at Ask looks really nice. Their elk being our moose is interesting to me... I have quite a bit of moose in the freezer right now so maybe a little exploring the cuisine of that region should be in order.

[IowaDee]

what a wonderful trip you had and thanks for allowing us to tag along.  I can only think that your creative juices must be flowing at warp speed about now.   

[gfron1]

The next morning we taught ourselves how to get around on the trains and headed to the Hakaniemi Food Market. I was prepared for this to be my gold mine of inspiration! I'll give you the end of the story first - it wasn't. I really had no use for all of the amazing meats, produce and fish since they were fresh. I found a few cool things in addition to the cheeses i mentioned earlier, but its a cool place to visit regardless.

They had lots and lots of fresh, cured and smoked fish

Decent product, although I'm sure it was limited by the season

Amazing cured meats

Fresh meats, which I didn't explore much to see how predominate reindeer was over beef and pork

Two good cheese stalls

More fish

and more fish! And always the loaves of dark malty bread.

And still more fish - you may recognize my breakfast in this one

And pastries

Tyler nibbling on the famous cheese bread which is stuffed with rice in this one

I had a fancier breakfast of a microwaved mushroom and salmon tart. We were trying to find a woman who does hot porridge outside but we never found her. She came recommended by someone we met along the way.

But ultimately I found my goodies at Merja Valo's stall. She had some nice dried mushrooms, jams, mustards and such, and hidden behind the jams were these powdered lingonberries, boysenberries and cloudberries.  Just had to dig a bit and spend some time talking to the people.

And thanks - I'm glad you're enjoying these posts. This really was a wonderful trip. I haven't even talked about how it might influence the restaurant, and how big picture, I wanted to see how my place compares to a Michel restaurant. Maybe more on that if folks are interested.

[gfron1]

what a wonderful trip you had and thanks for allowing us to tag along.  I can only think that your creative juices must be flowing at warp speed about now.   

The irony is that my place is very locally driven, so on one hand it has nothing to do with my restaurant, but seeing how others use their area absolutely is inspiring me. I've got a running log of notes  - one column is for me in the kitchen and one column is for my lead server. Again, I'll share these later if there's interest.

 

But for now, back to the hottub in Phoenix as I continue to relax.

Edited December 16, 2014 by gfron1 (log)

[IowaDee]

As you soak, think about this...is there any possibility that you are a long lost son/grandson of Euell Gibbons?  I, for one, will be interested in anything you care to post.

[gfron1]

One more quick post before my soak. I've mentioned that we like to wander. (We're easily nearing 100 miles of walking at this point in the story.) That afternoon...I think it was Saturday but the days blurr...we wanted to go to an area we hadn't seen yet, the southeast corner of the main section of town. We stumbled into a bunch of embassies including the US embassy. The area had beautiful architecture.

and then we ran into this. Tyler's not one to pass up a museum, and we just happened to find the Mannerheim museum. Mannerheim, we learned, was the liberator of the country so to speak. His past much more involved...Russians, Nazis...but we learned more about the country's history and heritage from this museum than anywhere else on the trip. We now understand the reason for Finnish, Swedish and English. We understand the feelings towards the Russians and Germans. We understand so much which would have colored our trip very differently if we had gone here first. If you go to Helsinki, put this on the top of your list...says the guy who can be in an out of any museum in 10 minutes! I loved this one!

 

On the other hand - the Design museum - poorly designed, sparse and quite frankly not very informative. A few interesting art objects however.

I call this one the creepy little boy warriors. It reminded me of the terra cotta warriors.

We were both disappointed by this place, but meh, whatever. We headed home to get ready for Ravintola Olo...the reason for the whole trip.

[gfron1]

As you soak, think about this...is there any possibility that you are a long lost son/grandson of Euell Gibbons?  I, for one, will be interested in anything you care to post.

At first I had no idea who you were talking about, but when I went to Wiki I have a vague memory of him from the Grapenuts commercials. I think he and I would have enjoyed talking. Those of us enmeshed in the movement today often forget that people like Gibbons were doing this long ago.

[IowaDee]

He  had a pretty amazing life, much of it spent right in your neck of the woods.  If you ever have the chance to, grab his books.  

[Tri2Cook]

I haven't even talked about how it might influence the restaurant, and how big picture, I wanted to see how my place compares to a Michel restaurant. Maybe more on that if folks are interested.

 

 

The irony is that my place is very locally driven, so on one hand it has nothing to do with my restaurant, but seeing how others use their area absolutely is inspiring me. I've got a running log of notes  - one column is for me in the kitchen and one column is for my lead server. Again, I'll share these later if there's interest.

There's definitely interest... sometimes the best inspirations come when we're not looking for or even particularly wanting them.

[gfweb]

Gibbons wrote some great books. Well worth digging up.

[Hassouni]

Idea: reindeer shawarma. hmmmmm

 

 

Also, I found reindeer to be much tastier than moose (elk). What's your take on that?