Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I arrived in Helsinki, the sun was shining and it was a pleasant day. I had a good flight but could not sleep. Aki picked me up and gave me a little tour of Helsinki and dropped me at the Hotel Haven so I could rest for an hour or so. The Hotel Haven is very nice with great views of the harbor and ferryboats.

Aki and his friend Jari picked me up and we went to the wholesale market - Tukkutori. I had a tour with Timo, the general manager of the market and also met Marcus, the father of local foods. In 1982 his restaurant was the first in Finaland to receive a Michelin star.

Tukkutori is interesting and big. Located on 17 hectares it is great real estate in the city center. They have a five-year plan to renovate and add restaurants and stores for retail. What a great idea. It would be great to do the same in Washington, D.C. with the Florida Ave. wholesale market.

Next, we went to Savoy, a fine-dining restaurant on the roof of the Kasperi family building. The famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto built the restaurant. The cuisine is traditional but uses Finnish ingredients. I spoke with the chef. He explained that he tries to use small farmers but that it is not always possible, they have the same problems as in the U.S. - transportation and availability.

As I understand there are two large hospitality groups in Helsinki, the Royal Restaurant Group and the Palace Restaurant Group, which own many of the restaurants in town. The Savoy belongs to the Royal Group. We were too late to get lunch because I had to rest after my flight.

So we went to Atelje Finne and met with chef/owner Antto. He gave us a great lunch of simply prepared food with artisan products, which showcased the quality and taste of the food. The restaurant is located in a small former sculptor atelier, therefore the name. It was tastefully decorated and he left some of the sculptures in the space, mainly busts. It was also interesting that in the restrooms he had piped in conversations in different languages and from different cities.

Jari, Aki and I walked to checkout the great church, Temppeliaukio made out of granite, glass, and wood with a big copper cupola.

Aki brought us back into the town-center. Jari and I went to the Torni Tower, dubbed as the Helsinki Empire State building. We had a great view from the top floor bar. Afterwards we walked to the Kosmos, an 83-year-old restaurant with art-nouveau décor and a traditional menu with Finnish antipasta, blinis with salmon roe, slightly salted filet of reindeer, sweetbread sausage, and reindeer with shoots of spruce. Then we walked to a pedestrian zone into a big place with an interesting concept of lounges, bar and theater, unfortunately I forgot the name.

Afterwards, Aki walked me back to my hotel.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Aki and Jari met me for breakfast at the hotel. We walked through the old market hall, which is just in front of the hotel and has stores inside, like the Eastern Market in D.C. I bought a great poro skin (reindeer skin). I had a taste of dried poro meat but it was too salty for me.

We started our farm tour and left Helsinki by the scenic route to see the nice villas along the shores, the parks and the great granite boulders. The Finnish landscape is beautiful, serene and calming with the snow-covered fields, the aspen and spruce trees as well as the frozen lakes. There were ice-fishermen on the lakes. Red farmhouses with white trim dot the landscape.

After an hour of driving we came to a small farm called Kolattu where the owners, a couple, made cheese, mostly goat cheese. The couple explained that they used to have goats themselves but it was too complicated with the EU regulations. So now they buy the milk and concentrate on making cheese. They make two-week aged goat cheese, two-month aged feta cheese, and 15-month old cheddar cheese. They are also experimenting with goat brie. Because it was close to Easter they made a special baked egg cheese from cows milk. It is nicely molded cheese that is baked until browned and it tastes like cheesecake or cheese strudel. This couple worked very hard and the women explained that when they were building the business they had four children, one set of twins.

Then we drove on to the Swarfvars, a farm and web-store of organic products. They have 400 customers and the minimum order is 50 Euros. The owner had an original Lapland cow breed, Lapin Leahma or forest cows. He raises his cows for meat and has 20 heads. A local slaughterhouse and processor makes sausages and smokes his meat. He sells fresh vegetables, fruit and dried-goods coming from all over Europe. He buys containers from France to Helsinki. I had a long talk with him about the complications with the EU regulations and how difficult it is to comply with these regulations on a small farm.

Then we drove to Bovik, another farm, again a great couple, both farmers. The woman was from Estonia and he is also a photographer and musician. They had many sheep raised for meat and wool. There were a lot of newborns when we were there. They also raised about 30 old breed cows called kyytto cattle for meat. The farmer was a very intelligent and innovative businessman. He had a store on his property were he sold wool, sweaters and lambskin. Then he had other dwellings including a teepee, which he rented out for company retreats or gatherings. The location was beautiful. The best part is that he receives money from the government to bring his animals to the islands in the summer to graze in order to create a traditional landscape. He mentioned that it makes the meat of his animals taste delicious.

We then went to Waudeville, a micro-green glass-house farm where they grow edible flowers and micro-greens. I was not very impressed.

We drove back to the city and had dinner at a small restaurant owned by Antto and run by Antto's partner (I forgot his name). It was an interesting restaurant that looks like a small tavern, built into a rock. It had a tiny kitchen and a very small prix-fixe menu. I had a heart of poro carpaccio, herring and pork cheeks in ginger broth. I met some other Helsinki visitors, Travis Price and his guide and Eeris the third partner of Eat & Joy. The food was wonderful, a great concept and talented chef. It was a great evening.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Aki, Jari and I had breakfast at the Hotel Klaus K, which is famous for offering the best Finnish breakfast. It was very interesting. On his breakfast buffet he indicated where every item came from and who produced it - cheeses, yogurt, fruit, fish, meats, assorted homemade breads, most of them dark ryes and one with lingonberries baked inside. There were different jams, made with different berries such as cloudberries.

I gave an interview with Henna Jensen, a journalist with the biggest daily newspaper in Finland. She is very interested in organics, small producers and local products.

I met Chef Jyrki Sukula at Klaus K, his wife had a baby girl the day before and could not join us sooner. He is a man of many talents. He works for a big company helping to develop local and healthy products. He is active in the school lunch program developing healthier meals for kids. He also owns a winery in Piedmont where he produces a delicious Barolo.

Aki and Jyrki Sukula took me to visit an elementary school where Jyrki had introduced a healthy lunch program. It looked great and tasted very good. The lunch hall was airy, clean and quiet. It was also the school's auditorium and performance space. The buffet had an assortment of food - soup, pasta, curry with meat, vegetables, salad and a bread station with only dark Finnish bread. There was a special station for children with allergies, such as gluten, wheat and dairy-free. The kitchen is small but the staff prepares what they can such as soup, salads and snacks. The children looked great and healthy. In the entire crowd of nearly 100 children there was only one chubby kid. I was amazed at how disciplined everyone was. While we had lunch Jyrki gave me a lesson in the origins of Finnish food. The west of Finland, being closer to Sweden and the east being closer to Russia, have different characteristics.

Western Finland with wheat, white bread and sugar are influences from Sweden. The old capital, Turko is in the West. It has a coastline which offers fish from the sea, there is also pork, poultry, green and root vegetables, and malt to make beer and booze. One difference between the east and the west is that on the west coast they salt the fish for two hours and on the east they salt it for two days. They have a lot of fresh cheese from cows and goats and in the southwest they have many orchards for apples, as well as buckwheat.

30 years ago the government changed the Finnish diet by reducing fat and salt. The project started to change people's health in the East part of Finland. It lowered their blood pressure, cholesterol and reduced cardiovascular problems. Now their diet is too high in sugar and carbohydrates.

Eastern Finland is characterized by dairy cows, milk, cheese, butter, sour cream, and salt (close to Russia). There are lots of mushrooms, pickling with only salt and smoked meats. There is lamb and small fish from lakes. The famous fish is called vendace. It is served fried, smoked or salted. This fish has very good roe. It is small but pops in your mouth. Eastern Finland has a lot of game such as moose, bear, dear, rabbit, birds such as grouse, quail, squab and wild duck. They make the famous round rye bread with a hole in the middle, which they hang on a dowel to dry and keep. The health problem here is too much salt and fat.

Afterwards we all went to visit the Marimekko factor but came too late and the production line was already closed. I had another interview with a young man and was filmed at the same time by a German-Finish woman, Katherina. Both were students at the art film school in Helsinki.

We had another stop at Aduki, an organic wholesaler and distributor. A very nice couple started it about 20 years ago and now it is doing better then ever. They carry products from Sweden, Denmark, England and Germany, mostly groceries and packaged goods.

In the late afternoon Jari brought me to the Sauna Society, Saunaseura. It is truly an unusual place. The location is wonderful, on the water with a dock leading into the ocean. There is also a small snack bar in the lounge with a round open fireplace, where women sit wrapped in their towels drinking, eating and chatting, watching the beautiful sunset over the ocean and the small islands that dot the water.

The sauna itself is not spa-like. It is very simple and user-friendly. There are the usual dressing rooms and a big room with showers on one side and on the other side wooden doors that lead to different kinds of saunas, from hot to hotter to very hot. I thought that this was wonderful because you could choose a temperature to your liking. Then I was introduced to the very traditional sauna, a smoke sauna, which is an important part of the Finnish culture. In the past they not only took their bath there but they also cooked their food and even gave birth in those saunas. Supposedly, the soot-covered walls give you more oxygen. To heat the sauna, they start a fire in the basement, with big wooden logs to really smoke up the room, at 5 am and it goes until 12 pm. The smoke from all those fires goes into the sauna room. Before you can use the sauna they open the windows to let the smoke escape. Then one walks into a blackened wooden room. The smoke supposedly brings oxygen into your system and is invigorating. There were also three different temperatures for the smoke sauna. In between taking the saunas you go onto the dock and jump into the ice water. Then there is a nice bench along the house where you can sit to find your bearings and then you go onto the next sauna.

Jari picked me up from the Suana Society. I was the last person to leave. I had such a great time. We went back to the hotel where we had a pleasant dinner at Helsinki's famous fish restaurant called Fish. The chef had specifically prepared something for us, an appetizer of salmon prepared in all different ways, the Finnish fish, vendace, and for the main course a turbot, which came from Sweden. It was perfectly cooked and served with vegetables. Different wines accompanied everything. The whole experience was delicious and light, perfect for a late-night dinner after an afternoon in the sauna.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Aki picked me up early in the morning and we visited a small family owned bakery where they make the famous dark rye bread as well as pastries. When I was there the mother was kneading the dough and the daughter decorated the Easter sweet breads. Their assistant stuffed breads and made rolls etc. The son does the deliveries. At 9 am the mother put on a clean apron and went to the front of the building where their store is located and where she sells her freshly baked goods. The mother is in her 80s. The young student photographer was there to take pictures of us with the family.

Afterwards Aki and I went to the old marketplace to check out the stands. The vegetable stands had mostly imported goods but also some local cold storage vegetables such as onions and all types of potatoes. The potato, especially the Lapland potato plays a big role in Finnish cooking. There were also women who sold their knitted goods - socks, hats and gloves. There was a fur trader who had reindeer, all colors of sheep wool, foxes, rabbits and several other furs. Lastly there was a big tent in the market, which is a famous gathering place for locals where they drink freshly brewed coffee and eat a special meat pie. Even the mayor of Helsinki goes there.

Aki told me that Eat & Joy acquired a location for a farmers market and a store, rent-free for the first 6-months. They are very excited about this and want to open the market this summer. I had a planning session with Aki to talk about farmers markets and of their importance. I gave him some suggestions and ideas on how we run the Freshfarm Markets in Washington, D.C. Aki showed me the location of their market. It will be a perfect spot, on a beautiful square. I think a mid-week market would be perfect for this location.

We met up with Jari and we walked around downtown Helsinki, checking out some stores such as Marimekko. Then we had lunch at a traditional Finnish restaurant called Aino. It is named after the main figure of the Kalebala, a saga of Finland. The chef showed me around his kitchen, which is smaller then Restaurant Nora's kitchen. I was very impressed because he had a lot of seats plus an outdoor seating area. The restaurant specializes in traditional Finnish food and beers from microbreweries. The chef prepared assorted dishes for us. Everything tasted delicious. We had smoked fresh-water vendace, a pike timbale and moonshine marinated arctic char, a Finnish goose-liver, which is not force-fed and delicious cumin spiced rye crackers from Aby Mansion, which is where they make the bread. A salmon seviche marinated for five minutes with ginger, salt, sugar, chili pepper, limejuice, and walnut oil, absolutely delicious. For dessert we had a cranberry almond clafouti flavored with cardamom again delicious.

After lunch we walked around in the design district of Helsinki checking out designers and shops. Then we went straight to City Hall to meet with the deputy mayors, one of them was a woman. We had a buffet reception. At the same time I was able to meet the other guest from D.C. who were in Helsinki at the same time as I. Everyone mentioned what a great time they were having and commented on the friendliness of the people. They remarked on the many similarities between D.C. and Helsinki - parks, trees, bicycles, design, architecture, high tech, schools and music.

After the reception we did a big tour of restaurants in Helsinki with the mayor and his wife who are wonderful people. The mayor's wife is a child-psychotherapist and their daughter works at the World Bank.

The first restaurant we went to was Nokka, which serves local Finnish food, and was very innovative. We just had appetizers. It is a beautiful place on the water in a stone/brick building with high ceilings. It had a nautical motif. I toured the private dining room and their demonstration kitchen. The private room was also the wine cellar. We had great aperitifs and an interesting dessert wine.

Next restaurant was Kolme Kruunua, a traditional Finnish tavern or brasserie that served great beer, fried fish, meatballs, and potato salad. The food was very earthy and straightforward.

Then we went to Lasipalatsi Restaurant, a country-style restaurant. It's located in the same place where Eat & Joy will have their farmers market. The building is very impressive and was constructed in the 1930s for the Olympics. We had reindeer neck and carrot puree with a very good red wine.

Afterwards we went to Juuri, a Finnish tapas concept restaurant based on root-vegetables. Markus' daughter is the chef there and she graciously served us the entire menu. We had pike perch tartar with spinach on crisp bread, fresh sausage with vodka mustard, smoked reindeer hearts, beetroots and nut stew with mushrooms, grilled salsify with rose hip jam. Markus introduced us to different berry wines and even a sparkling berry wine.

Next stop was Olo, which is famous for its new Nordic cuisine. The restaurant is very nouveau with minimum décor and elegant plate presentation. For the main course we had a delicious piece of halibut cooked to perfection. The chef gave us a tour of his restaurant. He had an outdoor courtyard, private dining rooms and a demonstration kitchen. I also saw his kitchen, which was very modern with steam ovens and induction stoves. He worked with foams and gels. The food looked great and was very imaginative.

Loft ?

The last stop was the A21 Cocktail Lounge, famous for its Finnish berry cocktails. The cocktails were very good with great diversity, made out of many different kinds of berries. They even had a berry eau de vie. We had all collapsed on their comfortable sofa and were sipping the delicious cocktails, saturated and ready to call it a night.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

In the morning Jari picked me up and we went to Hakaniemen Hall, the local food market hall where we met Aki and Markus. There I had another photo shoot in front of an organic vegetable stand. I was introduced to the owner of a meat stand where they sold every kind of meat and poultry imaginable. They also sold goose liver that is not force-fed. She had many different roasts and cuts for Easter. The hall had great fish stands with ocean and lake fish, spices from Morocco, chocolate and bakeries. It was a very lively and diverse food hall.

We walked a couple blocks to have lunch at Silvoplee, a self-service vegetarian restaurant with a 1970s décor. The food, which is served buffet style, was good and included bean dishes, lentils, potatoes, tofu, salads, soups. They also served beer and desserts.

Then we visited an artist friend of Aki and Jari, named Harri, at his studio. He had won many awards and had interesting pieces with clean lines and at the same time practical. The bookcases, chairs and lamps were innovative and creative.

We walked across the street to a neighborhood beer bar (forgot the name) that had a lot of atmosphere. They ordered a chocolate beer for me that I hated.

Jari left us to prepare for his long trip to Lapland the next day. Aki and I went to the Ateneum, the National Art museum to visit the exhibit of the Kalevala, the national epic, which was interesting and informative. He then showed me the famous train station, famous for its architecture. I did a little shopping at the Finnish H & M called GinaTricot. Then we went back to the stone church, Temppeliaukio. This time we could walk in and really appreciate its beautiful inside structure with its copper dome ceiling.

I went back to the hotel to pack. Jari picked me up in the evening for the last time to take me to Mange Sud, which was a wonderful ending to my five-day stay in Helsinki.

Helsinki is an interesting, beautiful city that I would return to again to explore.