We’ve been here in Finland for about 4 and a half months now, and we have yet to take the trip up North to the Arctic Circle. However, we did take a trolly ride to the opposite end of the downtown district in Helsinki to eat dinner at an authentic Lappish restaurant called Lappi.
The interior had a rustic feel to it, and walking through the main foyer felt like you were wondering the halls of a Lappish cabin.
For starters we all enjoyed a mushroom soup, made with Finnish chanterelles. It is an understatement to say that this soup was good. It was PHENOMENAL!
A Lappish bread followed the soup, and it was very delicious as well. I’m not a big fan of unleavened bread, but this particular one had a hint of garlic and was so fresh that it complemented the soup perfectly.
The main meal, though was what we came to Lappi for. My mom had a reindeer roast, with potatoes and vegetables. The meat was very moist and tender. It actually reminded me of corned beef.
Britt and I shared the Finnish game platter, which came with a sampling of reindeer roast, reindeer sausage, elk, vegetables and potatoes with lingonberries. At first I had a hard time with the thought of eating reindeer, but after thinking it through I decided that this was one of the better meats to be eating, because it is local and wild, not feed corn or pumped with antibiotics and preservatives like the majority of meat back in the States. My favorite meat from our platter was the elk. It was done to perfection and didn’t taste quite as “gamey” as the reindeer. The sausage was too spicy for my liking, but overall it was an excellent meal!
My spot at the table had a Paavo plaque on it. Not sure if that’s because this was the place where he would sit and eat, or what.
The vanilla puddings and muffins with ice cream were too mouth-watering for me to stop and think to take a picture of it before we all dove in. In all of the places that I’ve traveled, never have I had an authentic meal where everything was as delicious and satisfying as the meal we had at Lappi. If you are ever in the Helsinki area and are not able to make it up to the Arctic Circle, I highly recommend dining at Lappi. It’s as close to Lapland as you’ll get in Southern Finland, and I promise you’ll leave stuffed and happy!
The Wild Rose 
We went to Saaga in Bulevardi for Lappish food and it was excellent too. I’ll try this one when I go in September – thanks.
I have never heard of Saaga before, but I’ll definitely look it up! Britt has meetings in Helsinki all week, so we’re headed back Wednesday – Friday & we’ll definitely keep an eye out for Saaga. I remember you recommending Juuri, but unfortunately they were booked all weekend. We’ll try again this week.
I definitely recommend Lappi, it was absolutely delicious!
I did a post on Saaga a while ago called Have you ever eaten Lapp food?. We loved it.
Looks and sounds delicious! I love that you sat at Paavo’s place. Maybe you have a marathon in your future??
The only marathon I have in my future is driving up and down the California coast with Grandma while you and Grandpa run Big Sur!