Jaskan Grilli

What the fuck did I just eat? The equivalent of listening to early 80s Finnish thrash for days on end. This is kind of an insight into the peculiar Finnish psyche. The sandwich was by far the strangest thing I’ve ever eaten, I don’t really know what to say. It contained various meat-​like products, sauces, some form of rice (why do the Finns think that rice is meant to be a filling for bread?), lots of strange sauces, cheese, sour flavors. Just looking at it is almost comical yet horrifying. Anthony Bourdain ate these extremely drunk and was still shocked. The bread had a peculiar texture and flavor. Note, I never said it didn’t taste good. These are highly enjoyable in a very strange way I don’t understand yet. They are actually quite craveable in an almost perverse way. They serve lots of strange creations, many involving layers of meat and cheese like products covered in sauces that come out of giant udders. Welcome to Finland. At least there’s no reindeer or lingonberries involved for once.

Jaskan Grilli, located off a dark side street from the main road, lights up at night and draws inebriated patrons into its glow like moths to a flame.
I don’t think Mikko A. or I were quite at that point, but having seen this kiosk on Anthony Bourdain’s The Layover, and not having a clue as to when I would be in Helsinki again… I pretty much needed to go. Although Mikko warned me several times that I really wouldn’t be missing anything, and although I read his 1-​star review beforehand, I still insisted on going. Being the gracious Unilocal CM that he is, he humored my request for «burgers» topped by condiment «udders.»
All I’ll say is… he was right. This is more than just drunk food… it’s blackout food– as you definitely won’t want to remember eating there ever again.

It was an absolutely freezing February winters night in Helsinki. We were just done with a bit of wine and walking around, completely frozen from — 27C temperatures. We were told that this was the place to go from the New York Times travel edition.
My partner’s from England, I’m a trifecta-​mutt. We don’t speak Finnish whatsoever. Either way, we make our way, somewhat hungry and somewhat daring. We walk up to this completely unassuming stainless steel hut. No where does it say it’s called Jaskan Grilli and of course, we nearly missed it. Hordes of people drove up to it as we were walking up to it.
Armed with poor 3G reception, Google Translate, a completely Finnish menu and a seemingly stoic Vietnamese lady manning the counter, we roll up. We spent a half an hour in the butt-​freezing cold trying to figure out what’s what on the menu. In a leap of faith, we order something. God, it was so long ago, I don’t even remembered what we ordered.
As an exiled American’ish-Singaporean, I wanted to sink my teeth into crappy grilled grub. And this was heaven where that was concerned. I don’t think I would EVER come here in the summer, but it was PERFECT for the winter. That being said, I loved the Grilli and the experience I had with it. I don’t care what the other Finnish and Swedish guy said that gave this place a 1*, but the Jaskan will always have a place in my heart when I go to Helsinki.