Kaarna

Arriving first day at Helsinki after a long flight. Looking for a light dinner with local flavours and found this place from Unilocal.Very central location walking distance from many hotels and the main train station. As a traveler, I was somewhat surprised by how few «local» or old fashioned Finnish restaurants there are in the city center. Glad to have found this place.
Although it is safe to assume that the menu items are not the kind of food that a Finnish grandma would cook for you, the menu does offer many dishes that feature local ingredients.
I ordered two tapas/​appertizer-​sized items featuring salmon, wild boar and reindeer. The food was beautifully presented. The salmon was very fresh and flavourful. The wild boar was tender and not dried. Cured reindeer tasted very good (I wish they were a bit more generous on the reindeer. Only a tiny slice was served with my dish).
The restaurant has most of the tables on the second level with big bright windows offering a good view of the busy street.

Had a birthday party for ten people here. The waiter was quite bad but fortunately a waitress took over and served us very well. Reindeer starter was perfect and I also enjoyed white fish by Wallenberg with mash dill potatoes. Rhubarb cake with cardamom ice cream was a disappointment: the cake was tasteless and I didn’t like the texture of the ice cream. All in all I recommend Kaarna especially for tourists, the menu is full of Finnish ingredients. I liked the interior design and the toilets were clean.

This is a nice place, with a locally inspired menu — Finnish fish and game included. Staff and service was also nice. However the food left me hoping for a bit more, it looked delicious but the taste was «just» ok — lacking the final twist to make it truly excellent.

L’accès à ce Restaurant modeste se trouve dans un centre commercial au premier étage donnant vue sur la rue (ou avenue) Mannerheimintie.
Ambiance qualifiée de Ikea moderne de par sa deco mais les luminaires offrent de la chaleur à cet endroit où passé «monsieur tout le monde». Atmosphère bruyante (musique type pop finlandaise), mais le bruit provient plutôt des finlandais autour de moi (pas de tracas, je suis concentré sur ma première dégustation dite «teerenpeli» (bière locale légère et même un peu plate. Dommage).
Next step: mangeeerr :-)
«Finnish baked cheese»
Fort semblable à notre mozzarella mais la surprise fait son effet lorsque on associe fromage et mayonnaise brune. Oui oui brune (donc locale et sans rapport avec le plat pays à ce que j’en sais… Restons modeste), groseilles ainsi qu’avec ce qui semble être du pain complet effrité. Très bonne association des saveurs et textures.
Ensuite le fameux «pike» .un poisson vedette de la région … Voir plus, qui sait.
Un poisson grillé sur peau déposé sur… Un autre poisson, qui curieusement s’apparente plus à un burger. Dit comme ça, on tend à esquiver et pourtant avec la petite purée aux herbes et crevettes accompagnées d’une petite huile, C est un Régal!!!
Conclusion pour cet endroit fort discret au niveau carte mais qui vaut le détour de par sa cuisine et son service. Je met quatre étoiles avec fierté et modestie.

My husband and I went here on a whim while spending time downtown, he being from Finland thought it had a decent Nordic-​style menu for me to enjoy (it was my first time in the North!). I had the mushroom salad, rutabaga soup and a glass of white wine (cant remember the name but it had notes of cloudberry and pine). The salad wasnt what I expected but good nonetheless, mushrooms mixed with some sort of cream, I THINK Turkish yogurt, with chives on top. The soup was creamy and delicious. The Husband had a traditional Finnish bread served w/​two types of fish, greens and egg. Service was good. The entire meal came out to around 50 €. I’d definitely return.