Baltic Herring Market warm-up: herring is on the menu at Helsinki’s best restaurants

Helsinki’s Baltic Herring Market is getting an early start this week, as the city’s best restaurants celebrate herring with specially created dishes. The dishes will be available at ten restaurants from September 25-October 10. The Baltic Herring Market itself takes place at Helsinki Market Square from October 4-10 2026.

Eleven restaurants are taking part in the warm-up: Aoi, Elm, Finnjävel Sali, Gastro Café Kallio, Klaava, Maukku, Nokka, Nolla, Nolita, Pontus and Sake Bar & Izakaya. You’ll be able to try herring rolled, grilled, smoked, as sashimi and, of course, marinated in all sorts of ways.

Most of the restaurants will already be familiar to Time Out readers, so expectations are high:

The brilliantly atmospheric Elm and Nolita feature on our list of Helsinki’s best restaurants. Also on that list is Kruuna, whose adjoining wine bar Klaava is taking part in the Baltic Herring Market warm-up.

Nokka, which specialises in game and locally sourced food, is one of Helsinki’s best Finnish restaurants. Finnjävel Sali also specialises in Finnish food and is the more casual sibling of Michelin-starred Finnjävel Salonki.

Gastro Cafe Kallio, which excels at nose-to-tail cooking, was Helsinki’s best lunch spot until this summer, when it swapped lunches for dinners.

Japanese restaurant Sake Bar & Izakaya is one of Helsinki’s best Japanese restaurants – and one of its must-visit bars.

Pontus, which features on our list of Helsinki’s best pizzerias, makes such a good pike pizza that we can hardly wait to see what it does with herring.

Aoi features on our list of restaurants open on Sundays.

Nolla is an ambitious zero-waste restaurant that produces no food waste or rubbish at all.

Chef and restaurateur Luka Balać has been involved in developing the Baltic Herring Market in Helsinki restaurants concept. He’s involved with Nolita, Nolla and Elm and has also played his part in livening up Helsinki’s restaurant scene. Among other things, he has organised charity initiatives involving restaurants.

‘I think the Baltic Herring Market is Helsinki’s most important food event, just as herring is one of our most important Finnish ingredients. I want to put it back in the spotlight where it belongs,’ Balać says in a press release.

Here are the herring dishes from each restaurant:

• Aoi: herring in adobo marinade & gooseberry remoulade
• Elm: herring boquerones, toasted milk bread and tomato jam
• Finnjävel Sali: charcoal-grilled herring, sour cream and crispy malt bread
• Gastro Cafe Kallio: smoked herring pithivier
  Klaava: vorschmack on bread and marinated herring
• Maukku: Maukku’s herring patties, pearl onions & seaweed sauce
• Nokka: juniper herring and fermented apple
• Nolita: grilled herring escabeche on potato flatbread, horseradish and egg butter, caramelised garlic and smoked herring cream, shiso leaf and crispy fish bones
• Nolla: herring boquerones, summer pickles and herby pil pil
• Restaurant Pontus: pissaladière with marinated herring, caramelised onion and green olive tapenade
  Sake Bar & Izakaya: herring sashimi roll

Baltic Herring Market in Helsinki restaurants September 25-October 10.