[category]
[title]
Chef and restaurateur Sirly Ylläsjärvi, who has made a name for herself with restaurant Elsa in Ylläs, is moving to Helsinki for the month of October to open a pop-up at the historic Meilahti Manor. Marje borrows its concept from Elsa: the restaurant has just one large table, shared by all its guests.
Ylläsjärvi will personally oversee every dinner. The experience costs €150 per person.
From strangers to friends around one table
We had the chance to try a similar concept at Restaurant Nolla, where we were seated next to complete strangers at a candlelit dinner – and it worked. There are few better ways to spend an evening than getting to know new people over good food and wine.
Ylläsjärvi’s idea is likewise to bring strangers together around a communal table to enjoy a surprise menu and an unhurried evening in one another’s company. By the end of the night, the guests should no longer feel like strangers.
The restaurant is named after Ylläsjärvi’s Estonian grandmother. Marje raised six children in modest circumstances and taught her granddaughter the true meaning of hospitality: serving and sharing food is not about the size of your budget, but about care and love.
Meilahti Manor makes an atmospheric setting for the restaurant: it is pleasingly timeworn and full of character. Its grounds were already drawing Helsinki residents in the nineteenth century, when the estate was home to a restaurant, a dance pavilion and a pier for steamships.
Reservations: Bookings are now open at manormarje.fi.