Where does one find the best breakfast in Helsinki? Many would point you straight towards Brasserie Lionne. The elegant brasserie run by celebrated chef Hans Välimäki is open from morning until late, but it has become something of a breakfast pilgrimage site.
So naturally, we went to see whether Brasserie Lionne lives up to the hype. It certainly charms the moment you step inside – once you manage to get in, that is. There’s a small design hiccup: there’s no space to stand and wait to be seated if other guests happen to arrive at the same time. The entrance becomes a polite but determined shuffle.
Still, once you’re at your table, all worries melt away. The French-inspired interior is elegantly classic without being over the top. Vast windows gaze out onto Pohjoisesplanadi, Helsinki’s leafiest boulevard.
And clearly this is precisely what Helsinki has been longing for. On weekend mornings the place is packed. Breakfast is so adored – and so praised – that many book in advance, though it is usually easy to fit in even without reservation. The restaurant feels small and intimate, yet in truth the restaurant stretches surprisingly far. Behind the dining room lies a warren of smaller salons, plus additional tables in the courtyard.
The parlour-like back rooms are ideal for groups; during our visit one was hosting a birthday party. It was undeniably stylish watching guests drift in, each carrying ever bigger, more intriguingly shaped presents.
Even with all this space, the tables in the main room are close enough to make eavesdropping practically compulsory. Not that it’s dull. On one side, two sisters dissect their mother’s affairs. One suddenly snorts, ‘Well she’s going to die soon anyway!’ The other sister looks as if she has been slapped with a baguette.
At the next table, impeccably dressed young women discuss travel plans, shopping bags and Bulgari jewellery in the price range of small cars.
The menu brings a pleasant surprise. It’s surprisingly reasonably priced, given that Välimäki’s places usually sit at the higher end of the scale. A stylish, continental atmosphere. Fair prices. You think: marvellous! And then the coffee arrives.
It is, without exaggeration, the smallest cappuccino in Helsinki.
It’s almost comic. You have to blink twice and mutter: ‘Hans, Hans, Hans…’ The great chef seems determined to ensure his restaurant is never accused of offering ‘good value’. And fair enough – it’s not the most glamorous label.
That same frugality creeps into the food. The eggs Benedict, for instance, comes with just one poached egg and one piece of bread instead of the usual two. To be fair, the toppings are rich enough that you don’t really miss the second. My companion, however, was unconvinced and declared the version at Café Pacifico superior. Here, the hollandaise had drifted too far into the background.
Our other hot dish, the croque madame, didn't quite hit the mark either. In this case there were simply too many flavours jostling for attention. Breakfast is the moment when humans are at their most vulnerable, which is precisely why breakfast dishes tend to gravitate towards comfort: clean, clear, reassuring flavours. That’s what a croque madame is at heart. This one, charming as it looked, had too much sauce and far too much ambition.
But don’t get me wrong. Both dishes were perfectly fine – just not quite the triumph one hopes for.
After the visit I found myself torn between three and four stars. My companion couldn’t decide either. The atmosphere is delightful, the setting elegant, the prices refreshingly sane, and the croissants excellent. But the dishes themselves tried a little too hard, and that tiny coffee cup stayed in the mind like a beautifully delivered slap.
But then something curious happened. After trying a few other breakfast spots around town, I realised I already wanted to return to Pohjoisesplanadi. There is a pull to Brasserie Lionne, a quiet magnetism that other places in Helsinki simply don’t have.
Brasserie Lionne has an ease, an effortless elegance, that lifts the spirits and turns a weekend morning into a small celebration. It is a gift to Helsinki that such a place exists.
So yes, despite its quirks and imperfections, it can be said: Brasserie Lionne is the best breakfast spot in Helsinki.