Finland on the plate: these are the best Finnish restaurants in Helsinki

For years, Finnish food was the wallflower of the culinary world: quiet, humble and perhaps a little too attached to boiled potatoes. But the secret is out. While New Nordic cuisine has taken the global food scene by storm, Helsinki is no longer the shy neighbour standing in the background. The city has quietly grown into one of the most exciting food destinations in the Nordics, where chefs transform ingredients shaped by forests, lakes and harsh northern seasons into world-class dining experiences. The philosophy is simple: wild, pure and local.

So where should you go when you want to taste the real Finnish cuisine? Or when you want to discover what can truly be created from local Finnish ingredients?

These restaurants prove that Finnish food is far more than just Karelian pies, salmon soup and meatballs. From refined Michelin-starred tasting menus and deeply traditional dining rooms to nostalgic institutions serving timeless comfort food, Helsinki’s best Finnish restaurants reveal a cuisine that is both rooted in tradition and constantly reinventing itself.

Finnish fine dining restaurants

So what exactly is Finnish food? If you define Finnish cuisine as food made from ingredients that grow in Finland’s harsh climate, then the most Finnish restaurant in the country is definitely Skörd. The kitchen uses only ingredients that grow naturally in Finland, preferably as close to the restaurant as possible. That means there is not even any pepper in the dishes; instead, the food is seasoned with herbs. The only exception is salt, which the restaurant does use despite it not being produced in Finland. Then again, salt was one of the world’s first globally traded commodities.

A similar experience is offered by Boreal, although it does not take the concept of local ingredients quite as far as Skörd. Even here, however, the focus is firmly on what grows in northern regions and when. Fermentation therefore plays an important role in the cooking, as it has traditionally been one of the best ways to preserve food through the winter. Boreal approaches Nordic cooking with such ambition and precision that many believe it is only a matter of time before the restaurant earns a Michelin star.

Another excellent place to sample Nordic cuisine is Nokka, whose slogan is ‘Wild nature on a plate.’ Opened in 2002 in the red-brick waterfront warehouses of Katajanokka, Nokka was one of the first restaurants in Helsinki – and indeed in Finland – to take Nordic local food seriously. Head chef Ari Ruoho practises what he preaches, fishing and hunting in the Finnish wilderness himself.

Unlike Skörd and Boreal, Nokka is not quite as dogmatic about hyperlocal sourcing. But its philosophy is still deeply rooted in the Finnish landscape: all the restaurant’s meat is wild game and the fish is responsibly caught rather than farmed. The result is a menu that feels unmistakably Nordic: rich with forest flavours, seasonal ingredients and the kind of rugged elegance that has made Finnish cuisine internationally admired.

Finnish food worthy of a Michelin star

In all three of the previous restaurants, Finnishness is expressed mainly through the ingredients. The dishes themselves are less traditionally Finnish and instead represent modern Nordic cuisine.

Michelin-awarded Finnjävel, by contrast, takes classic Finnish dishes and gives them the fine dining treatment. The idea is to approach food with a certain playful spirit, as the restaurant’s name suggests: finnjävel is a derogatory Swedish term once used for hard-drinking Finns. Here you might find yourself eating an exquisitely refined version of Lindström’s steak – a wonderfully retro dish that also feels surprisingly modern, combining meat with beetroot. The result is richer and more flavourful than either a purely vegetarian patty or a fully meat-based one.

Finnjävel also happens to be Helsinki’s most affordable Michelin-starred restaurant: at the time of writing, a five-course menu cost €108 and an eight-course menu €138.

The best Finnish restaurant for lunch

Helsinki has many excellent lunch spots, but most lean towards international cuisine. If you are specifically looking for traditional Finnish home cooking, the choice becomes much narrower.

After trying several places, we would argue that the best Finnish lunch can be found at restaurant Palema in the Teurastamo area. The food is served at the table and is consistently delicious: simple, carefully prepared and deeply satisfying. Pea soup is served every Thursday in true Finnish fashion, while the first Tuesday of every month features läskisoosi, literally translating as ‘pork fat sauce’, a nostalgic Finnish classic of slow-cooked pork in silky brown gravy. 

On ordinary weekdays you might find anything from meatballs and Oskar’s schnitzel to pike Wallenberg on the menu.

Finnish-themed restaurants

Themed restaurants embrace their Finnish identity with a healthy disregard for kitsch. One popular institution, now more than 30 years old, is Restaurant Lappi in Kamppi, where the food is hearty, comforting and the atmosphere evokes Lapland north of the Arctic Circle. Only the Northern Lights are missing.

Whereas Lappi treats Finnish nostalgia with complete sincerity, Zetor – centrally located just beside the Stockmann department store – pokes affectionate fun at it. The décor features old tractors and the dishes have humorous names such as Karjala takaisin (‘Give Karelia Back’) and Mammanpojan mahtipullat (‘Mama’s Boy Mega Meatballs’). Honest Finnish comfort food appears here in many forms, from hash to meatballs. 

Traditional Finnish restaurants

These classic restaurants do not make a spectacle of their Finnishness. They are not trying to market themselves as especially Finnish, they simply uphold tradition and continue serving the dishes they always have.

Sea Horse has operated in Ullanlinna since 1933 and is one of Helsinki’s true classic restaurants. Everyone from poet Pablo Neruda to philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre has dined here. Jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie reportedly loved the fried Baltic herring so much that after finishing his own portion, he ate the herrings from his companions’ plates and then went back to the kitchen for more. The traditional dining room is decorated with a mural of seahorses.

Two other classics are the famous artist restaurants Elite in Töölö and Kosmos beside the Stockmann department store. Elite’s interior has hardly changed since the restaurant moved to its current premises in 1938. Kosmos is even older, having opened in 1924. Both were favourites of the late actor Matti Pellonpää, best known from Aki Kaurismäki’s films. If he was not working, chances were high you would find him in one of these two restaurants.

One almost obligatory dish at Kosmos is vorschmack, made from minced meat, onion and anchovies or herring. Its roots lie in Eastern Europe, but because it was Marshal Mannerheim’s favourite meal, it has become a Finnish classic too – and at Kosmos, it is undeniably delicious.

Elite’s signature dish, meanwhile, is the onion steak named after legendary Finnish actor Tauno Palo. His regular table is still marked with a plaque on the wall.

Another beautifully timeworn institution is Kolme Kruunua, founded in Kruununhaka during the Olympic year of 1952. The dining room exudes old-world elegance, complete with stained-glass windows. The menu features Finnish classics ranging from läskisoosi (‘pork fat sauce’) to hash. The contrast is part of the charm: simple, hearty comfort food served in a refined restaurant setting.

Where can you find Helsinki’s best salmon soup?

Among visitors, salmon soup is perhaps the most popular Finnish dish, and nowadays it is available in almost every restaurant.

One of the city’s most praised versions is served at Fisken på Disken on the top floor of Kamppi shopping centre. And the praise is justified: the soup achieves an exceptional balance between creaminess, delicate smokiness and fresh acidity. The dish is elegant and refined – perfectly judged, with nothing excessive and nothing missing.