Reclaimed – “Another weekend in Helsinki”

Friday evening rolled along and I went for dinner with a friend to Zetor. This was supposed to have great food and somewhat “traditional” Finnish foods. This place was pretty out of the ordinary. Upon arrival (after 8pm) we were ID’d. Apparently the place is a restaurant/bar/club. Ok fair enough so lets see some pictures.

(left:fried Baltic Herring & dill)

(right: I forget exactly, some kind of Reindeer dish)

(left: blue berry pie and ice cream…in a mug!?)

 

 

Tractors tractors everywhere! It was crazy. Some of the walls were made of old wagon wheels, there were skis (above) that surrounded the dance floor, old wooden buckets for over head light shades, and more tractors. The music that night also threw me off a little. It was old songs, like “I will survive” but with Finnish singing. I kept trying to listen for the parts, and word I knew, but what I was hearing was far from matching. It was pretty cool, but threw me off. Later this night we found our way to a place that had more than 3 beers. We managed to navigate to a place called ‘One Pint Pub’, it was pretty interesting. It was small, maybe able to host 20 people, had about 10 beers on tap, and I think it was supposed to have up to 100 different kinds in the bottle. Based on the list I saw just from Catalonia I’d believe it. Although I did want to try something local I was drawn in by one labelled as a Scottish stout. I’ve had Guinness and Murphy’s several times, but a Scottish stout? What could that taste like? So we each had one. It looked and tasted maybe a bit more like a porter. It certainly was not as creamy as the other two, but with a distinct cask taste. Maybe not my favourite, but still a good choice.

On Saturday we found our way to the Design Market, and later to UFF (a second hand store). Madara got a great deal on a leather jacket, hopefully I can find something too. I did see many Iron Maiden shirts, tempting I know. We stopped at Cafe No 9, and aside from a grouchy server it was good. It was an older style inside (maybe 50s, or 60s) and the food was delicious. We then went to the design museum and pavilion there as well. The glasswork was by far the best part. The exhibit is of Finnish design from 1945 to 1967. No photos allowed, too bad. Later this evening there was a start to the open kitchen day in Helsinki, which involves many tents around the city serving all kinds of food. I stopped at one and had Kasvismuhennasta and some kind of roobis iced tea. A good way to finish the day.