One of Helsinki's four Michelin-starred restaurants, Chef & Sommelier succeeds in impressing with a thoughtful, meticulous selection of seasonal produce - on one evening, the fireworks kicked off even before the meal proper, with an invigorating amuse bouche of a broccoli stem marinated in apple juice vinegar, topped with horseradish cream & toasted quinoa puffs, served alongside sourdough & rosemary rye bread that took three days to bake, paired with house-made butter & celeriac salt.
The ingredients pretty much speak for themselves, eloquently conveying fresh, compelling flavours from Finland's land & sea: Roasted beetroot with red currants, blackcurrants, raspberries & blackcurrant leaves ...
... melt-in-the-mouth, buttery wild salmon ceviche (like the Kobe beef of salmon) with pickled cucumbers & fava bean emulsion ...
... 'risotto' of sunflower seeds with fava bean cream, sunflower bulbs, sunflower leaves & roasted zucchini ...
... smoked dried reindeer heart shaved like Parmesan over siikli sweet potatoes (boiled in onion ash) & lingonberries ...
... lamb neck with charred celeriac, garden-grown leaves & grilled tomato jus ...
... six kinds of root vegetables topped with pickled chanterelles ...
... four-month-aged Finnish goat's cheese with rhubarb jam & flatbread ...
... lemon basil sorbet ...
... lemon basil sorbet ...
... fresh tomato tart with fermented rhubarb, rhubarb sorbet & own-made white chocolate ...
... & blueberry parfair with pine needle vinegar & blueberries salted in brown butter, alongside coffee-dusted apple cake.
The menu is matched with natural-tasting wines that showcase plenty of character but nonetheless allow room for the food to breathe & thrive. A Scandinavian sour beer surprise near the end caps off this sterling first meal in this beautiful Nordic nation.
Chef & Sommelier
Helsinki, Finland.