Visit Helsinki: Yume

If you know me at all by reading this blog and by checking my Instagram account, you might have concluded by now how impressed and in love I am with anything Asian, esp. Japanese food, language and traditions. After travelling around the Europe and US, I have experienced wonderful Japanese/ Asian fusion restaurants, out of some have Michelin stars, but little did I know that I would get so positively surprised by discovering some real gems in my own hometown, Helsinki.

Yume… A dear friend of mine just reminded me that Yume stands for “dream” in Japanese. Well, I can only agree that Yume restaurant IS like a gastronomy dream come true. Yume is part of the Kämp Group of restaurants located in the heart of the city, in the best shopping district, nearby all of the important attractions and part of possibly one of the best Scandinavian hotels – hotel Kämp. Yume’s new menu brings you the best of Asian food with a Californian twist! After I saw and tasted the sushi platter, it reminded me a LOT of what I could previously taste at Nobu and Matsuhisa. After mentioning this to our lovely hostes Maria, she told us that Yume’s sushi chef used to work and train at Nobu restaurants and has also lived in Japan for couple of years, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that his unique twist on regular sushi rolls and nigiris was absolutely outstanding! Seared salmon nigiri and Spicy tuna roll were my ultimate favourites.

For the main course we had sweet potato fritters with chilli and shiitake soy sauce as well as “Bulalo” – Philippine style beef shank with corn, pak choi in a wonderful, comforting broth. It came with a side of rice and crispy, fried onion. Both dishes were incredibly delicious and filling, as well as very unique and something you can’t find anywhere else in Helsinki. Check out Yume’s menu here!!

Grande finale was “melting in my mouth” kind of dessert platter of chocolate and coconut pudding with cherry sorbet, lots of berries and Yema cake of milk custard and coconut flakes with the lemon sorbet.

As for the drinks, we had hot green tea, lemongrass Tom Collins cocktail which was very refreshing and went perfectly with the sushi platter. To go with the main course we had a rare find – cold sake, Hakutsuru Superior, Junmai Ginjo. One of the best sakes that we have ever drank anywhere!

To make the whole dining experience complete, Yume’s staff was very professional, warm and highly attentive. Interior is very modern, classy but without the unnecessary “posh” feeling or dressing code required. I would though suggest you to book your table at Yume in advance since it always fills up very quickly, esp. at this time of the year!!

Final thoughts: I have been dreaming of Yume ever since visiting it last Friday! 🙂

*This post has been made in collaboration with Yume restaurant. All of the opinions are my own.

*Thank you to Seidi and Maria for making this wonderful experience possible to happen!

*All of the photography by Natali K.photography