Browsing Tag

#foodphotography

Food, Lifestyle, My Work

Smoked salmon soup

August 3, 2016

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Ever since moving to Finland about 9 and half years ago, I had a chance to try many salmon soups. Finland is very well known to serve some of the best salmon soups in the world, but I wasn’t as impressed with that many as I was expecting. Out of all of the restaurants, cafes and even some home cooked salmon soups, there were maybe 2-3 of them which made me feel like I’ve been eating something really special and delicious.

Muutettuani Suomeen noin 9 ja puoli vuotta sitten. Olen saanut maistaa monen monta lohikeittoa. Suomi on tosi tunnettu maailman parhaista lohikeitoistaan, se on jo käsite maailmalla. Mutta en ollut loppujen lopuksi hirveän vakuuttunut monestakaan kokeilemasta keitosta. Kaikista ravintoloiden, kahviloiden ja jopa kotitekoisista keitoista, ehkä 2-3 saivat minut tunteman että olen syönyt jotakin todella erikoista ja herkullista.

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Food, Lifestyle, My Work

Visit Helsinki: Saaristo

July 28, 2016

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Just when I thought that I have experienced pretty much everything that Helsinki has to offer, I was proven SO wrong by visiting restaurant Saaristo! Visit Helsinki cycle of posts brings us to another gem on Helsinki’s gastronomy scene, Finnish traditional cuisine presented in a fine dining way. I’d say that restaurant Saaristo is situated on a wonderful location to take your significant other for a romantic trip/ dinner or organise a celebration, such as your own wedding perhaps.

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Lifestyle, My Work

5 for Friday

July 22, 2016

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Well, it’s more like 5 for Friday times 2 ! 🙂 I’m bringing you 12 photos from my Instagram feed which I have picked out to show you what I’ve been up to lately and how I see the world around me on daily basis. If you haven’t followed me yet on Instagram, do take a look, you might like what you see and you get to as well be part of my little Universum which I embrace open mindedly each day.

Tai paremminkin 5 asiaa Perjantaille kertaa kaksi ! 🙂 Näytän teille 12 valokuvaa minun Instagram profiililta. Jotka olen valinnut näyttääkseni teille, että mitä olen puuhastellut viime aikoina. Ja kuinka näen maailman ympärilläni päivittäin. Jos et vielä seuraa minun profiiliani, niin käy vilkaisemassa. Sillä saatat pitää näkemästäsi. Ja pääset mukaan minun pikku Universumiini. Jota syleilen päivittäin avoimin mielin.

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Food, Lifestyle, My Work

Visit Helsinki: Roster

July 21, 2016

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I’ve been eagerly waiting to present you the new, hottest and most awaited opening of a restaurant in Helsinki’s food scene – Roster! In my “Visit Helsinki” section, I’m happy to write about this “newborn” but don’t be fooled, it’s partially owned by big chain of great restaurants “Royal Ravintolat” and is ran by three skilled, passionate and with a long careers in their pockets, chefs Kari Aihinen, Olli Kolu and Burt Kotkavuori, all originating from a fine dining, one of the longest standing kitchens of Savoy restaurant. Let’s not forget to mention Mr.Boss – Paul Hickman, overlooking everything and equally putting in as much love and dedication.

Olen odottanut malttamattomana sitä hetkeä että saan esitellä teille tämän uuden, hotin ja todella odotetun Helsinkiläisen ruoka skene tulokkaan, Rosterin! Olen niin iloinen saadessani esitellä teille tämän tulokkaan minun Visit Helsinki sarjassani. Mutta älkää antako tulokas sanan hämätä. Sillä sen omistaa osittain iso ketju nimeltään Royal Ravintolat. Ja sitä pyörittävät kolme taitavaa, suuren intohimon omaavaa ja jo pitkän uran tehnyttä henkilöä. Keittiömestari Kari Aihinen, Olli Kolu ja Burt Kotkavuori. Jotka kaikki tulevat yhdestä Helsingin vanhimmasta fine dining ravintolasta Savoysta. Unohtamatta Herra Pomoa Paul Hickmania. Joka valvoo koko ravintolan toimintaa, antaen yhtälailla rakkautta ja omistautuneisuutta tähän projektiin.

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Food, Lifestyle, My Work

Visit Helsinki: Gaijin

July 13, 2016

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I might have been an “outsider” ( translation of Gaijin ) to Gaijin when I have visited it last year, but this time around I knew what I could expect from a long standing Asian fusion kitchen and still one of the top choices in Helsinki to go for a private dining or special occasion one. I was very eager to come back to Gaijin and try the highlights from the new menu.

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Food, Lifestyle, My Work

Visit Helsinki: Yume love

July 6, 2016

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There is a saying that love goes through stomach. I can absolutely confess that I did let my heart skip a beat or two each time I ate great food. I’m thankful for being able to explore different cuisines and restaurants in the past and esp. throughout the last year. I could have never believed that I could fall for some food so much that I just had to keep on coming back over and over again for more. 🙂

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Food, Lifestyle, My Work

Visit Helsinki: Bronda

June 29, 2016

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In my newest post of “Visit Helsinki” cycle of articles, I’m bringing you a full-on review of restaurant Bronda! I did write about this same restaurant a little bit less than a year ago and you can read about it here in case you’ve missed it.

Unlike the 1st time, this time around we’ve been testing out Bronda as a lunch spot and it’s set lunch menu with vegan options too. Even though, it’s not pointed out on Bronda’s website, they do serve vegetarian and vegan options as well as a set menu during lunchtime too. You can either call them in advance and pre-order your vegan/ vegetarian options or you can just walk in and let them surprise you. They’re very skilled personnel, in the kitchen as chefs and as a very friendly and quick service.

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Uncategorized

Good things right now

June 24, 2016

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Good Friday morning my dear readers! I hope that you’re all doing well and that you’re ready for the weekend. We have started weekend bit early here in Finland because there’s a very “important” celebration of Midsummer that people here go nuts about. It’s just a Midsummer, chill-ax peeps, but nope, they really take it seriously and this is also when almost the whole capital city migrates into the country side because it’s very popular to visit summer cottages and have Midsummer aka Juhannus celebrations there with the families and relatives.

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Food, Lifestyle, My Work

Visit Helsinki: Savu

June 22, 2016

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It’s been a little bit over 8 years since I have moved to Helsinki. No matter where I go, to known or the unknown cities/ countries, I always love to wonder around and discover new, exciting and interesting spots. I was so happy when I found out that even after 8 years of living here, there are some undiscovered places in Helsinki which I was more than happy to visit and find out what makes them so special. One of those places was the island Tervasaari! I took a walk from the city center all the way to Tervasaari ( it’s easily accessible via small bridge ) and it took me about 30 mins of nice and slow paced walk. I believe that with the car, getting to Tervasaari, even in the worst of traffic it wouldn’t take you longer than 15 mins.

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Food, Lifestyle, My Work, Travel

Visit Croatia: Pasta&svasta

June 15, 2016

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Croatian gastronomic scene grew tremendously in the past 2-3 years and many already “established” restaurants such as previously written about Pelegrini, took their service, food philosophy and presentation to a whole new level that meet the worldwide standards of fine dining.

Unfortunately, there’re still way too many tourist traps, restaurants with endless menus which are always very convincing about freshness and quality of their food… That is until you’ll possibly fall for it, order your food and that’s where the romance will stop because you’ll realise that food is not freshly made, fish wasn’t caught “this morning” and most of the owners and restaurant managers couldn’t care less about what people are going to eat, as long as the portions are huge, prices are low and endless pasta, pizza and meat prepped in million ways with the grande finale of pancakes for the dessert are on the menu, tourists and locals will keep on returning.

On the other hand, there are people who are world travelers, people who are true foodies, people who don’t see food just as a fuel and who are taking a visit to restaurant equal to a mini trip to another “world” which will give you an amazing experience that you’ll gladly share with your certain special someone, family or business partners. Food is more than just a gas for your body, food is the best and most hedonistic way to enjoy your life, socialise… Food is a cultural thing and just like with fashion, I take a very sophisticated approach to it and see the whole picture, from how much love, time and effort it’s needed to just start a restaurant, all the way to how much nerves, smarts and once again appreciation for food and believing in what you’re doing is needed to present you with only ONE plate of perfectly homemade pasta with the best truffles and a glass of white wine specific only for the a certain part of the country or region…

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This was the case with a charming restaurant in the middle of Zadar’s old town known as Poluotok among the locals. Pasta & svasta is the name you should mark down if you’ll be visiting Croatian coast this Summer since it’s worth taking a small d-tour even if you’re not planning to stay in Zadar.

Pasta & svasta opened it’s doors about two years ago, back in Spring of 2014 by it’s masterminds and true foodies Mr.Ivan and his lovely wife Ivana. Ever since the opening, Mr. Ivan, together in collaboration and agreement with his kitchen staff have been creating a wonderful crossover kitchen of traditional Croatian food/ cuisine presented with a modern twist. Whilst the authenticity of taste is “spot on”, the presentation is far from traditionally known in Italian/ Mediterranean restaurants. No big portions of everything and anything on the plate, but carefully presented, simple but bursting with the taste dishes are about to blow you off if you haven’t or have tried this cuisine before.

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Just when I thought that I can’t be impressed by “yet another” bruschetta, pasta, etc. I was completely proven wrong. Mr. Ivan, who has a phd in costumer service and hospitality is very strong driven restaurant owner, meaning that he has a clear vision of what he wants to offer to his costumers who come from all over the world. One of the most surprising facts is that his restaurant has a Kosher food certification which is to me “unheard” of in this part of the country. He is the only one who has such certificate on Croatian side of Adriatic coast and that def. sets Pasta & svasta highly apart from any other restaurant nearby.

As a starter, we were presented by a home wine, bubbly Krauthaker sauvignon which comes from a certain vineyard in Istria of which Mr. Ivan is being part owner. Warm, crunchy and perfectly salty bruschetta with marinated sardines on the bed of arugula were divine “appetite opener” for everything that was about to follow up.

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For the, so called 1st plate we were served home made, wonderfully al dente tagliatelle with hand de-shelled prawns in tomato sauce with big slices of truffles. I must say that I was having a very high expectations for this dish because I’ve been told by the owners that if I ever try this same dish somewhere else, it must taste the way it did at Pasta & svasta or better if possible but def. nothing less than what I was about to taste. Only one bite was already enough to understand what they meant, it was a perfect marriage between al dente pasta, sourness of tomato sauce and taste of the sea via the most delicious prawns I have ever tried anywhere. To top it all off, the truffles were like eating pure gold, absolutely prime ones, straight from Istria which is famous all over the world as the region for some of the best truffles.

We drank perfectly matched white wine, Galic chardonnay with our 1st plate.

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2nd plate was slow roasted lamb with baked potatoes and pancetta. The meat is slowly roasted for many hours on a low temperature. This is one very traditional dish known to be prepped in Dalmatian households for generations, but the sophisticated and the most delicious version ever has been right this dish at Pasta & svasta. This is very manly dish which is perfect for all of the meat lovers. The meat was so soft that it’s been falling off the bone as you start to “dig into it” and it was beautifully matched with the crispy pancetta and aromatic potatoes. To maximise the ultimate experience of this dish, we drank red wine Skaramuca Plavac mali premium .

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By this point of our dinner, we have already become great buddies with our hosts, Mr. Ivan was happy to see that his food philosophy was understood and appreciated, so we have already made agreements to come and visit him again sometime soon to try couple of more dish-gems that he has hiding up his sleeve. 🙂

No ending of any dinner is good without something sweet, so we couldn’t resist the calling of deconstructed cheesecake with berry sauce and warm, melty goodness of chocolate suffle! Yum!

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It was one of the best traditional, Mediterranean food experiences I’ve had in a long time. Without any doubt, I’ll be back again to Pasta & svasta. 🙂

*This collaboration has been made in agreement with Pasta&svasta. All of the opinions are my own.

*Thank you to Mr. Ivan and Mrs. Ivana for the warm welcome and for making this collaboration possible.

*Photography by: Natali K. photography