Visit Helsinki: Krog Madame

One of my biggest passions besides photography and writing is cooking. Anything that has to do with food, from going to the Farmer’s market or Market Halls to cooking for friends or baking cakes and cupcakes for birthdays and such, gets me all happy and inspired because I get to create. To be able to make something with my hands is the best feeling ever. I’ve always loved to put my heart, soul and hands into a good use at the same time and cooking/ baking allows me to do exactly this.

Taking that fact and a fact of me having the privilege to travel around the Europe and States, having experienced eating at some of the best restaurants “out there” and in my own city makes it really “hard” to leave an impression on me when dining out.

I have been born in Russia and brought up in Croatia. Both countries have rich and long tradition cuisines and my both grandmas (and mom) were pretty amazing cooks too, so I am used to a very tasty, fresh and high quality meals of Mediterranean and Russian cuisines. So far, I’ve been mostly presenting Asian orientated cuisines and meals on my blog, but every now and then, a gem like Krog Madame makes it’s way to my beloved section of “Visit Helsinki” posts!

If you want a Top Chef contestant to cook a special meal for you, go to Krog Madame. If you want a unique experience of Spanish tapas, Mediterranean inspired dishes with a Lebanese twist, go to Krog Madame! 🙂

This very busy and hip bistro is located in Kamppi which is as central spot as it gets in Helsinki. Easy to find and an abundant lunch and a-la-carte lists bring in lots of happy foodies, business people, families, etc. to Krog Madame throughout the whole day, for a whole week.

During the Summertime, they also have a terrace on which you can enjoy cocktails, wine and for example just recently started “Spanish tapas Thursdays”. Every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday there’s also a DJ playing some good tunes to keep the Summertime vibes “on point”! 🙂

Joseph, the main chef at Krog Madame has positively surprised me with the delicious food which he’s created for Krog Madame. From the imaginative and different take on starters to beautifully presented and “lick your fingers” tasty main dishes to the best dessert platter there is in town. He definitely knows what he’s doing and how to give people “what they want” while still getting them to try something new and different. For instance, I was absolutely amazed by his beetroot – barely tartar. By the shape and color it does look like a usual meat tar-tar but this is the most delicious tar-tar I ever ate in my life. Sweetness of beetroot and honey combined with the density of barely, crunchiness of beetroot chips and smoothness of the goat’s cheese, made this as my favourite of all of the starters.

For mains we were presented Jose style lamb skewer “the Lebanese” way with his tzatziki dip and chicken breast with gnocchi and veggies with lemon aioli and ginger-coriander pesto. They say that photos speak louder than words and that is so true, so judging by my photos, you can imagine the goodness of the taste and how hard it is to not want to finish off everything thats ‘s your plate. 🙂

Then, the dessert platter arrived and I was overwhelmed by all of the colors and should I say shapes? Everything on this platter was something I have pretty much tried before in my life but made in such a new, “scattered” way which made “typical” cheese cake and tiramisu skyrocketed me into a sweet tooth world and left me craving for me ever since I have visited Krog Madame. Dear people, if you want to try the best dessert of your life, order the white chocolate cheesecake with salted peanuts, berry pure and white chocolate crumble… Oh my… I die! 😀

Mr. Joseph has also recently published a cook and travel diary book – Jose’s Meze with gorgeous photographs of his trip back home in Lebanon, traditional Lebanese cuisine recipes, daily and nighttime life of Lebanon as well as stories about his closest piers. You can buy this book at the restaurant or pretty much any book section at any store in Finland (Prisma, City Market, Sokos, Antilla) as well as order it online too – Adlibris , Suomalainen and Booky .

Krog Madame changes their menu to a Spring/ Summer appropriate one today, so this is another very good reason to why go there and treat yourself a nice, delicious dinner perhaps. 🙂

*This post has been made in collaboration with Joseph and Krog Madame.

*Thank you to Joseph for making this happen and to Rita for coming along.

*Photography by: Natali K. photography