Visit Helsinki: Taste of Japan

Visit Helsinki series have been one of the most read and also my personal favourite articles on the blog, therefore it doesn’t come as a surprise that they’ve been a constant on my blog for more than 2 years. Visit Helsinki? Why would somebody want to visit the capital of the Santa Land, esp. when it comes to a foodie experience? Well, there are many reasons why to visit this unique city which keeps on evolving in every direction all the time, food scene being one of them.

Maybe Helsinki haven’t been mentioned enough around the world as a food innovative or interesting destination, but it is getting to become one. Let’s say, 10 years ago, there was pretty much “nothing” around and food scene was so poor and boring that I have found myself visiting the same 4 restaurants over and over again. Yep, only 4 restaurants were worth spending my bucks on.

10 years fast forward to this day, we have Michelin guides mentions of so many restaurants in Helsinki, “White guide Nordic” is pretty saturated with Finnish restaurants and also so many businesses have been awarded with a high scores from TripAdvisor. I can easily say that there some unique and innovative, fine dining restaurants as well as home cooking style and soul food like places. Options are pretty overwhelming at the moment and one might not know where to go/ what to try out?!

As a big lover of Asian and in particular Japanese food culture, I would like to share 2 spots in town which are very affordable but the food is crazy delicious that you can’t believe how well you can dine for 10 – 14 EUR even outside of the lunch hour.

One of those places is Tokyostreet.org which I have already been writing about on my blog! Yes, this place is incredible little spot at Hietaniemi’s Market Hall that serves authentic and insanely delicious Japanese home cooking, mainly noodles, but as of late, chicken and veggie dumpling soup as well as okonomiyaki Hiroshima style were added to their menu.

I was honoured to take photos of their new dishes and am more than happy to share them with you here. I don’t know about you but I’m a very visual person and these photos make me want to dive into the food! 😀

Ray and Haruka are an incredible couple which definitely know how to press the right “food buttons” in my belly. 😀

If you do go to this restaurant, say that you’re my reader, they would love to meet some of you and get your feedback on the food, so don’t shy away. 🙂

Another place which is my personal little Japanese heaven is Sushi Wagocoro. There is no other sushi place in town which deserves to be even considered as a sushi spot. Amen! There are 2 restaurants which are ok and offering good quality and tasty sushi but NOTHING compares to Sushi Wagocoro. Buttery, warm, melt in your mouth kind of sushi, prepared in very traditional way ( with some small twists on some of their nigiri) will blow your mind. I have heard people praise this place for years before I finally went there and tried it myself. They hype was for a great reason… You might not get this beautifully crafted sushi outside of Japan. At least not for that little as 14 EUR for the popular “Chef’s choice” sushi set.

Sweet Japanese couple are masters at what they do, yet are very humble about it and are always awaiting and catering to all of their customers with smiles and appreciation that they chose to dine at their little restaurant.

My favourites to order are seared white fish and salmon nigiri as well as their special California roll which has nothing to do with the usual Cali roll you’ll find at other restaurants.

Photography by: Natali K. , styling for TokyoStreet.org in collab with Joseph J.