How I Came to Run an Art Gallery in Helsinki

February 26, 2015October 31, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 12 Comments

I was engrossed in Google Maps the other day, looking for an art gallery I wanted to check out but could not find anywhere. Finally I looked up, and there it was. I was standing right outside.

Lokal describes itself as 72% art and 28% coffee, which is a pretty good blend to me. It specialises in local, independent artists and designers and holds themed exhibitions.

The current exhibition is ‘Never Never Land’ and features playful pieces from various artists, including some of the most stylish miniature houses I’ve ever seen.

The store is full of gorgeous design objects, with more available online and worldwide delivery.

I had a really nice chat with owner Katja Hagelstam, who opened Lokal in 2012. A courier came in as we talked and when she had to leave for a few minutes to give him a parcel she looked at me and said, ‘You’re in charge.’

Unfortunately not much happened. I didn’t even get to sit in my cool new office or make anyone an espresso.

But nothing got broken and Katja seemed very relaxed when she got back. Lokal is moving ten doors down at the end of this month and as I left there was no mention of me being in charge of packing or carrying boxes so I assume my contract is over. It was good while it lasted.

LOKAL – now at Annankatu 9, Helsinki

Meet me at Old Market Hall

February 7, 2015October 31, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 23 Comments

A short walk from Market Square is Helsinki’s old dame of market halls – Vanhakauppahalli.

Built in 1888,Vanhakauppahalli (Old Market Hall) was recently closed for renovations and reopened in June 2014. The building is a cultural heritage site and protected by the National Board of Antiquities.

On a cold winter’s day, with the wind coming in off the Baltic Sea, it’s a relief to get inside those heavy front doors. Inside, a walkway circles the hall, shouldered on either side by cafes, bakeries and fishmongers.

There are also greengrocers selling seasonal produce from Finland and overseas. It’s a great place to go for specialty mushrooms and berries, as well as big suolakurkku (gherkins) you scoop out of an open bucket.

For lunch I usually head straight for Soppakeittiö (Soup Kitchen) where the menu always consists of one meat soup, one vegetarian and their delicious seafood boullabaisse, served with lemon-infused sour cream.

On my most recent visit however I stopped at Story, where the food counter is sure to whet your appetite. I had a cappuccino (equivalent of a NZ flat white) and lohileipa (smoked salmon on bread).

After lunch I walked the circuit, marvelling at the number of things you can do with salmon. In my mind I always hear the southern drawl of Bubba from the movie Forrest Gump (salmon bbq, salmon cocktail, salmon pie…..).

There are other forms of protein on offer for the more adventurous too, like Russian King Crab and Spanish jamon.

As well as traditional Finnish offerings there is also a vegetarian cafe and a stall selling Vietnamese filled-rolls, spring rolls and salads.

And there’s an Alko, the only store in Finland selling wine and spirits. This one is touted as being ‘the world’s smallest Alko’ (which is a little bit like American teams winning the ‘World Series’ in a competition only open to American teams).

There are other Market Halls in Helsinki but this is one of my favourites. If you get a table by the window you can watch the ferry to Suomenlinna making it’s way past the huge cruise ships churning up the frozen sea.

Go with a friend or go on your own – just make sure you go. I’ll be the one making my way from coffee, to soup to dessert and back as I make my way around Old Market Hall.

Vanhakauppahalli – Eteläranta, Helsinki

Ravintola Story

Note: I was approached by Meetings Booker to write about my favourite meeting place in Helsinki. This is not a sponsored post and all thoughts are my own (as was that open salmon sandwich, which I cannot stop thinking about). www.meetingsbooker.com

Now & Then – Töölönlahti

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 11 Comments

It’s easy to miss home at this time of year. Christmas for us signals the start of summer holidays – long hours of sunshine, songbirds, swimming and sand.

One thing about living in Finland however is the intensity of each season. It’s good for me to remember that winter here can be beautiful …. and it’s not forever.

One place this is evident is Töölönlahti – it’s a great bay to walk around and witness the incredible changes as they take place.

9th October 2014

2 December 2014 – starting to freeze

Ducks on ice

4th January 2015 – frozen

7th January 2015

23rd January 2015

And something to look forward to! Same place, different day (taken 3rd August 2014)

My City Guide to Helsinki – for Design*Sponge

January 14, 2015 / Mel_inHelsinki / 8 Comments

Many of you will have lived in Helsinki, live there now or are thinking of visiting in the future.

I’ve just put together a City Guide to Helsinki for Design*Sponge – a design blog run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney. According to the website they currently reach over 1 million readers per day – so if your favourite Helsinki cafes are soon full of international visitors – um, sorry about that.

My City Guide to Helsinki for Design*Sponge

I’d love to know any additions you would make to the list. I’ve tried to include some old faithfuls as well as some new favourites.

You can find the guide here: City Guide to Helsinki for Design*Sponge

Two Women Practising Everyman’s Right

November 13, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 3 Comments

Nature’s supermarket

I’ve met two talented herbalists in Helsinki lately and their commitment to sourcing herbs that grow wild in Finland is supported by the concept of Everyman’s Right – which is not, as it sounds, some dating manifesto from the Victorian era.

The first herbalist was Justine Cederberg who, among other things, makes a Love Elixir using herbs that grow in the wild. You can read my interview with her here and how she uses the sauna to make her tinctures.

I also had a consultation with Henriette Kress, a herbalist who has created one of the world’s largest online herbal archives. In her consulting room is a large cupboard, full of glass jars. Each jar holds dried herbs she has collected from the wild and from which she made me a tea to take home.

My herbal tea – wild rose, sage root, nettle and (perhaps imported) mandarin peel

To both herbalists it’s important that people are taking herbs that grow around them and Everyman’s Right allows them to do this. It also ensures that Finns can continue to eat according to the seasons as they have traditionally done so.

Basically, Everyman’s Right means that without going into someone’s yard, you can walk, fish, swim, camp and forage on other people’s land in Finland without permission, as long as you don’t disturb protected species.

For those who don’t want to get their hands dirty

It would be really unusual I think for anyone in Australia or New Zealand to be okay with finding someone else on their land, picking their fruit without permission. Being recently colonised countries, land rights and fishing rights can be contentious issues back home.

Although we do have a wonderful culture in NZ of fishing and gathering shellfish, picking wild berries and foraging, I think the main difference here is not needing permission to go onto someone else’s land to do so.

We had a great day out searching for mushrooms and blueberries in the forest during our first trip to Finland four years ago. Although we ate everything we picked, any income people make from selling picked berries or mushrooms is tax-free.

Blueberry bushes (foreground)

Natures way of saying: Do not go there

We used to pick blackberries in New Zealand when I was younger and although I’m sure we had the landowner’s permission, what I remember most is being chased by a big ol’ hairy goat that obviously hadn’t read the memo about our rights at all!

Freedom to Roam

Everyman’s Right – the Finnish Ministry of the Environment

Henriette Kress

Porvoo, according to Frida

November 10, 2014December 16, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 9 Comments

Over a couple of drinks last week we realised our friend Frida was going home to Porvoo for the weekend, the very town we were planning to visit. Just 50km east of Helsinki it’s an easy bus-ride away and Frida offered to be our tour guide.

Porvoo is Finland’s second-oldest town and was given city rights sometime around 1380 – which blew my mind because it is believed that the first Polynesians only arrived in New Zealand around 1300.

It was a beautiful, blue-sky day but fresh at only zero degrees. We wandered around the Old Town and visited an amazing toy shop; a quick poll revealing that yes, Miko and I agreed this was the best toy shop in the world.

We stopped by the home of national poet, Johan Runeberg, a Swedish-Speaking Finn. Frida regaled us with tales about how he devoted a good part of his later years to drinking, which led to his wife writing most of his work and him returning home one night so inebriated he drove his horse and cart straight into the river.*

Frida also answered my questions about Swedish-speaking Finns as Porvoo is a bilingual city and our visit coincided with Swedish-speaking Week. For some reason it’s hard for me to get my head around but she was very patient, even when I asked her twenty minutes later, ‘So when did your family arrive in Finland?’ to which she reiterated that they are Finnish, not Swedish, they just happen to speak Swedish (and Finnish and English).

The Old Town has some great shops to visit, including antique and design stores. As we looked for lunch we noticed snails feature on many of the menus but opted instead for pizza and risotto in a warm restaurant.

After lunch we headed to Porvoo Cathedral which Frida told us had recently had a fire in the roof. The man who was found to have started it was rewarded with a lengthy jail sentence*.

We walked back down the hill through streets lined with old wooden houses, peering into windows (me) to admire reindeer pelt-covered seats set in front of warm fireplaces. I stopped in at vintage store Doris & Duke and bought some snowflake leggings while the others huddled outside.

The paint on some of the buildings is red ochre and so old that it will leave a powdery substance on your hands when touched.* We dutifully rubbed the outside of people’s houses to see if we could remove some of the paint ourselves.

After all this walking, snooping and rubbing it was time for a treat and so we stopped in at Helmi Cafe which is one of those cafes you often find in small Finnish towns. It’s as though you have entered someone’s private home as you wander through connecting rooms until you find the place you want to sit.

In honour of Frida, Johan Runeberg and Porvoo itself we finished our tour with a round of Runeberg tortes – a fine way to complete our cultural exchange and more fun than riding into the freezing river.

*Source: Frida

Runeberg Torte

Excuse me, do I work here?

November 7, 2014November 7, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 1 Comment

New Zealanders love a good DIY ( Do It Yourself ) attitude – build your own fence, concrete your own driveway…but Finns bring it into the everyday as at most cafes you’ll find it’s DIY dishes.

You don’t actually have to wash them but there’s usually a place for you to scrape your dishes, stack them and sort the rubbish from the recycling.

Having grown up with school lunches provided I’d say most Finnish adults are used to this and probably do it without thinking.

It’s great actually – it means the tables are cleared before you sit down, even when the staff are busy.

Used dishes stand & rubbish bin at Fafa’s

At Cafe Regatta there are a couple of places for customers to stack their used dishes. You can also have free coffee refills and you get 5c back each time you refill your cup….*

So if times were tough and you were really desperate, you’d probably only have to drink 45 cups of coffee before you started to make your money back and started getting paid to stack that one dirty cup.

Cafe Regatta

*the beauty of this is no one wants a 5c piece in their wallet so they tend to go straight into the tips jar

A slap in the ear? That will be €2

October 24, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 6 Comments

Finns love their coffee and with it they seem to love nothing more than a good korvapuusti. Known elsewhere as cinnamon rolls, the Finnish version is fairly unique in its look, ingredients and name. They are also reported to be the biggest, which for some people would make them the best.

Made with butter and cinnamon and topped with pearl sugar, these buns smell delicious as they come out of the oven and you will find them at any self-respecting cafe or supermarket.

Sometimes cardamom is added which lends an exotic spiciness to the mix. As someone (me) commented earlier this week, ‘Mmm, they taste like Christmas.’

Cafe Regatta do a wonderful korvapuusti and I’ve heard they can also be made with suklaa (chocolate). I’d like to have a lesson in making them as I’ve heard it’s not too difficult and I think they’d be a hit in New Zealand.

Korvapussti in English means a slap in the ear and there are a few theories as to how these buns got this name although no one seems too sure.

As a New Zealander though it’s fairly clear to me – a few too many slaps to the the ear and they will look like a doughy bun – a fact to which any All Black front rower can attest.

Keven Mealamu – All Black Hooker, cauliflower ears

Korvapuusti

Where’s the wine? Ask the Alko

September 24, 2014September 24, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 6 Comments

Despite being at different ends of the globe, New Zealand and Finland have a few things in common – one of them being a strong drinking culture. There are subtle differences in the approach and underlying reasons for this love of drinking, but one that stands out is how people in Finland obtain their alcohol.

Like Finnish supermarkets, those in New Zealand sell beer – but they also sell wine. In fact, they often have tastings where you can sip on a (plastic) glass of wine while you shop. In Finland however, the supermarkets can’t sell anything that contains more than 4.7% alcohol.

So while Finnish supermarkets have vast selections of beer and cider, you won’t find anything stronger. Cans are also sold individually if you desire, which is a bit different to how it is generally sold in New Zealand.

Anything with a higher alcohol content is sold at Alko stores, which are owned wholly by the Finnish government. There are 350 stores around Finland and while their website says 90% of Finns live within 10km of a store, they can be surprisingly hard to find.

Being a monopoly, prices are standard across all Alko stores – and so is the selection, although some stores will stock a bigger range than others. If there’s a quantity or item you want for a special occasion you can order it in (although most Finns will go to Estonia or Russia for cheap booze and bring it back by the car load for a wedding).

In Alko stores, wines are sorted by country, in alphabetical order. There’s often a good range of organic wines and lots of spirits, including Finnish vodkas. Finns aren’t traditionally big wine drinkers, but the biggest selling items in the last quarter were white wines and red wines, followed by vodka and spirits.

The Alko website claims that 80% of Finns are happy with the current arrangements, however the Opposition Party in Finland has called for taxes on alcohol to be dropped, saying Finns live in a prohibition era. They claim the government’s involvement in alcohol sales leaves the main population punished for the drinking problems of a few, without the underlying reasons people drink being addressed.

In the meantime, I’m missing the great range of Australian and New Zealand wines back home, but am learning a bit about European ones – at more affordable prices. And while you can’t just pick up a bottle of red with your groceries, perhaps the time it has taken for me to find the nearest Alko will save me from becoming one.

Fafa’s for falafel

September 16, 2014September 17, 2014 / Mel_inHelsinki / 10 Comments

I had a job in Sydney that covered Bankstown and Fairfield Local Government Areas. 55% people in Bankstown and 70% people in Fairfield speak a language other than English at home, with Arabic and Assyrian / Aramaic among the top three languages. So as far as Middle Eastern food goes, we have been pretty spoilt.

Our first foray into Middle Eastern food in Helsinki was unfortunately disappointing. Three dry falafels served on rice with lettuce, tomato and a very plain hummus left us in despair. To make things worse, it was served with a drizzle of tomato pasta sauce which left Jonathan feeling like he’d had meatballs for dinner (not great for a vegetarian).

Enter Fafa’s – a small chain of eat-in or takeaway food stores in Helsinki, serving delicious stuffed pita. We were so happy when we saw the menu, which includes a great range of vegetarian options and extra chilli sauce.

I’ve yet to find my favourite Fafa’s pita, but have so far enjoyed the goats cheese pita and the fried eggplant too. The hot chips are cut in a handy scoop shape and Miko often enjoys a hummus plate with a boiled egg.

The food is fresh, the chilli sauce is good but I do think the other sauces could do with a bit more bite. The best sauce I’ve had in Finland so far was baba ganoush made fresh by a Kurdish woman at Hietalahdenkauppahalli. With winter coming there’s no need to be shy with that lemon and garlic!

So we’re very happy to have found Fafa’s – although I’m still looking for that meal that serves garlicky jajik, lemony hummus and smoky baba ganoush alongside dolmades, with baklava for dessert. If you know of a good place for fresh, flavoursome Middle Eastern food in Helsinki (and I don’t mean a kebab with fries) – please, let me know!

Fafa’s – Kamppi, Kallio and Iso Roobertinkatu

Hey Helsinki

A New Zealand girl in Finland

Food & Drink

How I Came to Run an Art Gallery in Helsinki

Meet me at Old Market Hall

Now & Then – Töölönlahti

My City Guide to Helsinki – for Design*Sponge

Two Women Practising Everyman’s Right

Porvoo, according to Frida

Excuse me, do I work here?

A slap in the ear? That will be €2

Where’s the wine? Ask the Alko

Fafa’s for falafel

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