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| Our beautiful white cathedral |
I live in the beautiful city of Helsinki in a quiet but very central area close to the sea. If you do visit my hometown, here is just one example of how to spend one of the days.
The sun was shining, so naturally I wanted to go outside. I took my camera with me and decided to do a small tour of places to see and eat in my close surroundings and pretend to be a tourist for once. I started off in Kruununhaka (an are by the sea behind the big white cathedral) and headed to the island of Terva saari for a walk. This is an island accessible by foot over a small bridge. I watched people sunbathing, walking their dogs and washing their carpets....some people were even crazy enough to go swimming.
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| Bridge to Tervasaari (Tar island) |
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| People washing carpets |
I then headed towards the orthodox church to Kanavaranta to have lunch at a really good restaurant called Nokka.
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| View of Kanavaranta bridge, the orthodox church and Relander's Grund |
Nokka is located by the sea and during the summer it's one of the most pittoresque places to enjoy a bowl of fish soup right by the water and watch boats go by and the seagulls screeching.
Nokka is a beautiful restaurant situated inside a really old red brick building. All the food they serve has a story behind it. The Kitchen is run by the talented chef Ari Ruoho, whom uses all the ingredients from local producers. He can tell you all about who picked the mushrooms, where the cow has been grazing and maybe even some exciting fish tales or two.
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| Entrance of Nokka Restaurant |
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| Fish Soup at Nokka's Terrace |
You can either choose to eat a more fancy dinner from their à la carte menu or have a more casual lunch like I did from their café or maybe just pop in to buy some of the local products from their small shop. I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect.
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| Nokka café |
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| The Small Farm shop |
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| Restaurant Nokka |
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| The Kitchen and Ari Ruoho at work |
I chose to sit outside on the patio where you can feel the fresh breeze of the sea on a sunny day and almost feel like you are on a boat, enjoying a chilled glass of Riesling and a rich fish soup of Rainbow trout cooked to perfection. To accompany the soup I had their homemade nettle focaccia. Best of all, the lunch from the café is just 10€, which is not a lot for the experience you get. Highly recommended.
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| Nokka's Herb garden |
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| Nettle focaccia |
After my lunch I headed to a café almost next door, Johan&Nyström, situated in the same building. This is probably one of my favourite cafés (although I have a few).
Even though my tummy was full I still decided to try my first ever raw cake. I had a blueberry and white chocolate cake which luckily was quite small, cause I was full. With it I had a bottle of apple and ginger juice. Both really good. If you like coconut flavour, you will love this cake. Although the coconut isn't mentioned in the name of the cake I could feel the taste...but lucky for me, I love coconut....and feel more sure about trying to make a raw cake myself which I've been planning for quite some time
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| Entrance to Johan & Nyström |
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| Raw Cake with Blueberry and White chocolate |
Back to head out and enjoy the sunshine.....Next stop, not far away is also one of my favourite places during the summer....Relander's grund, an old red Steam boat, perfect for a glass of wine, a pint of beer or just a cup of tea/coffee. I've always loved this boat and wish I would own it myself one day :)
The boat doesn't go anywhere so even if you're in a rush just pop by for a drink or two. Who knows maybe you'll feel so relaxed and imagine sailing away that you'll stay here until dawn.... and if you do stay, and feel a bit famished...don't worry...just head to the restaurant/bar Holiday.
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| Relander's Grund steamboat |
Holiday is a newcomer at Kanavaranta...and to me It's more than welcome! I feel it's great that new places have opened up (or opening) in this area making this part of the city more welcoming and lively. Holiday is a really relaxed bar to just sit down and enjoy cocktails until the sun goes down (which by the way won't happen that early in the summer) or in-between drinks, have a dinner or a snack. Holiday serves freshly shucked oysters, soft shell crabs, poke bowls, sweet potato fries etc. It's not as fancy as Nokka but the perfect casual bar/diner with a really fun vibe to it.
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Holiday Terrace  |
Around the corner of Holiday, towards Johan&Nyström and Nokka is also a new wine bar, which looks really nice. The wine bar is called Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, which translates to Little Red Riding Hood in French. Their sign outside left me wondering what Little red riding hood and a Griffon have in common? Also while having lunch at Nokka I had seen a Griffon pass by....all these clues got me intrigued to find out what the story behind the name was and felt like I needed to visit this bar as soon as possible. Today however, I read in an article that the bar has its own mascot....a real Griffon dog called Hilkka. Little Red Riding Hood in Finnish is Punahilkka, so Hilkka for short :) (also it's a girls' name). Now we know that!
I will definitely visit this place soon...until next time!
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| Havis Amanda Statue |
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| Kappeli restaurant in the Esplanade park |
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