Sometimes the only thing that will do when one is stressed is some coddling, charm and civility. So where does one turn but a 5 star hotel for lunch.The best part of dining in London is getting to try Michelin starred restaurants. Michelin doesn’t bother with Australia so whilst Tetsuya’s would be worthy of a Michelin star, he remains untouched with the fairy wand. So now is my chance to consume as many Michelin stars as possible. Housed in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at Hyde Park London, never a shabby place to stay, Foliage has 1 Michelin star. This lunchtime Blythe and I are battling traffic congestion due to two tube lines being closed down and numerous roadworks near by. In fact we’re half an hour late for our booking and when we finally get there frantic and exhausted, we feel like we’ve really “earnt” our meal in effort.

We’re rewarded by broad smiles, soft welcomes and soothing tones. Foliage is a small room with enormous windows that offer a lovely view of Hyde Park, up close and personal. Guests are welcomed by not 3 but 4 courses. And for a price that’s an absolute steal in what can be a criminally expensive city £29. Yes you read right, £29 for lunch.

The menu has 4 choices which is generous and all of them call out in some way. We finally decide on some dishes after a little deliberation. We’re given bread, a choice of white, sourdough or walnut with salted and unsalted butter (walnut the clear winner, singing with walnut flavour through the copious amount of chunks).

Amuse Bouche: Chive Vichyssoise

We’re then bestowed with our Amuse Bouche, a Chive Vichyssoise. It’s creamy and smooth with a light mascarpone quenelle floating in the centre. A delicious start.

Starter: crab, mango, cucumber and coriander

Our starters then arrive, mine was the crab, mango, cucumber and coriander. The crab meat is delicate and sweet, the thing mango slices swirled on the plate with cucumber flavoured pasta and coriander sprigs. It all works beautifully together, never overwhelming the delicate crab. There are two delicious fried crab balls to give an alternate texture and taste.

Starter: Foie gras, beetroot, ginger bread and pecans

Blythe’s starter, a Foie gras, beetroot, ginger bread and pecans cleverly resembles rhubarb stalks. I do like Foie gras although sometimes I find it too strong. Not in this case, it’s beautifully balanced and beetroot goes wonderfully with the foie gras mousse. There is also a ball of foie gras rolled in pistachios which is also wonderful with the walnut bread which is thoughtfully topped up for us.

Intermediate: Scallops, squid ink, orzo, green almonds

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When I come to France, all I want to do is eat pastry. Should an immigration officer ask me my reason for entering France, I’ll simply say “To eat pastry”. Forget chocolate, I can always get good chocolate in Sydney, Tokyo, London or anywhere else I travel. However pastries like this are much harder to find. Poilâne is an institution, their sourdough bread of miche is said to be legendary. Using stone-ground flour, sea salt from Guérande and a wood-fired oven they set about conquering the world, one loaf at a time.

So a visit to Paris isn’t complete with a visit to their flagship store on the rue de cherche Midi. I have tried Poilâne bread before as it is available in London so we visited just to “take a perv” at the store and buy some pastries and some other breads. It’s an unusual set up. The shopfront is in a small street and hints not at the auspiciousness of the bakery. A stern looking unsmiling woman sits at the counter taking money while a group of older and younger woman flutter about backs to the wall watching customers and straightening displays of bread.

There is a small selection of breads and pastries and a sample box of their flower petal shaped butter cookies. The miche is sold by the weight and you can choose the amount of thinly sliced bread that you want. One woman offers me a sable biscuit from the box while I am browsing and a friendly young woman, a dead ringer for Natalie Portman offers her help. They package up the items for you, you don’t help yourself, and they wrap it and write the price on the paper bag and hand it to you and you then pay the stern madam behind the counter.

Le haul

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OK I’m not being serious, this is not only just for Shut Ins although sometimes during the cold of Winter, I definitely feel as though I qualify. I am not sure why there is such a stigma to hibernation, the bears do it and you hardly hear cries of “anti social bears” and mutterings that there’s something wrong with them. If you feel like the world is just too cold or cruel a place and that stepping out the door would be as appealing as sawing your own arm off, these recipes are for you. And I don’t want to hear from people who say that they’ve never felt like that and that they love socialising and interacting. Don’t get me wrong I do too. But there are just some days that you just want to barricade yourself indoors. An example of why everyone at some stage has felt this way is the great Australian tradition of a sickie. Sometimes you just cannot be bothered and slobbing around the house is the best you can do.

I like to celebrate my shut-in days by making the most of them. I watch the DVDs I’ve never gotten around to, read or at least start the books I’ve got gathering dust by the side of my bed and read trashy magazines *ahem* … I mean keep up with Current Affairs.

This Tessa Kiros recipe for chicken soup is from her book Apples for Jam, a cookbook/storybook with some gorgeous pictures and home recipes with a comforting edge to them. It interested me as it looked great in the photos. Yes, I am that superficial. I also liked the idea of a thick chicken soup - there’s nothing wrong with a thin broth but I like more sustaining soups, particularly if they are the main and only course at dinner.

As for the Potato Bread, I admit I fiddled with Nigella’s recipe. I actually got the idea from a friend Maria from Foodie Wanderings in which she told me about a bakery that made bread rolls with a whole boiled potato and mayonnaise inside. So I thought what bread recipe would better apply to this than Nigella’s potato bread. Call it potato on potato. And if you’re walking around in your Juicy trackpants, thermals and wooly socks, what better way to celebrate not having to wear your jeans than with an unashamed carb fest.

The soup was lovely on it’s own but like all great partnerships, it becomes so much more moreish when partnered with the spongy yet crunchy crusted bread. And if you think that it’s all too much of a production making the bread along with the soup, the smell of it baking in the oven should convince you otherwise. I’m pretty sure you could fit this in amongst your busy at home schedule. I managed to between appointments with Oprah and Entertainment Tonight.

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Juuri Sapas is a not quite Michelin starred newbie on the Helsinki scene. Popular and recommended by some of my husband’s gourmand cousins, we were eager to try it. Sapas is like tapas, albeit slightly smaller, small plates of food.

We’re meeting my husband’s cousins whom he hasn’t seen in about 20 years. They’re Helsinki natives and love fine dining and a good drop of wine so we are eager to take advantage of their knowledge of the city. The menu is contemporary Finnish cuisine with a lot of local ingredients and native foods which makes it rather exciting. All 4 mains are savoury and sweet and have meat combined with a fruit in some way. There are some little issues, a couple of people at the table have to ask for new plates as they were given dirty ones, my husband having to ask for a new plate twice.

The Sapas are €3.50 each and we choose the Lingonberry marinated salmon on maltbread, tarragon garlic oil; raspberry marinated arctic char with radish sauce; smoked small perche from Pielinen with egg sauce; crayfish cottage cheese filled cabbage leaves with melted dill butter; fresh sausages a la Juuri with vodka mustard; terrine of reindeer liver with jelly made of berries; smoked lamb with gooseberry jam.

Array of 3 breads

Carrot butter

We’re given a large basket of 3 different breads with a carrot butter. The carrot butter is interesting, distinctly carroty in taste but with the creaminess of butter.

Lingonberry marinated salmon on maltbread, tarragon garlic oil €3.50

The salmon is gorgeous, lightly sweetened with the lingonberries and perched on top of the maltbread which soaks up the tarragon and garlic oil nicely. It’s much better than regular marinated salmon.

Raspberry marinated arctic char with radish sauce €3.50

The slender slice of arctic char resembles salmon in texture but is a whitefish. I’m not usually a fan of radishes but the sauce is creamy enough but still retains the radish flavour.

Smoked small perche from Pielinen with egg sauce €3.50

The small smoked fish are intensely flavoured whilst the egg sauce is an interesting accompaniment. The fish aren’t too dry and the sauce is delicious.

Crayfish cottage cheese filled cabbage leaves with melted dill butter €3.50

The stuffed cabbage leaves resembles a small spring roll but the taste is distinctly different. The sauce is gloriously delicious, with a honeyed tone to it. It’s one of my favourite dishes as well as my husband’s although anything with crayfish is a winner with me.

Fresh sausages a la Juuri with vodka mustard €3.50

The tiny sausages aren’t particularly distintive and the mustard isn’t particularly vodka-ey. It’s a bit of a disappointment given there are so many other delicious dishes.

Terrine of reindeer liver with jelly made of berries €3.50

The pate like reindeer liver terrine is delicious and unusual. Distinctly different from other liver terrines or pates it is enhanced by the berry jelly. If only we had some little toast points to eat it with.

Smoked lamb with gooseberry jam €3.50

The smoked lamb is very smokey in aroma and I’m not sure about the gooseberry jam with it. Although the lamb is delicious when I dip it in the other sauces.

Grilled salsify with rosehip jam €3.50

Pike quenelle in wild herb bouillion €3.50

Beetroot and nut stew with small mushrooms €3.50

Eggcheese spiced with oregano baked on top of straws €3.50

Willowherb asparagus €3.50

Roasted swede with cauliflower puree €3.50

Mains menu

The mains we choose are the Wild Boar Ribs with apple butter and vegetables cooked in beef stock, Organic Lamb Tenderloin with dark orange bolete sauce and fried organic barley porridge and Artic Char (a fish native to Finland) braised in whitecurrant wine, jeruselum artichoke puree, beetroot sauce and parsnip chips.

Wild Boar Ribs with apple butter and vegetables cooked in beef stock €22.50

My Wild boar ribs with apple puree, dutch carrots and other vegetables are absolutely divine, sticky sweet and soft they completely conquer regular pork ribs or any other ribs I’ve had. I almost sob that I know that I can’t get them in Australia and I begrudgingly give some to my sister and husband, knowing that they will love them too.

Organic Lamb Tenderloin with dark orange bolete sauce and fried organic barley porridge €25.50

The Lamb is soft and tenderly pink inside and the accompaniment of fried porridge is delicious. It’s similar to fried polenta but softer and stickier. Like Chinese radish cake or something similar in texture although not in taste. The dark orange bolete sauce is a midly sweet accompanying sauce.

Artic Char braised in whitecurrant wine, jeruselum artichoke puree, beetroot sauce and parsnip chips €22.50

The fantastic looking Arctic Char with a streak of fuchsia beetroot puree as mentioned before tastes like salmon whilst being a whitefish.The artichoke puree and beetroot sauce not only providing visual contrast to the fish but also flavour that never overpowers the fish.

Fried perch fillets with Finnish original onion and tomato salad, rhubarb sauce and new potatoes €22.50

Dessert menu

Chocolate cake de capo with seabuckthorne mousse €7

Although we are full we can’t pass up on the desserts-there’s one that has caught my eye-the chocolate cake de capo with seabuckthorn mousse. My husband’s cousins tell us the seabuckthorne is actually used in a medicinal sense-whenever someone is feeling ill or coming down with something, they take some seabuckthorne juice. So not only is it tasty but good for you. The chocolate cake resembles a brownie and the mousse a sweet slightly tangy tamarillo mousse. It’s finished with a streak of thick butterscotch sauce.

Selection of Finnish cheeses and crowberry jelly €7.50

My sister orders the cheese plate and when it arrives, with 4 small cubes of cheese with crowberry jelly €7.50. I don’t have the heart to ask her to share any of her tiny 4 cubes with me and she reports back that 1 was “ok” but the rest were unmemorable. She actually wanted to spit out one of the hard cheeses. Not to mention the tiny portions. The crowberry jelly is more like a syrup than a jelly and honeyed in taste although the consistency doesn’t lend itself to all of the cheeses.

Seasonal sorbet Rhubarb €5

We sample some of the Rhubarb sorbet, intriguingly it’s a forest green shade. it tastes like a fruit and vegetable juice, almost like parsley or another herb has been added to the rhubarb.

Rosehip and white chocolate ice cream with marinated strawberries €7

Later, we head off to Mecca bar, an ultra chic and a bit posey bar populated by Helsinki’s beautiful people. We’re persuaded to try the Sweet Salty licorice drink. It’s a glisteningly black tar shot glass and even the smell at a short distance is heady with aniseed. I take a sip, after all I’m not a big licorice fan and indeed it is just like the salty sweet licorice lollies. My husband adores this and wants to buy a bottle.

We leave whilst the night is still young, after all in the Midnnight Sun season, night never falls.

Juuri Sapas

Korkeavuorenkatu 27
00130 Helsinki
Tel. +358 9 635732
www.juuri.fi
Reservation: ravintola@juuri.fi
Seats: 34+6
Open: Mon-Fri 11–24, Sat 12–24, Sun 14–20

My husband says that I can shop for almost anything, and it’s true. Even supermarket shopping holds joy and excitement for me. I could stroll the aisles of a supermarket, especially in overseas countries, picking up item after item and not get bored. So when I came upon a tractor selling restaurant I was immediately intrigued. My husband was relieved in that he knew that I wouldn’t be interested in a tractor because a) it’s a tractor and b) a tractor would exceed our baggage allowance. In the city centre, Zetor is said to be a slice of what the Finnish countryside was like a few decades ago. Indeed my husband’s Finnish born and bred uncle confirms this fact.

No hidden bottles please!

There’s a sign at the front, asking us to leave our bags, coats and any hidden bottles of alcohol behind. Hmm I get the sense that this isn’t your usual sort of place. My husband’s cousin said that it was more a “quantity over quality” place which pleased my husband to no end. Yes folks, no matter how hard I’ve tried to persuade him, he still prefers a larger meal to a quality meal.

We’re shown to a booth, past enormous tractors with flames painted on them and a gigantic cow. My husband’s uncle also explains that the name Zetor actually refers to a Russian tractor that was notoriously unreliable and thought to have been a poor quality one so the name is a joke.

Zetor’s menu-printed as a newpaper with pages in several languages

And their menu, designed in the style of a newspaper with a menu page in Finnish, English, Swedish, German and Russian certainly has a sense of humour to it with dishes such as “2. Plastic Blinnery: Now, it is finally possible to acquire a DD cup by a safe, natural method. The orally ingested filling includes a blini fried in clarified butter, served with herring caviar, salmon roe mousse and boiled egg. No danger of rejection.” as well as desserts such as “34. This Is Your Captain Speaking: Welcome to this chartered flight to Torremolinos! In order for you to be able to achieve the requisite holiday spirit, we will be serving chocolate cake and strawberries in brandy. And don’t forget to give a hearty applause when we land.”

Booths

The waitress comes to take our order and we order the Cliche Soup, ZETOR C2007I and the fawn reindeer roast (”Slip into something more comfortable”) and for dessert the “Hidden Agenda”-oven baked cheese with caramel sauce and brandy marinated arctic cloudberries.

Cliche soup (large) €12.90

All three dishes arrive at once and they smell fantastic, particularly the Cliche soup which I have chosen. Described as: “It’s a deja vú all over again, said the man, and didn’t skin his bear, because on the same token, he went back to business: Smoked reindeer and cheese soup, vegetable butter and crispbread. The portion took the feet right out of his mouth. Available also without reindeer” A spoonful into it and it’s creamy and velvety and the flavour much like a cheese and bacon roll in a liquid form. The tiny smoked reindeer pieces taste just like bacon and it’s gorgeously voluptuous although you get the feeling that you are eating for Everest and that the calories in this bowl could sustain you for a trek to the summit and back. The crispbread is much like a Pringle shaped Finncrisp with some carrot puree butter on it.

Zetor C2007I €11.70 little tinned fish

I next try the “ZETOR C2007I An updated version of our best-selling product. The components are smoked Pielinen vendace in tin can and bread. Optional extras include a schnapps (4 cl), and you can also get take-away vendace components from the hat check girl. Suitable for two. This product will not be outsourced to Asia” which arrives in a tin with one of those little openers that you try and master in order to reach your food. The smoked fish are interesting and the bread very dry and crispy. We find this best when you spoon the fish on and let the oil from the fish permeate the bread somewhat-and even then it’s a n earth shattering crunch when you bite into it. The fish are much like an oily smoked fish-not bad at all.

Slip Into Something More Comfortable €27.80

The last savoury dish is the “Slip Into Something More Comfortable: The reindeer fawn roast slipped into a potato hash and poured cranberry red wine sauce all over itself.  Then it burned the midnight oil so that the country cheese got warm. This caused the sauerkraut to stew in its sour cream, and the mood was set for the evening. ” This dish, a little more expensive than the rest of the menu, which is mostly less than €20, but it is rewardingly good, the reindeer fawn is gloriously soft and the perfect companion to the sweet and mild sauerkraut and potatoes. The cranberry red wine sauce and country cheese also complements the reindeer and we are in unison impressed with this dish. My sister particularly loves the cheese, called Leipäjuusto, literally translated into Bread Cheese which is like a less salty version of Halloumi. Said to be made from rich milk from a cow that has recently calved it is used in both sweet and savoury dishes.

Hidden Agenda €9.20 Caramelised cheese

Hidden Agenda €9.20 Cloudberries marinated in brandy

Which brings us to our dessert featuring Leipäjuusto with caramel sauce and brandy soaked arctic cloudberries. It comes in a baking dish and looks like a gratin but a spoonful in and we are all nodding our heads in agreement. There is the caramel squeaky cheese on top but underneath is a milky caramel flavoured sauce. The brandy cloudberries are gorgeous alongside this creamy cheesy spoonsful and although it’s unusual, it most certainly works.

Pail of cutlery

We leave and of course it is bright and sunny. We see some people toting beers - they don’t come in 6 packs here, they come in 12 packs for the serious drinker. And the colloquial term for these is “Dachshund” for the shape as they resemble the sausage dog. And no, I didn’t buy a tractor!

Restaurant Zetor

Mannerheimintie 3-5, Kaivopiha, 00100 Helsinki - tel. 010 76 64450
Table reservations: S-groups sales service 020 1234 800 (mon-fri 8-18) -
Open: mon 11-24, tue 11-03, wed-sat 11-04 sun 13-23
http://www.ravintolazetor.fi/etusivu_en.html