When I visited my sister in London a few years ago, she gave a little booklet of recipe excerpts from Jamie’s Italy that came with the paper. I confess I am not a big Jamie Oliver watcher-too much saliva for me. But his recipes are reliably good and they do inspire my husband to give cooking a go which can only be a good thing. I’ve cooked the eggplant parmigiana from this book too and it’s great although eggplant, cheese and tomato can’t go wrong as a combination (unless of course McDonalds fiddled with it). I even bought a copy of this book for a friend of mine who is Italian-perhaps in the hope that she’ll cook some dishes for me!

After having a couple of “sausages and lentils” dishes in Paris, I wanted to try some of my own, albeit these would have an Italian flavour rather than a French one. I didn’t use Italian sausages as specified in the recipe but I had some great coarse grind Lamb, leek, thyme and mint ones. After watching an episode of “The F Word” where they discuss the minimum amount of meat that actually needs to go into a sausage (from a frightening 30% to the highest 66% for a gourmet variety in the UK) I have become a bit of a tray flipper carefully examining the % of meat in the sausages I buy. These are thankfully 76% meat and are by the “Coles finest” brand. Of course the packet doesn’t tell you know how much connective tissue is used but I am hoping not too much, especially if its a coarse grind sausage where the meat needs to be a touch more obvious.

And as you can probably tell I didn’t use green lentils as I only had brown lentils. I boiled them with 6 garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves and 3 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and a fat pinch of salt and then tossed them in the oil that came out of the sausages.

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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

When the NY Times writes about a humble Hot Dog stand you tend to regard it a bit differently. For not only is it a place that sells hot dogs and all things to be consumed when drunk at night, it is apparently much more than that. It is said that if you stood in front of there for 3 days, you’d see the who’s who and who’s not of Finland. Celebrities and politicians stop by Jaskan Grilli at some time to satisfy their alcohol induced cravings for meat, salt and fat. Normally placid Finns have been known the break out in fights in the queue.

Due to a conflict of plan schedules and unreliable international SMSs we are meeting my sister  at midnight after her plane from London arrived in at 11pm. And now the fun has only started. We get on the bus at my husband’s uncle and aunt’s house at 11pm and it appears that the party has already started on the bus. A huge group of drunk youths (doesn’t that phrase make me sound old?) are yelling and popping beers open on the back of the bus.Their rowdiness doesn’t faze the driver and neither does the beer which has been spilled all over the seat and aisles of the bus-behaviour that would get you thrown off the bus in Australia goes unheeded. Both girls and boys hold open bottles of beer or alcohol and walking down the street swaying and singing loudly is de rigeur.

12am Helsinki

It’s also the time of the year where the sun sets at 11pm and rises again at 3am, giving it an even more surreal atmosphere. We’ve been up for over 24 hours having woken at 4am to go to Tsukiji fish markets with naps taken in between but the fact that the sun is shining tricks our bodies into believing that it is much earlier than it is.

The queue

The Finns are friendly if you stop and ask them directions (and we did several times) and whilst my husband speaks some Finnish, we resorted to getting directions in English to save time. We’re told that Jaskan Grilli is near Storyville restaurant and that it is a white cube-if lost again everyone knows it apparently. My husband’s cousin of course knows it but is baffled by the NY Times review of it, to him it’s just a Hot Dog stand.

Menu and ordering

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