BL #16: Discover Helsinki's Chic Side

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Geo: 60.1608, 24.9525

I didn't have the best impression of Helsinki the first time around, finding it a tad boring - however, given the close proximity to Stockholm and how cheap and easy it is to get between the two cities, we decided to visit, anyway. More often than not, re-visiting a place leads to disappointment - if you liked it the first time around, chances are you'll start to see some of the warts the second go round; if you didn't like it the first time, you'll only find it even worse, upon closer inspection.

Luckily for us today, it was one of those rare instances where not only was it an improvement, but a vast one - it was a lot like watching a movie for the second time, and finding all sorts of cool little nuances and much deeper meaning, that had previously escaped you, for whatever reason. Helsinki wasn't just good today - it actually blew us away, despite a bit of a slow and disappointing start to the day.

Things didn't really look up until we had left Helsinki's famed Rock Church and headed over to the Sibelius Monument - on a bit of a whim, we decided to stop at Cafe Regatta, since we had noticed that it was the #2 restaurant in Helsinki, at least, according to Tripadvisor. Tripadvisor is totally hit or miss, especially when it comes to restaurants, but it's the best tool a tourist has, when they don't have an in-the-know local they can consult.

Fortunately for us, the ranking was spot on - Cafe Regatta is beautifully-located right on the water, quite a distance out from the city centre, so while we found a fair number of tourists there, it wasn't completely overrun with them. It's the cutest little house on the water, with tons of outdoor seating, and was a perfect spot to chill out on a sunny day like today ...

While the sandwiches weren't the best, the desserts were certainly stellar, and the staff super friendly - when I returned to get a coffee and another cinnamon bun at the self-serve counter after our first round of food, I was interrogated with "Didn't you get a coffee already?" Uh ... no?!!?? But then, the cashier followed up with, in a cheery voice "OK, I was just asking, because if you did, you get unlimited refills here!"

Cafe Regatta is definitely one of those unforgettable places you are always seeking, whether as a traveler or as a local; it's a spot where you feel instantly at home, wishing that you had found it earlier, and hoping that you can come across something like this again. It's just so cool on so many levels - from the location, to how cute everything is, to the super neat little fire pit where you can buy hot dogs and sausages from the cafe, and roast them yourself. Seriously, how come every cafe in the World doesn't come up with something like that?

To make things even better, we found out that the typical stereotype of the Finn was completely wrong - they are known for being aloof, cold, unfriendly, and without personality, something that is reinforced by the likes of famous Finns like Kimi Raikkonen. Pretty much every Finn we came across today was super-friendly, not only at Cafe Regatta, but at every other cafe and restaurant we visited, and at every chic little boutique we browsed at Helsinki's Design District.

Who knew that Helsinki had a Design District? Of the few people that did know, who knew that it is totally awesome? Funky, chic, creative, and full of boutiques for Fashionistas, tea shops and antique stores for Bohemians, cool little shops for industrial design buffs, and all manner of cafes, coffee shops, and restaurants for everyone else. We pretty much stumbled upon the Design District based upon a little blurb in the Rick Steves' guidebook that mentioned "funky and artsy shops" - it was very fortunate for us, as we could've easily said "Screw it, let's just go back to our hotel and watch TV."

Had we known how awesome this district was, we would've arrived much earlier to fully enjoy all that it offered, instead of only wandering around during the last hour of business before most of the shops were closing up. We were shocked at how fun this area was, and at how much more there was to see and do here - easily the entire day could have been passed on these streets, and it even made us a bit envious. Calgary's vaunted Design District is really just a handful of furniture stores, a couple of kitchen and bath reno places, and a number of restaurants and bars of uneven quality - one day, I hope that Calgary's district will be as completely awesome as this one!

Helsinki is proof that sometimes, you just need to give a place a second chance, or perhaps more correctly, grow enough as a person to appreciate all that a city like this has to offer. I'm sure that Helsinki has changed a lot in the six years since I was first here, but I'm even more certain that there were a lot of neat little things in this city that I either never had the time to find, or wasn't in the right frame of mind to discover. Either way, it doesn't matter, as we quickly realized something today - Helsinki and Finland will probably be even better on a third viewing, whenever that may be for us ...

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Photos

Sibelius Monument ...
... it was criticized for not actually featuring the composer himself, so the artist added the tiny little bust of Sibelius at the bottom right hand corner, after the fact.

Best Cafe In Town ...
... the food was simple but great, and the location unbeatable - a cute little house with plenty of outdoor seating on the water, perfect for a sunny day like today.

Scrumptious Scandinavian Strawberries ...
... available at Helsinki's waterfront market. We never sampled these ones, instead finding much cheaper ones in the city centre, only to realize that they were over ripe to the point of mush, in some cases. Still tasty though, despite the texture.

Karl Fazer ...
... a famous Helsinki cafe, known for coffee, pastries, and chocolate. We weren't overly impressed with the food - the lox was tasty, but the bread was quite tough and dry. The meringue tart's crust was very soggy, as well. On the plus side, the coffee was quite good.

Fabulous Desserts at Cafe Regatta ...
... again, the lox was fantastic (one cured, one slightly smoked), but once more the bread wasn't great, leading us to think that dry and hard happens to be the style here. The blueberry cake was awesome, and the cinnamon bun out of this World - not too sweet, despite the big crunchy granules of sugar, and wonderfully spiced with cardamom. Sitting in the sun for a bit, the bun was nicely warmed up and was soft and chewy - so good, in fact, that we ordered a second one immediately after gobbling this one down.

Another Disappointing Famous Cafe ...
... still on the carrot cake kick, it wasn't the best, nor was the coffee at Cafe Ekberg.

Great Last Scandinavian Meal ...
... knowing that the next phase of the trip in the Balkans would not prominently feature international cuisine, tonight we went for some tasty Nepalese food at Mount Everest. We didn't order butter chicken, but the dish did taste a lot like it, so perhaps we got that by mistake? Either way, it was very good, and the naan was killer. Way too much food when combined with the chef's special, which had some super-tender lamb filet and kebabs, chicken, wicked crisp and plump prawns, cottage cheese, and roasted onions and peppers.