I had 12 hours in Helsinki and wanted to make the most of it - by trying as much Finnish food and drink and cultural experiences as possible. I found Heather's Helsinki walking food trip on TripAdvisor and it scored high, so I contacted her and set up the walking tour. I payed by paypal, she confirmed the day before the arrival with location of where to meet.
I arrived at the airport and easily grabbed the train to Central Station that is within 3 blocks of the Stockmann's Clock meeting location. Heather was waiting with her sign and I found out I was the only one on the tour today...woohoo private tour!
We went on an extensive tour of Stockmann's care/grocery and she described the different Finnish foods that people generally eat. We also sampled some food I've never tried at the fish counter (charred salmon and pickled herring) as well as salmon roe. The pickled herring was sweeter than expected and the salmon was delicious! The roe was flavorful but not pungent and tasted exquisite.
After Stockmann's we headed out to walk the city and popped into a coffee shop and I was able to try the oats cooked in oat milk which was a Finnish take on oatmeal and I was able to try some of the various topping that a generally used by the locals that I wouldn't necessarily try myself. Good oats.
We then moved onto a small grocery store that has the largest cold beer selection in the city - so many options. Here, I was able to try some other local baked goods and ordered a beer to go (you can walk around with beer in hand in Helsinki - just don't get drunk). After the food and drink (including a sample taste of non alcoholic cider) we headed to the Alko which is the wine and liquor store and only place you can buy beer above 4.7% abv in Finland. Heather described the different gins Finland is known for as well as the different makers, she then showed me different berries that that are mainly found in Finland that are used for liqueur.
Now that I've been caught up on the local beer scene and Finnish alcohol - time for lunch at Bryggeri Helsinki. It's a traditional craft beer spot and I chatted with the bartender regarding my 4 tastes I wanted to try (included in Heather's tour). I'm a dark beer drinker, so the darker the better - and they had them, YAY! After beer and sausage with sourkraut and a delicious stone ground mustard we took a special tour of the fermentation tanks (bc it was slow right now and the bartender could spare the few minutes) and were able to try the 100 year anniversary beer that's being created - poured right out of the 6000 gallon tank! So cool.
We walked back toward the Central Station and passed an unmarked building and Heather let me know it was a speakeasy that required a password - I filed this away for later - see my other post about this. We then ended up at the Frazer Cafe which was a HUGE coffee shop and Heather brought me a cappuccino and two little baked goods that were pretty fantastic. One tasted like a doughnut and the other was a soft spongecake with cream, banana, strawberry and nuts.
While sipping our coffees and eating the pastries, I told Heather I wanted to try Sauna and she found a new one nearby that she pointed out along the route - it was inexpensive and offered bathing suit and towel rentals so I ended up going there. Heather provided the best food walking tour I've taken and helped me experience the most of Helsinki and Finnish culture and food I could do in 12 hours and I thank her immensely.
She speaks perfect English (she's originally from Australia) - I highly recommend her if you want a walking food tour of Helsinki. read more
