I thought this chain would be a bit gimmicky as a 'Viking Restaurant', but it turns out they're…read moreactually really good with high quality meals!
During my Finland trip I wanted to try as much local food culture as I could, and though the decor in Harald restaurants is quite tacky and touristy, I just had to try it.
Their menu offers lots of amazing choices, I tried the smoked reindeer soup for a starter, which was very rich and smooth and went really well with the cranberry puree it's topped with. For my main I chose the Sausage Pan Of Alf Leatherpants, which comes with succulent lamb sausages, very rich game sausage, the most delicious cheese potatoes, beetroot and lots of caramelized onion. It was a rich, earthy dish with a lot of great flavours, perfect for a cold winter night! For dessert I treated myself to Iona's Liquorice Mousse, which consisted of a fine, delicate liquorice mousse, raspberry and liquorice sorbet, liquorice meringue and a light raspberry syrup. This sounded like it might be a little too much, especially as I'm not a huge fan of liquorice, but I felt drawn to it and had to give it a go. Turns out it is nowhere near as overwhelming as I suspected it might be, the flavours are delicate and light, the textures compliment each other really well, and the raspberry lightens up the dish to give it a sweet and tart undertone. It was definitely one of the best desserts I've ever had!
The staff were also very nice and accommodating, my visit here was a very pleasant experience and I'd definitely come back! Delicious food, fun decor, really friendly staff, just an overall great experience.