Chef & Sommelier, Helsinki

The ‘new Nordic’ food movement is progressing at speed, and Helsinki is home to some of the chefs leading the way. Every meal I ate in Helsinki was special, the country’s food is honest and memorable, using humble local ingredients in every instance to create food that is inspiring and delicious. The most magical meal I experienced was at Chef & Sommelier.

Sasu Laukkonen is the genius chef at the helm of tiny but revolutionary restaurant, Chef & Sommelier. In a minute kitchen they produce mesmerising food for a group of lucky guests in the homely dining room. Here convention is thrown out the window, there are no white tablecloths on the tables, no bowties and shiny shoes, it a relaxed and happy place. The service is still immaculate, but personal on every level. Sasu came to hang out at our table regularly, to talk through the dish, explaining the complex cuisine and his innovative ideas.

Diners can choose to have a four, five or nine course meal, or a surprise seven course menu decided by the chef. We tasted almost all of the nine recipes on offer, clever creations based around ingredients available to Sasu’s team that day. First, a little taste to prepare our palates for the delights to come… a seaweed cracker with apricot, mustard garlic leaf and nettle. It was a delicate mouthful, individually the elements sound strange, but together it was a balanced and tasty concoction. Mustard garlic leaf is a particularly wonderful flavour, and I’d love to find it in the UK to use in my kitchen.

The majority of the courses were vegetarian, illustrating Sasu’s talent for reinventing and elevating simple ingredients to something intricate and exciting recipe. Cabbage and egg was wonderfully light, arranged in a pretty pile. Beetroot and kyytto looked earthy and beautiful, a range of textures and tastes. I found the parsnip and malt combination alarming, with an unusually striking appearance, and a yeasty sweet flavour that reminded me of a breakfast dish. Squash and barley was blissfully simple and comforting, chunks of sweet squash with a milky sauce.

Lamb with mushrooms was a more substantial course, a hearty hunk of lean meat with a richly flavoured fungi sauce, and topped with thin slices of raw mushroom. We were treated to a little cheese course before the sweet courses, this was the perfect opportunity to sample some tasty Finnish cheeses, accompanied with fruity linden berry chutney.

I was pleased to receive some chocolate for dessert paired with plum and damson. It was more bitter than I expected, but nonetheless delicious. My favourite pudding was named ‘The Forest’, it was exceptionally imaginative. Frosty in appearance and taste, I felt like I was inhaling a cold breath of air as I tried the first spoonful. A cyclinder of pine flavoured semi-freddo topped with particles from the forest in a pool of green sauce and lightly dusted with grated white chocolate. The components were so carefully arranged, it was almost too beautiful to eat.

Whilst inside the little Chef & Sommelier eatery, I felt completely engrossed in the concept and cuisine. Walking back to the hotel in the crisp night air I felt inspired by the meal and Sasu’s energy for creating the sublime from the simple ingredients that surround him. If you find yourself in Helsinki I highly recommend visiting Sasu and his team at Chef & Sommelier, for a meal that will wow all your senses.

More information and book a table here.

Many thanks to the Helsinki Tourist Board for their help with this trip.

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