Soppakeittiö is a street-food stop in Keskusta, Helsinki.
Soppakeittiö inside the Old Market Hall ladles out the city's reference bowl of creamy salmon soup with all the rye bread you can eat; the queue says it all.
Tip: The salmon soup is the order, but the bouillabaisse and other daily soups are strong too. Come at lunch before the hall winds down.
Address: Eteläranta 18, 00130 Helsinki
Eromanga near Kasarmitori is an old-school bakery-cafe whose lihapiirakka meat pie is still made to a secret 1946 recipe, topped with sausage and egg.
Try: Lihapiirakka (Finnish meat pie)
Tip: Ask for the meat pie with sausage and a fried egg, the full vesisemmu treatment. A pre-war recipe baked the same way since 1946.
In summer, tented stalls on the Market Square fry vendace and salmon to order and pour pea soup, a very Finnish lunch eaten standing by the harbour.
Try: Fried vendace (muikku) and salmon
Tip: Best on a dry summer day; the stalls thin out in cold weather. Guard your plate from the harbour seagulls, they are bold.
Fafa's started on Iso Roobertinkatu and grew into a Finnish pita chain, but the original still turns out the falafel and halloumi that made its name.
Try: Falafel and halloumi pita
Tip: The Iso Roobertinkatu branch is the original. Vegetarians are well served; the halloumi pita is the move if falafel feels too familiar.
Eromanga near Kasarmitori is an old-school bakery-cafe whose lihapiirakka meat pie is still made to a secret 1946 recipe, topped with sausage and egg.
Try: Lihapiirakka (Finnish meat pie)
Tip: Ask for the meat pie with sausage and a fried egg, the full vesisemmu treatment. A pre-war recipe baked the same way since 1946.
In summer, tented stalls on the Market Square fry vendace and salmon to order and pour pea soup, a very Finnish lunch eaten standing by the harbour.
Try: Fried vendace (muikku) and salmon
Tip: Best on a dry summer day; the stalls thin out in cold weather. Guard your plate from the harbour seagulls, they are bold.
Hanko Sushi is the Finnish fast-sushi chain in the big malls, including the central Forum, serving fixed salmon, prawn and maki sets at quick prices.
Try: Sushi sets
Tip: Inside the Forum mall on Mannerheimintie. Not destination sushi, but a fast, fair-value set lunch when you are downtown.
