Order The full tasting menu; Vottonen leans hard on Finnish lake fish and game in season.
Palace holds Finland's only two Michelin stars, on the tenth floor of a 1952 Olympics building, where Eero Vottonen cooks a Finnish tasting menu.
Order The OlO tasting menu; the kitchen builds it around the best northern produce of the week.
Olo on the Pohjoisesplanadi has held a Michelin star since 2011, serving a long Nordic tasting menu of northern ingredients in a grand 19th-century townhouse.
Order The eight-course menu; dishes reread Finnish staples like liver, herring and root vegetables.
Finnjävel Salonki, in the Kunsthalle building, won a Michelin star in 2021 for refined, modern takes on traditional Finnish home cooking by its kitchen.
Order The signature Jason menu, or the Jason Plant Based menu for the vegetarian version.
Jason opened in 2024 as Jari Vesivalo's first solo room after years leading the starred Olo, folding Asian flavours into Nordic produce on Yrjönkatu.
Order The all-day breakfast, or a bowl of salmon soup from inside the historic hall.
Story sits inside the 1889 Old Market Hall on the harbour, serving breakfast, brunch and easygoing Finnish hall food with an international turn.
Order Whatever pasta is the daily special; the menu is short and changes often.
Goose Pastabar on Eerikinkatu became a cult fresh-pasta spot: dinner only, no reservations, a short handmade-pasta menu and a tight wine list.
Order A proper green or jungle curry, and som tam if it is on the board.
Boon Nam on Lönnrotinkatu cooks regional Thai with more heat and herb than the usual takeaway versions, a small room locals rate among the city's best.
Order A bistro classic from the French menu, ideally on the Esplanadi-facing terrace.
Café Savoy on the ground floor of the Esplanadi building brings Southern French bistro cooking to central Helsinki, below the fine-dining Savoy.
Order Hot chocolate with a Fazer pastry
Karl Fazer opened this French-Russian cafe and cake shop on Kluuvikatu in 1891, still the city's grand chocolate-and-cake room under a glass dome.
Order Coffee and cake among the bookshelves
Café Aalto sits on the upper floor of the Academic Bookstore, a 1969 Alvar Aalto building on the Esplanadi, looking down over the books and skylights.
Order Coffee with a Napoleon pastry
Ekberg has run on Bulevardi since 1852, the oldest cafe and bakery in Helsinki, where the patisserie counter keeps an old-world ritual alive.
On this list, shown aboveEkberg 1852
Paulig Kulma is a two-floor coffee house on Aleksanterinkatu with a micro-roastery roasting small batches on site and the Paulig Barista Institute upstairs.
Wine Bar Apotek fills the cabinets of a former pharmacy with organic family-grower wines, grower Champagnes and Burgundies, an award-winning list.
Muru Wine Bar sits around the corner from the bistro Muru, pouring a daily-changing glass list from a 750-bottle cellar, with charcuterie and plates.
Drink Seasonal cocktails with fresh and exotic ingredients
Liberty or Death on Erottajankatu is one of Helsinki's most ambitious cocktail bars, with a seasonal menu built on fresh and unusual ingredients.
Drink Agave-led cocktails
Chihuahua Julep on Erottajankatu drew international notice for its agave-leaning cocktails and a no-phone policy that keeps the room conversational.
Try Salmon soup (lohikeitto)
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.
Try Lihapiirakka (Finnish meat pie)
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 Fried vendace (muikku) and salmon
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 Sushi sets
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.
Bryggeri Helsinki opened in 2013 near the cathedral, brewing on-site in copper kettles you can watch and pairing its lagers and ales with a kitchen.
SalamaNation is Salama Brewing's central Helsinki bar in Kamppi, pouring 20 taps with the brewery's hop-forward IPAs and mixed-fermentation beers alongside.
The Old Market Hall by the South Harbour opened in 1889 as Helsinki's first indoor hall; stalls sell smoked fish, reindeer, cheeses and salmon soup.
The century-old Hietalahti Market Hall on the western waterfront is now a restaurant and cafe hall, counters cooking from Vietnamese to tapas at night.
Kauppatori, the open-air market on the South Harbour, is where herring boats tie up each October; summer stalls fry vendace and pile up Finnish berries.
Heather's Fork in Hand walk runs about five hours and 5 km, with nine tastings across central Helsinki including the Old Market Hall and a dedicated fish.
Happy Guide Helsinki's two-hour Finnish Food Walk starts at the Old Market Hall and threads through several specialist food shops, with tastings and guides.
The Taste Helsinki private walk covers the Market Square and Old Market Hall over about 3 km, tasting game like reindeer, half a lihapiirakka, a Karelian pie.
The byFood Helsinki tasting walk pairs a restaurant stop with a market hall, sampling cold-smoked reindeer, local sausages, fish and squeaky bread cheese.
Also on this listHappy Guide Helsinki
Held since 1743, the Baltic Herring Market brings around 40 fishers and producers to the Market Square each October to sell herring straight from the boats.
Finland's largest international beer festival takes over Rautatientori square for three late-June days, with a deep brewery line-up, side programme and food.
Team Kitchen on Eerikinkatu runs hands-on Finnish classes: a lunch session making Karelian pastries with egg-butter or cinnamon buns, plus an evening menu.
Helsinki Home Cooking, run by Pidot Productions on Abrahaminkatu, is a hands-on class building a rotating seasonal three-course Finnish menu around local.
The Helsinki Culinary Institute has run since 1994 on Aleksanterinkatu, teaching amateurs and professionals alike, with a calendar of publicly open classes.
Team Kitchen's evening Taste of Finland class cooks a three-course dinner of foamy funnel-chanterelle soup, reindeer with blueberry sauce and cloudberry soup.
Try Vegan sandwiches and bowls
Plants By Us in the central Forum mall does fully vegan sandwiches and quinoa bowls at lunch-counter prices, a fast plant-based fix in the shopping district.
Try Fried vendace and pea soup
In summer the Market Square stalls fry vendace and salmon and ladle pea soup for around 10 euros, an open-air harbour lunch as cheap as it is local.
Also on this listSoppakeittiöEromangaHanko Sushi
Order Eggs benedict and a flaky croissant from the in-house bakery
Brasserie Lionne on the Esplanadi, from the Bistro Bardot team, serves a French breakfast of silky eggs benedict and croissants from its own bakery.
Also on this listStory Old Market HallKarl Fazer Café
Try Pizza and beer
Putte's on Kalevankatu is one of Helsinki's classic pizza bars, pouring beer and sliding out pies until 1am on weekends, a reliable late slice in the centre.
