I hadn’t been to moko market for a while though I had heard that they changed the arrangement and there is more space for KaffaRoastery which is another cafe in the moko market just next to moko market cafe.
Today I saw new layout of the moko market and liked it a lot! Moko had been always a lovely place to see all lovely & cute interior decoration items and so on but now it looks more for matured people without losing the cuteness!
I don’t remember how they used to serve tea but, today, my ｄarjeeling tea was served in a pink pot which I liked a lot! It’s maybe a small thing but I felt super happy to see such a lovely pink pot <3 Usually, I drink coffee when I go to cafe but I think I will drink tea at moko (or I will go to moko for the pink tea pot 😉
I’m extremely happy about a lovely deli which opened recently in Punavuori! Ruoka-Kauppa “mat” is an absolutely LOVELY place to have breakfast, lunch or coffee with lovely pastry or pudding!
Look at these pastries and puddings! Though I didn’t eat them when I went there for lunch, (again my non-grain day!), from the looks, I am so sure they would taste super! (You know I have perfect instinct, eyes and nose when it comes to food!)
Even looking at them and now looking at the photos, I feel joyful 🙂
I don’t think there hasn’t been such a perfect deli (I call it deli for now, but am not sure about precise definition besides they call themselves ruoka-kauppa) in Helsinki before. This is REAL! (and reminds me of London and Paris. YOU KNOW what I mean!)
In addition to the fact lunch salad was nutritious and tasty, I liked the system that price depends on weight of food you take. For those who have smaller stomach than average, including myself, it’s very nice.
I try to have variety of vegetable everyday but it’s not easy to prepare it. But here, you can have it at reasonable price! I am so happy to have “mat” being less than 5-minute walk from my home.
A friend, who I had lunch with on the day, and I have a plan to enjoy one (or maybe a bit more) of these lovey puddings some time soon! We have something to celebrate and mat’s pudding is super appropriate for the occasion, in my opinion 😉
I love and am loyal to the area where I live, i.e. Punavuori, in Helsinki. And I love the fact that there are a lot of lovely cafe and restaurants in the area and I don’t really have to go far (more than 10 min walk 😉 ) to have great lunch, coffee and puddings 🙂 …well, I might be JUST lazy 😉
Five months ago, another lovely cafe was opened very close to my apartment (less than 5 min walk!) and I started to get familiar with the cafe and the staffs. They are friendly and sensible Chinese boys and girls. (Allow me to say so! You look super young and I think you are!!!)
So far, I tried, Match Latte, which impressed me with the lovely green color
The most beautiful Match Latte I have ever seen 🙂
And Cinnamon Latte, which they posted in the FB as perfect for today (typical Finnish November weather, I understood!) . I saw their post before heading to the cafe and thought it was an excellent idea to have cinnamon latte.
Not Cafe Latte but Cinnamon Latte
Different kinds of cake looked super yummy though I haven’t tried them yet since I have my own rule about eating sugar and flour… So, I just took pictures to enjoy it through lens.
What I like about Andante is that they have variety of warm drink (and smoothies and juice) and homey feel. I was a bit (actually, a lot!) annoyed by some family with kids speaking super loud for 15-20 min. while I was trying to work there today. But, usually, it’s quiet with good selection of music. WiFi works comfortably 🙂 They also have wide variety of tea selection and I would like to try them some time soon!
Weekend brunch sounded great according to friends who have had it before. Today, I asked them if they would serve breakfast on weekdays and they are thinking of it.
The cafe is combined with a florist’s, actually, the florist’s had been there for quite some time and cafe opened recently. Flowers and cafe, I love the combination!
So, I went there this evening. On the way, I was destructed by the shop which sells my favorite tea, Whittard of Chelsea (the very first time to see Whittard in Finland, yay!) and realized that the cafe I was supposed go to meet friends was just next door.
Chofé had nice coffee, French I guess, and lovely sweets. I noticed some cakes were baked by a pâtissier who I know. I asked the guy at the counter where the other sweets were from and got to know they were from Sven’s bakery which is also in my neighborhood. (I LOVE MY NEIGHBORHOOD, PUNAVUORI!)
I liked what I had, a cup of cappuccino and chocolate & almond tartelette 🙂 The chocolate was so so so yummy. After eating a piece, I was tempted to have one more though I managed to resist 😉
In addition to the coffee and the sweets, I really liked the atmosphere of the cafe. It was so relaxing. Friends and I felt at home and talked a lot trying out different sofas and chairs in the cafe. Among the chairs I tried, I loved the rocking chair which was made in Eastern Finland. Several days ago, I was thinking about my grand-ma’s rocking chair which I liked and wish had it at home now.
In the Facebook, I posted that I was at the cafe and a friend who lives in Austria and happened to be in Helsinki noticed it. And he came to see me! It was such a nice surprise : ) I enjoyed the evening at the lovely French cafe 🙂
If I remember correctly, it was July when we first planned to go to Olipa Kerran and booked a table for a Sunday morning. A friend sent me a link to a blog which wrote about the lovely brunch at the hotel which is located only 5 min walk from my home. The pictures looked irresistible. I immediately agreed with the brunch friends to go there. But that morning, I had a severe headache and couldn’t leave the bed. Sweets friends decided not to go there without me as they knew how much I had been looking forward to going there.
Some of us were away from the city during summer and we finally got there today! I had been excited about it for a couple of weeks since we booked a table (once again).
The interior decoration, especially colors, was super lovely. One of us said, “even on a cold and snowy day, if you came here, you would feel warm and happy.” And everyone agreed. There was atmosphere which makes us happy.
Of course, it wasn’t only decoration and atmosphere. Selection of food was one of the best I’ve ever had in Helsinki 🙂 Most importantly, they had lovely lovely LOVELY pancakes with maple syrup! (I admit that pancake was one of the most decisive reason why I so wanted to go there 😉 I am crazy for pancakes as much as I wonder if I would choose pancakes or sushi as my last supper 😉 and as much as I eat it everyday when I visit Honolulu, Hawaii or any other cities in the US 😉 Though there are salad, cheese and other salty dishes, I started my brunch with the lovely pancakes.
I also loved berry smoothies in tiny glasses. It is very sensible to serve it in a small portion as we could try more variety of dishes when each portion is small 🙂 Bacon, cheese, salad, etc. etc. were also very good. All of us overate with overwhelming joy. (I don’t think I am exaggerating!) It was a perfect Sunday brunch with great friends.
“Olipa Kerran” means “once upon a time” in Finnish. Theme of the decoration is something old. There were some old items in the restaurant.
It was last Sunday when I visited Porvoo. I have to say it again, it was “SUNDAY”. Though I wanted to have sweets and coffee at my favorite Cafe Gabriole, they were closed on Sundays. And it was about 4 pm when we tried to have a coffee break after walking a few hours taking photos of beautiful “ruska” (colored leaves in Finnish) and started feeling tired and cold. Most cafes which were open on Sundays close at 4 pm there. My other favorite Porvoo Roastery which is well known for their freshly roasted coffee was, of course, open for their generous opening hours, even on Sundays 10-23 o’clock. But I wanted to have good Finnish pulla.
It took some time for us to find the one but we were delighted to find “Helmi” was still open until 5 pm. It looked like a good old cafe and we were excited once we opened the door and saw the coffee room. It was lovely lovely cafe with antique (Russian, I think) decoration. (Now I read about the cafe in their web page and it has been there since 1983). They didn’t have pulla but I didn’t mind anymore 😉 Cakes look super. They had only coffee and black tea but no herbal tea which I wanted to have. But it didn’t bother me that much. Cakes look lovely! It was easy for me to make a choice. Cheesecake was the most attractive 😉
So, I had lovely cheesecake with tea and enjoyed lovely atmosphere of the cafe 🙂 (I don’t think the cheesecake was one of the best I have ever eaten but the time we spent there was lovely and peaceful, indeed!)
In addition to Gabriole and Helmi, I am sure there are more and more lovely cafes in old Provoo though it is really small town. I’m looking forward to my next visit to Porovoo. I have no plan at the moment, but you never know. I hadn’t known that I would go to Porovoo until noon on the day when I joined a friend for it 🙂
Just in case you don’t know where Porvoo is… It is about 1 hour bus ride from Helsinki (for me).
I had known about the shop but hadn’t known that they were serving such lovely lunch. When we were talking about going for lunch, I remembered that the friend had mentioned she had been to eat Vietnamese rolls before. So, I said I would like to try it and we went to Rulla today. Their food was fresh and healthy. I liked that we could eat a lot of vegetable, beans and nuts.
At 9.30€, we could choose three different Vietnamese rolls and salad. There were two different kinds of salad you could choose. Both of us chose sweet potato salad. (I chose it as I like it and it is one of the super foods :)) My choices of Vietnamese rolls were salmon+avocado, duck, and spicy shrimp+mango. As soon as we ordered, we said we wouldn’t be able to finish the dishes. Salad was plenty and spring rolls were not that small.
We didn’t find knives and we concluded we had to eat rolls with fingers. I actually had tried to use two folks to cut the rolls in edible size at first but it didn’t work.The filling came out from the wrap and it didn’t stay as a roll. (would have been the same if I used knife!). Also the wet wipe convinced us it is finger food 🙂
ちなみにこの春巻きはフィンガーフード。手で食べるようにお手拭もついてくる。
Rulla is small part of an organic shop which not only sells lovely organic cosmetics but also nicely designed clothes and the other cool stuff. We looked at the stuff after having lunch, of course 🙂
I love cupcakes as much as I I said, “I love cupcakes as much as I believe it has magic to make girls happy;-),” in the post, the cute cupcake shop at Antwerp , which I wrote last summer. And they again made me happy today 🙂
Last week, I noticed the sign, “Cupcakes are ->” !!! on the street that I walk everyday. How exciting!!! I had been looking forward to tasting cupcakes at the new cafe on Fredrikinkatu, 3-minute walk from my flat. (have to say, again, I love my neighborhood!). Today, I had a chance to visit BrkLyn Bakery 🙂
先週、毎日歩く近所の通りに “Cupcakes are ->”（カップケーキはこちら）の看板を見たときの盛り上がりたるや・・・さっそく今日は一仕事終えたご褒美に BrkLyn Bakeryでカップケーキをいただいてみた。
Red Velvet Cupcake
and, loved the Red Velvet Cupcake . I also tasted chocolate & nutella (OMG, nutella!!! I know many friends who are crazy for it ;-)) cupcake (picture on the top) a friend had and ti was also yummy!
Blue sky and sunshine! Weather was gorgeous today in Helsinki. I decided to walk to the restaurant where I planned to have lunch with a friend who told me the restaurant seems to have nice bread. (we love bread!!!) When I went out, I realized it wasn’t such a good idea to walk there. It was cold with strong wind. When I opened the door of Qulma, however, I thought it was a great idea to come there welcomed by the super-friendly owner 🙂
As I felt very cold after walking in the cold weather, I chose soup buffet without the second thought. Especially borsch was appealing originated from the other cold country, Russia and I started with a bowl of borsch out of three different kinds of soup at the buffet.
I tried the other two different soup, mushroom soup and vegetable soup. Both of them were nice but I so loved the borsch and had another bowl at the end! Four bowls of soup! Even though size of a bowl was small, it was much more than I usually eat. (I have such small tummy! and you would agree with me if you had dined with me 🙂 ) I was really full but I couldn’t help trying over my limit 😉
When we talked with the owner, he told us how passionate he was about food and I could see his passion manifesting through their food and how the restaurant serves the customers. Recently, I feel importance of doing what one is passionate about more and more. It was absolute joy to witness sincere passion at such a lovely restaurant 🙂
Turkish yogurt with sweet mint pesto, fried cinnamon & sugar seeds and chili apricot is one of the outcomes of his culinary exploration. Marc, the owner, told us he tried a lot to find perfect taste in the mint pesto and indeed it was yummy! Not only the pesto but also all of them tasted great! (He also told us the pesto goes with many other food, such as berries!)
Linux Master, Linus Torvalds visited Qulma! リナックスのあの人も訪れた！
Qulma seems to have a lot of fans and I am one of the newest fans 🙂 Many celebrities have enjoyed their joyful food. You would find pictures of them on the wall if you visited Qulma. Marc told us those pictures are also his passion : ) Also you find some of them in their Facebook page.(I l already “like”d the page :))
Qulma also serves breakfast on weekend and brunch on Saturdays. I, of course, as a brunch lover, would love to have brunch there. Who is coming with me? 😉
World map on the wall reminded me of the Age of Exploration
I pass in front of this shop almost everyday and wanted to go there for tea. But I hadn’t visited there till this evening. Entering the tea house, The Ounce, I saw (maybe) one of the best collection of tea in Helsinki. Passing in front of the shelves of tea jars, I found a small tea room with three tables (one of them was really small table with a sofa.)
ほとんど毎日前を通るそのお茶専門店 The Ounce、相当長いこと一度入ってみようと思っていたのだが、なんだかなかなか機会がなかった。お店に入るとヘルシンキではヘルシンキでも１，２を争うのではないかと思われるお茶の品揃え。所狭しと棚に並ぶお茶のジャー。その棚の前を通り過ぎて奥に進むと３つしかテーブルのないとても小さなティールームがあるのだった。
After taking off the coat, I went back to the counter in front of the shelves to choose tea. I consulted the person at the counter and chose the one which goes well with milk. They gave me two choices, Assam and something else.. I forgot what it was but chose the one which wasn’t Assam as I often chose Assam when I drink tea and wanted to try something else. In the very very cozy tea room, tea was served nicely 🙂
It tasted very nice, neither too strong nor too weak. It went well with milk, of course 🙂
濃すぎず薄すぎずちょうどいい具合の紅茶。ミルクともとてもうまくあっていた。
I liked the early Tuesday evening I spent having lovely tea and a biscuit at The Ounce.Their tea and the small tea room with warm atmosphere made me feel relaxed and calm.
They serve not only black tea but also all different kinds of tea from different part of the world. If you are a serious tea lover (or you like tea, anyways 😉 , I recommend you to check out The Ounce,
The Ounceは紅茶だけでなく世界各国から輸入されたいろんな種類のお茶を扱う専門店。お茶を極めたい人・・・とまでいかなくても、お茶好きの人にはお薦めのお店。
The Best Cafes and Restaurants in Helsinki & everywhere I travel to
