3 Best Restaurants in Helsinki, Finland

Situated on the north side of the Esplanade amid stylish design boutiques, this popular café is a great place to sample a giant version of the korvapuusti, roughly translated as a "slap around the ear"—a sweet bun fresh from the oven and made all the more delicious by virtue of the cinnamon sprinkled between its folded layers. Mix-and-match salads, filled bread rolls, and other enormous confectioneries are on offer as well, eased down with some of Helsinki's best coffee or something stronger if required. It's a good option for evening snacks as well as lunch. 

Located on the shoreline of the newly developed Hernesaari residential district, Löyly is a brilliantly conceived sauna restaurant, housed in an angular and elegant wooden structure, a minor architectural wonder in itself. Customers have three separate options or can indulge in all three in a single visit: bathing in the spacious sauna with an invigorating sea dip; lunch or dinner in the restaurant; and a relaxing drink on the shoreside terrace. There's also a popular Saturday brunch menu in the winter. The à la carte dinner menu includes Finnish dishes such as pike perch and reindeer, while the lunch selection includes moose meatballs and salmon soup. Löyly (it's the name in Finnish for the steam released when water is tossed on the sauna stove) is especially popular with the younger, trendier set, as well as convenient for disembarking cruise-ship passengers, and has been included in Time's 'World's Greatest Places" list.  

Award-winning chef Eero Vottonen has steered Palace to Michelin-star status with a single, sumptuous seven-course menu that utilizes fresh Nordic ingredients, from duck and salted trout roe to Norwegian scallops and lobster. Offering magnificent view of the South Harbour, it's on the 10th floor of a former hotel. Very upmarket, and a venue for special and perhaps more formal occasions.