Month: October 2023

Vinkkeli

Timo NyyssönenLeave a comment
Helsinki, Finland

After my trip to Slovenia, we decided to celebrate the school autumn break with the family by going out for a dinner. We haven’t been to Vinkkeli (https://www.ravintolavinkkeli.fi/) before, but I’ve heard good things about it, so decided to give a shot. Vinkkeli got 5th place this year in the “Top 50 restaurants” in Finland (chosen by restaurant professionals).

Friendly waitress welcomed us in, took our jackets and showed us to our table. The place is rather small, but big mirrors on the walls give nice feeling of space. The room seemed to be a bit noisy though, so if you are looking for a nice quiet atmosphere, this might not be the place.

Besides à la carte, they offer the fixed price (60€) menu of four dishes. Matching wines roughly doubles the price. We were thinking to go with menu and after hearing what it contained, we didn’t have to think twice. Menu started with sea bass ceviche, accompanied with sweet potato, jalapeño mayo and pickled jalapeños. Really good start, maybe little bit more acid to the fish would have been to my taste.

Next dish suited perfectly the cold rainy weather, the pumpkin soup. The soup was quite rich and served with sautéed pieces of pumpkin and some pumpkin seeds. For main dish, the flask steak with béarnaise sauce and parsnip did not let us down either.

Next dish suited perfectly the cold rainy weather, the pumpkin soup. The soup was quite rich and served with sautéed pieces of pumpkin and some pumpkin seeds. For main dish, the flask steak with béarnaise sauce and parsnip did not let us down either.

Next dish suited perfectly the cold rainy weather, the pumpkin soup. The soup was quite rich and served with sautéed pieces of pumpkin and some pumpkin seeds. For main dish, the flask steak with béarnaise sauce and parsnip did not let us down either. Profiterole filled with white chocolate mousse and cloudberry sorbet was my kind of dessert.

Overall I think it was very nice experience, friendly staff, quite reasonable price (especially, if taking half wine package, which I think would have been enough for a week day…) and most importantly good tasting food from quality ingredients.

Figovec

Timo NyyssönenLeave a comment

Lubljana, Slovenia

I received a recommendation for Figovec (https://figovec.si/en/) from a tour guide few days before, if I want to taste “traditional Slovenian food with good quality and affordable prices”. That sounded good, so I headed here on rainy Sunday afternoon for late lunch. The place was packed so without a reservation a had to wait for a table for almost 30 minutes. They had few seats around the bar, so no problem waiting a while with a nice slovenian beer.

Everything on the menu sounded so good that I wanted to taste almost everything. Unfortunately I was having lunch by myself, so no chance of ordering multiple dishes to taste and share. I decided to go with beef tongue for starters. It was served with some onion and pumpkin seed oil, which slovenian consider local specialty and admit it’s not for everyone. For me, it hit the spot on this one and I really enjoyed the dish with some fresh bread served aside.

For the main dish I went beef cheeks. These slowly cooked cheeks melt in your mouth and the onion and plum served with the meat goes really well. Nice roasted potatoes to complete the meal.

For the dessert I could with anything else except a glass of local brandy. Prices were quite reasonable indeed. One beer, one glass of wine and all above cost me little bit over 30 euros.

JB Restavracija

Timo NyyssönenLeave a comment
Ljubljana, Slovenia

JB restaurant (https://jb-slo.com/) is located next to Ljubljana’s main railway station, next to a busy street. Location might not be the most attractive one when you consider all the beautiful places and the buildings this friendly city has to offer. But nevertheless, when you enter the restaurant, it is a different world inside.

I arrived 30 minutes early and had peek inside and to my surprise the place was completely empty. I was wondering what is going on, as it was fully booked for the evening. But when arriving at 8pm at our time of reservation, almost all the chairs were occupied already.

Amuse-bouche and cold starters were beautiful pieces of food, but left us wondering how careful there were with the tastes. Very basic seasoning and non of the ingredients were not very flavorful either. Nothing wrong with the taste and good food altogether, but not spectacular in any way. Putting together some tenderloin with foie gras does not make alone an excellent dish.

But with warm appetizers started the fireworks. Mushroom risotto with cep, chantarelle and trumpet mushrooms topped with cold smoked trout was an amazing start for warm dishes and it just got better and better. Most memorable dish being probably the famous “JB ravioli”.

Some of the dishes left us the feeling that he had taken the flavors of a traditional Slovenian dish and made it something new. So knowing a bit more about local cuisine might have helped to appreciate some of the dishes. This was the case especially with the dessert. Cold semolina porridge(?) raised some eyebrows.

Menu Janez with 10+ courses costs you 130€ and wine pairing of Slovenian wines is 75€ euros. We appreciated most of the wines. The sommelier deserves extra recognition, funny and friendly guy with amazing facial expressions. Janez also himself came to say hello to our table and told us he had been recently to Finland, visiting Helsinki and Rovaniemi. No wonder that one of the dishes had reindeer moss on top of it!