Helsinki boasts many excellent restaurants where Russian and Scandinavian flavours mix with local ingredients including salmon, Baltic herring, reindeer and Arctic cloudberries. One city landmark is the Sea Horse (Kapteenikatu 11, 628 169), whose Finnish menu attracts loyal followers. For Lappland dishes, Lappi (Annankatu 22, 645 550, www.lappires.com) offers authentic reindeer tongue or snow grouse in kitsch surroundings. Havis (Eteläranta 16, 6869 5660) is a fashionable harbour-side seafood restaurant, while Mecca (Korkeavuorenkatu 34, 1345 6200) offers international cuisine. Both are popular new additions to Helsinki’s restaurant scene. Elite’s (Hesperiankatu 22, 434 2200) wonderful seafood and Kosmos’s (Kalevankatu 3, 647 255) classic Finnish dishes are well-established favourites with a bohemian clientele. Boisterous Zetor (Kaivopiha, Mannerheimintie 3-5, 666 966), meaning ‘tractor’, provides big portions of filling Finnish food.

The Finns are among the world’s biggest consumers of coffee and Helsinki’s cafés reflect this obsession. On Esplanadi, the terrace at Kappeli (Eteläesplanadi 1) is very popular in the summer and the nearby Esplanad (Pohjoisesplanadi 37) has its own bakery. The lively Café Engel (Aleksanterinkatu 26, 652 776) near the Lutheran Cathedral attracts a student crowd.

The Ateljee Bar at the Hotel Tourni (see below) offers great views over central Helsinki. Uudenmaankatu has several stylish bars such as Erottaja Bar (Erottajankatu 15-17, 611 196) and Bar 9 (Uudenmaankatu 9, 621 4059). Nearby, Eerikinkatu also has many of the most popular bars including Moskva (611 200), Corona Bar (642 002) – both at Eerikinkatu 11 – and Saunabar (Eerikinkatu 27, 586 5550), which combines a sauna and a bar (as only the Finns would).

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