Kämp Café

Description:

• The best part about this upscale and rather posh bistro involves its sense of humor and (dare we say it) realistic evaluation of its own clientele. In 2005, when the dining public did not come out in droves, it deliberately revamped its own image from ultraposh bastion into an upscale and elegant, but not stratospherically expensive, bistro -- the kind of place where you'll be comfortable and well fed but not intimidated. It occupies much of the street level of the historic core of Helsinki's most elegant and most historic hotel. Amid a decor inspired by the 19th-century style of the Russian Empire, it opens onto a view of an imperial-looking bar (the Kämp Club). You can always order from the bar menu in the Kämp Club, but since we found the tables here cramped and rather uncomfortable, we prefer the dining room. Here, very polite staff members will haul out, among others, a parfait of duck liver with port wine jelly, platters of fried pikeperch (zander) with whitefish roe sauce, grilled entrecôte of veal with diablo sauce, and a "pavlova" meringue with fresh raspberries.

• © Frommer's 2013

Awards:

Frommer's

•  Recommended 2010