Food & drink

Restaurants Otaniemi campus, Espoo, and Helsinki city center

Most of the restaurants below have a website with a menu. See the annotated campus map for locations of the restaurants near campus.

Key:
€: under $10
€€: $10 – $20
€€€: $20 – $30
€€€€: over $30
[#nn] : location on the campus map

Coffee/Beer

Food

  • Ranta (€€€)[#56] – “Ranta is a restaurant where you can relax, eat and drink casually.”
  • Fat Lizard (€€€-€€€€)[next to #34] “get ready to loosen your belt”

Restaurants in Espoo

Outside Otaniemi campus Espoo has restaurants mainly by shopping centers.  You can take the metro from Aalto University station to Tapiola center (the next station) or walk there some 1,5 kilometres, and find a number of places at the Ainoa shopping center and around it.  Or you take the metro to Matinkylä station (some 7 minutes from Otaniemi with metro), and in the Iso Omena shopping center there are multiple restaurants of many different kinds (do not stay at the bus station level but take stairs up one more level and proceed to M.E.E.T area).

Restaurants in Helsinki city centre

Here are some nice restaurants in Helsinki that are worth a look. You can reach Helsinki easily by Metro that takes around 11 minutes. Most of these restaurants are in the €€ to €€€€ range.

  • Bruuveri (€€) is a Gastro-Pub and Brewery-restaurant in Kamppi, near Hostel Domus Academica. (Archie’s Favourite)
    Fredrikinkatu 63AB, 00100 Helsinki
    +358 9 685 66 88
    info@bruuveri.fi
  • Bryggeri (€€€-€€€€) Brewery-restaurant on Sofiankatu near Helsinki Senate Square. Bryggeri’s finest beers condition in full view of visitors, ready to be enjoyed with something delicious from the kitchen.
    Sofiankatu 2, 00170 Helsinki
    Tel: +358 10 2352500
  • Juttutupa (€€-€€€) is within easy walking distance of the nearby Cumulus City Hakaniemi. Rustic venue with a pub menu.
    Säästöpankinranta 6, 00530 Helsinki
    Tel: +358 20 7424 240
    juttutupa@graniittiravintolat.fi
  • Santa Fé’s, Grande Grill’s, and Morrison‘s summer terrace (€€-€€€)
    Three restaurants’ joint summer terrace, where you can enjoy tasty food and drinks. Santa Fe’s decked court yard terrace is like a small Mexican village in the middle of Helsinki city center. The terrace menu includes three restaurants’ foods, e.g. tex-mex, nachos, ribs, burgers, pizzas, pastas, steaks, salads and chicken. Drink list includes Spanish and South American wines and foreign beers. The fresh Margaritas have earned their place as the best in the city! They have room for 240 customers.
    Aleksanterinkatu 15, 00100 Helsinki
    +358 (0) 50 3028185
  • Virgin Oil Co. (€€€) is an American-Italian restaurant at the heart of Helsinki. At the lobby bar you can taste wines and other drinks and relax. During the summer you can enjoy food and drinks also at their terrace and watch the bustling of the main street Mannerheimintie. The restaurant is suitable also for bigger groups, yet table reservation is recommended in order to eat. (Archie’s Favourite).
    Mannerheimintie 5, 00100 Helsinki
    +358 10 76 64000

    • Hint! Instead of taking “hop on hop off” bus, you can have a 45 minute sightseeing by taking Virgin Oil’s SpåraKoff (a restaurant in a tram). The tram departs from Mikonkatu (in front of Fennia house and Casino Helsinki) Mon-Sat every even hour between 2 pm and 8 pm (but not 4 pm due to a break). Route (changes possible): Mikonkatu-Hakaniemi-Kallio-Linnanmäki-Mannerheimintie-Aleksanterikatu-Market Square-Kruunuhaka-Mikonkatu. Prices: Adults 12,00€ and children 5,00€.
  • Savotta (€€€€-€€€€€) is a Finnish restaurant which offers genuine Finnish food and atmosphere, just off the Senate Square in the heart of Helsinki. “The name Savotta means a logging site. Therefore the interior decoration and dishes has got inspiration of the Finnish forests and thousands of lakes, with a dash of Finnish nostalgy from the past decades and logging traditions. Savotta’s kitchen cherishes the Finnish food tradition. We use only Finnish ingredients from the pristine forests and lakes and from carefully selected small suppliers.” (Aleksanterinkatu 22, tel. +358 9 7425 5588)
  • Konstan Möljä (€€) is a small cosy restaurant with interior from finnish history.  Traditional simple food. Take the buffet type dinner. (Hietalahdenkatu 14, tel. +358 9 694 75 04)
  • Aino (€€€-€€€€) “has been a proud advocate for traditional Finnish food. It has turned out to be a great success with foreigners in search of authentic Finnish dining experiences, as well as Finns reacquainting themselves with some old favorites.” (Pohjoisesplanadi 21, tel. +358 9 624 327)
  • Saaga  (€€€-€€€€) –  “A meal at the Lappish Restaurant Saaga is an enjoyable combination of tastes, tales and sensations. At Saaga you will find a slice of the rugged and beautiful nature as well as regional dishes and an atmosphere full of the exotic charm of the North. We bring the enchantment of Lapland to our guests in our service, interior decor and table settings, as well is in our food.” (Bulevardi 36, tel.+358 9 7425 5544)i
  • Saari (€€€-€€€€) is a Finnish restaurant where “the mastery of traditional cooking meets modern sensibilities. The season’s favourite delicacies have been spruced up and are ready to be enjoyed out on the sunny terrace, in the nautical dining hall or on the Belvedere Balcony.” (Sirpalesaari island, tel. +358 9 7425 5566)

Russian food

  • Saslik (€€€€-€€€€€)

o   “Saslik’s à la carte menu includes classics of the Russian cuisine as well as the most favourite dishes of the House. Restaurant is also world famous for its exotic bear dishes and blinis, which are served the year round. Russian specialities can also be found on restaurant’s drink list.” (Neitsytpolku 12, tel. +358 9 7425 5500)

o   Russian food in a  traditional environment: “possibly also the world’s oldest Russian restaurant operating outside of Russia.” (Rahapajankatu 3, tel: +358 9 179560)

Asian food

  • Central Helsinki has many Chinese, Thai, Indian and Nepalese restaurants.  Just google “xxx restaurant Helsinki”.