Helsinki’s indoor market halls and open-air markets serve customers all year round and are the best places to find the very best Finnish foods. In summertime the big markets are filled with stalls selling seasonal berries and vegetables, followed by mushrooms, apples, jams and preserves as autumn approaches. In addition to all these great foods, you can also purchase unique tableware and kitchen textiles by young Finnish and international designers at any one of the numerous kitchen and interior design boutiques.
Cup of coffee or pot of tea?
Helsinki has been swept by a coffee craze that has seen many small roasteries open up shop – just follow your nose and the scent of fresh coffee as it wafts around the city centre and local neighbourhoods. You can sniff around for coffee gifts at the Kaffa Roastery in the Punavuori, the Helsinki Coffee Roastery’s Coffee Bar in Vallila and Teurastamo, at Johan & Nyström’s redbrick boutique in Katajanokka, at Kaffecentralen in both Kamppi and Lauttasaari. They all offer nicely packaged coffees, including seasonal and special holiday blends, that are also sold at many food shops in the city centre. TeeMaa in turn specialises is craft tea.
Pack some bread in your backpack
Hand-baked Finnish bread and pastries are great gifts that are also easy to bring home with you. Helsinki has many small bakeries that have operated for decades and that all have their own specialties: Eromanga is famous for its meat pies, Patisserie Teemu Aura for its rustic breads, and Väyrysen Leipomo for its seed breads and potato flatbread. Try also the mouthwatering local pastries, such as the apple pies at Kannisto and the huge cinnamon buns at Café Esplanad. There are numerous bakery outlets in and around the city centre, and you can also find a wide selection of local breads and pastries at the indoor market halls.
Chocolate indulgences
Goodio chocolate bars are handmade and have lovely colourful wrappers. Choose from around ten different varieties, including oat chocolate ChocOat. The blueberries, buckthorn, mint and cranberries all come from the Finnish nature. You can purchase Goodio chocolates in many supermarkets and kiosks and in Ruohonjuuri shop.
Quench your thirst
After a break of a hundred years or more, Helsinki is once again home to numerous craft brewers and even a local distillery. Bryggeri Helsinki and Stadin Panimo have their own bars and tasting menus. Ohrana also serves ciders and non-alcoholic beers. The Helsinki Distilling Company has an award-winning selection of drinks flavoured with ingredients from the Finnish nature, such as buckthorn and lingonberries. The distillery is located at the Culinary and Urban Culture Centre Teurastamo, where you can enjoy a tour or a complete meal at the Tislaamo-Distillery restaurant. You can also purchase local drinks as gifts from Finland’s smallest Alko outlet, which you will find inside the Old Market Hall, or from the Pien juomakauppa outlet on Ateneuminkuja in the city centre.
Buy the book
Several books have been published in recent years describing Helsinki’s food scene and local recipes. For example, you can read about wild food, local restaurants and the biggest names in the food scene. Helsinki Food Book (2016) presents a nice selection of restaurants and seasonal recipes. Helsinki - People Make the City (2016) visits local bars, cafés and restaurants, interviews food people, and reveals where you can find the best oat porridge in town. Helsinki Streets of Food (2014) presents the best street food vendors and chefs throughout the city, while Leon Magazine explores the local food scene and the people behind it. There is also a stack of cookbooks by local food journalists and chefs, including the Wild Herb Cookbook (2012) by Sami Tallberg, Porridge (2017) by Anni Kravi, and Sandro Cookbook (2015) by Richard McCormick. You can find these and more at local bookstores, such as Nide or the Academic Bookstore.
Kitchen supplies
Helsinki’s Design District is home to several kitchen supply and interior design shops that offer great gift ideas for anyone interested in cooking. Lokal on Annankatu is a real treasure-trove for fans of Finnish design that sells handmade utensils and also has exhibitions. Common on Pursimiehenkatu has a beautiful selection of Japanese rice bowls and teapots, for example, and it also stocks the Apartamento interior design magazine. Moko has a great selection of cookbooks, tableware, kitchen utensils, posters and candles. Marimekko is a Finnish design classic that sells colourful kitchen and interior textiles and tableware. Iittala is another Finnish brand icon whose unique products and art glass can be found in its flagship store on the Esplanade.