2_1_ScanMag_80_Sep-Oct_2015_Q9_Scan Magazine 1 15/09/2015 19:39 Page 102
Scan Magazine | Restaurant of the Month | Finland
Restaurant of the Month Finland:
The pearl of the esplanade Kappeli, in the centre of Helsinki, is one of the oldest and most charming restaurants in town. The lacey glass pavilion was the favourite of composer Jean Sibelius and many other important figures of Finnish history. This is a place to travel back in time while tasting modern Finnish food at its best. By Mia Halonen | Photos: Ravintola Kappeli
If you have ever taken a stroll around the centre of Helsinki, chances are you have seen Kappeli. Nestled in the Esplanade Park, the beautiful restaurant is ideally located right next to the Market Square, the old Market Hall, Helsinki City Hall and the Presidential Palace. Kappeli is one of the oldest restaurants in Helsinki – or, actually, a restaurant, a bar, a café and a cellar that can be reserved for private functions – but is by no means stuck in the past. In fact, nowadays it is one of the best places to get a taste of modern Finnish cuisine. “This is a great, historic setting, but we want to keep it casual,” says
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restaurant manager Santeri Uusitalo. “We serve tasty, unpretentious Finnish food. The menu changes with the seasons, so at lunch you can practically have the market place on your plate.” Finnish classics such as salmon and reindeer are staples on the menu. Living history The history of Kappeli goes almost 150 years back in time. In the mid-1800s Helsinki was still just a small town, the newly appointed capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland under the rule of the Russian Czar. In the middle
of the pasture that is now the Esplanade Park, there was a small kiosk serving milk and cakes. The kiosk was called Kappeli as a wordplay: the word for a shepherd in Latin also means a pastor, and naturally a pastor needs a chapel! In 1867 the wooden kiosk was replaced with a stylish new building. The new Kappeli quickly became the hotspot for young artists such as composer Jean Sibelius, painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela and poet Eino Leino. The restaurateur felt sympathetic towards the struggling artists so the bills were often paid in paintings. That is why there are still valuable pieces of art in Kappeli, including a mural in the kitchen. There are countless stories about these artists, many of which became the core of the Finnish national movement. Perhaps