A week or so ago I decided I needed a beer and some spicy sticky wings and what better place than Speakeasy. So I took my brother along (for the 2 for 1 offer) and set off, half drooling, to Finlayson. When we got there I was devastated, Speakeasy had changed their opening hours. So, my 2 for 1 offer was no longer valid and worse the prohibition themed treasure trove for wings was CLOSED.

Now not only hungry but also very very down we set about looking for another restaurant. Since it was only a few days since we had dined at the American Diner (really great burgers) we decided to try out Bugsy. Bugsy is another kind of 'theme' restaurant serving early 1900 Italian-American themed dishes.

We decided to have some appetisers because we were so hungry. My brother opted for the Onion Rings ”Siciliano” 6,20e which he enjoyed. I on the other hand asked for the Lime Carpaccio 8,90e but was told that they did not have that, so I settled for the Bruschetta Escargots 9.50e. The bruschetta was deliciously crunchy and there was huge lovely chunks of Gorgonzola cheese with the escargots. So, not such a big loss.

As you might have guessed, I love ribs and if available I always choose them. Unfortunately for my brother and me, they didn't have any. (This was already the second time that the menu had items that the restaurant did not have). Now, choosing the main course was more difficult as I don't usually trust Finnish restaurants to leave my steaks yummy and raw, pasta is something I can easily make at home and I had just had a 'gourmet' burger. What finally made me decide to have a steak was when I read that it would be prime Angus steak meat. You can't beat that.

In the end I had the Bugsy´s Beefsteak 200 g 16.70e and my brother had the Filetto di Manzo Gorgonzola 200 g 19,80e. The steak was a positive surprise. Succulent and cooked to perfection. The sides on the other hand were not so good. The potatoes weren't crispy and the vegetables were somewhat bland in taste.

Verdict: Although most of the food was good I would have expected more from a lunch costing over 60e (almost 80$). It was also dissapointing how they didn't have two of the things we would have ordered. So, I don't think we will go there again. Sorry!

AFTERGLOW OF SUNDAY

Muah. Today I finally got the Martha Stewart book I ordered. Hmm... yeah laugh all you want. Anyway it got me cleaning. And so far I've cleaned the toilet cabinet.

Yesterday I took Sam out for lunch at Amarillo because he's been nagging me about that place for so long. It's kind of a strange place because I'm not sure if it's a nightclub, bar or restaurant. It turned out to be all of the above. We ended up going Sunday afternoon when everyone is recovering from the night before (like this boy on the bus who was calling his friend telling him how he's still drunk). So, needless to stay a nightclubbarrestaurant complex is not so impressive at this time of week or day. Other than a few lost looking toursits, some other couples and a group of middle aged drunk men at the bar, the place was pretty empty.

Amarillo is a tex-mex restaurant, probably why I haven't gone before. You see I have a rule that if I want tex mex I'll go to Taco House simply because it is cheap and good and I don't think tex-mex and sit down 'fancy' dinner exactly go together. Nonetheless promise of an XXXL Burger (over 300g of beef) 13,90e and a 500g rack of Rockefeller Ribs 17,90e got me convinced.

The food was kind of a dissapointment. Sam's burger looked more like an L Burger, but he seemed to enjoy it. The ribs were big but so so so dissapointingly dry! I like my ribs juicy and a little sweet, these ribs were really dry and a little burnt, such a shame. The Fajita Magic fries were really salty even for me.

Verdict: The food was a bit of a dissapointment, even with the price. The ribs were 1e more than at Salud but the difference in taste was so much more. Plus we should have ordered something other than water because the small glass (with no refill) cost 2e (and those fries were so salty)! At least those drunk guys provided interesting lunch entertainment.

MURPHY'S LAW
(10.10.06)

What made me have lunch at Sevilla today is somehow related to a frustrated failure of a piglike cow farmer.

In short, on Sunday evening we played a some floorball (Sam's family and some of their friends). Anyway there is this strange guy that uses our fields... and already previously when I had played he was very agressive and grabbed my breast. Now, this time he did the same not to mention other un-gentlemanly things. Now imagine this, a grown man tallentlessly brandising a hockey stick like some lunatic, grabbing the breasts of a 20 year old girl and causing destruction in every other possible manner. Then he has the audacity to yell at me for playing rough when I slammed into him. Now, lets make this clear, even if I was a guy and I slammed into him after the treatment he'd given everyone it would have been all right... but the fact that he is a grown man and twice my weight(!!!) completely f-ing absurd that he should yell at me for playing it rough. And then his pig like inbred sons had the nerve to follow their fathers lead and continued the insulting. Honestly.

Anyway needless to say my legs are covered in bruises and swollen. Especially my left knee has a stining pain from the burn I got when I was tripped up. And it stings... it hurts so much even now, and, last night it stung so bad after I put disinfectant on it that I could sleep and I cried for an hour. So, today when I finished my first class I was really hungry, but the school cafeteria was so crouded and I was too tired to stand... Sevilla was as far as I could walk from the University.

OK, so I might have been hungry, in pain and generally pissed off, but Sevilla did kind of suck today. Complaint numero uno: only 3 options on the lunch menu, none of which seemed too appealing on top of which the price was quite high. I ordered the grilled salmon with herbs 9,50e. Complaint numero dos: after waiting for some time I was brought the wrong meal (and I'm glad in a way that it was the wrong meal because it looked and smelt like one of those saussage casserole things my auntie makes... not a good thing). Final complaint: when the food finally came it was only alright... the kind of food you would expect at the university... and mind you those meals only cost 2,35e.

Verdict: Lunch at Sevilla sucks. Positive point was that the waitress was kind and very efficient. But still, I will avoid Sevilla at lunch time FOREVER.

(05.10.06)

Another brother sister event at Maruseki. I had some sushi 6e and the calamari 7e and of course rice and water. The thing is I was dissapointed this time in the calmari because it wasn't a nice big one this time, instead there were a few small ones and the taste wasn't the same. Slightly dissapointing. Yet, the food was still delicious as always. My brother had his usual, sushi, rice and tonkatsu (fried pork). I'd like to take my fiance out here next time because he's never had sushi.

Verdict: Good stuff as usual. Although the new calmari was a bit of a dissapointment. Hopefully the big good calmari will be available again soon! :)

(03.10.06)
So. I got hungry and had lunch at the Chinese restaurant at Tullintori Ly's Garden. They have a buffet lunch which is 7,90e. It usually consists of soup, rice, fried rice, spring rolls and other typical Finlandized Chinese food. Not exactly what I would call 'Chinese' food but heck it was the closest best value for money place at the time. And don't get me wrong. The food is tasty and you can really stuff yourself. Oh and I especially like the tea that comes with lunch.

Today was Tampere day so the shops were open. Stella was playing at Stockmann and I wanted to go see because they have some nice songs. I like the lady's voice, very interesting. Also it was a nice set, they were good live.

Then Sam 'n' me met up with Tom and we went to have lunch at New York. New York is a fairly new restaurant in Tampere and I've been wanting to go for quite some time. Sam had a De Lux Burger 12,90e which was pretty good looking, my brother had a large New York Garlic Steak 19,50e and I had the Harlem Suffle 20,50e.

My brother enjoyed his steak, although he did have some food envy towards Sam's burger. The dips that I got with my portion were especially good. I've never really had pesto, but damn the pesto sauce was good! The hot wings were really spicy, even for me. The grilled chicken breast was good especially when dipped into the pesto sauce. The spring rolls and the shrimp torpedos had the same sort of problem, too much batter so the taste of the good stuff was hidden.

For drinks we had a bottle of champagne 9,90e (originally around 25e), my brother also had a White Russian (around 5-6e) and I had a Tropical Mango Margarita 5,52e.

Verdict: Really fun atmosphere and nice decor. I think we scared the waitresses but oh well. The food was good and there is something on the list for every price range (snacks go for 2e). The drinks were good but kind of expensive, especially the cocktails.

Well, how ironic. The day I write about working at Hella & Huone I get told that I don't work there anymore because the place is possibly being sold. What a bummer.

So, to 'celebrate' losing a job we went for a 2 for 1 birthday pizza offer at Hervanta's Bella Roma. Feeling a little let down I was being a little bitchy so, the place gets some minuses. First problem, the toilet hand towel machine didn't work, so I had to dry my hands with toilet paper. Secondly there was a lot of shit on the floor.

So, enough with the bitching. The service was nice and quick. The salad table, what you would expect. I had a pizza Marinara 9,20e (shrimp, tuna, mussels and of course garlic) and my fiancée had a Piazza del Vaticano 9,20e (ham, mushrooms, pineapple and blue cheese). The pizza was good and the size maneagable. I have this pizza fear. I'm not such a big fan of pizza and on top of that I find most pizzas too big and worst of all I feel absolutely awful leaving any on my plate. But these pizzas, were good.

Verdict: Pizza isn't really my cup of tea, but this pizza was alright. The atmosphere was a normal pizzeria style i.e. quite informal.

THE RAKAS RUOKA MISSION STATEMENT

There are numerous restaurants in Tampere and the surrounding areas. Now, according to someone the average Finn goes out to dinner only a few times per year. So, my question is who eats at these restaurants? I mean someone ought to go and support the Finnish restaurant economy and that sounds like a job for... me (see that there, I was trying to come up with a kick ass superhero name). Also someone's got to find out where the good food is at.

So, my aim is to try out every restaurant in Tampere... well except for one. I don't think I can ever go to Hella & Huone. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not that the restaurant is bad, quite contrary, I highly recomend it. Good food, EXELLENT staff (especially the bumbling student waitress), nice atmosphere... hmm... did I mention EXELLENT staff? Ok ok. So the reason I can't ever dine at Hella & Huone is because I already spend about 10h a week there. Did I mention that the staff rules? OK ok... so I might be a little biased because I work there... but that's a minor detail. No, but really, honestly the food is top class gourmet. Everything is 110% French (aside from the Madeira) even the washing up liquid used to wash the dishes, trust me, I know.

I made Friday brunch today. I don't have class on fridays and work only starts at 19.00. So, I thought for once I would eat something in the morning. After evaluating the bits and peices of food in my fridge (discarding all the rotting things) I decided to make eggs (mainly because they go off today).

I have this small 'herb garden' with basil, coriander (cilantro), mint, lettuce and parsley. So I seasoned the eggs sunny side up with bacon bits, basil, parsley and coriander. Quite a strange combination but I enjoy it. After eating two eggs like this I was still a little bit hungry so I had a bowl of Coco Pops... mmm...

OK, this post has nothing to do with food, however I have to share this attrocity. It's September 28th and there are exactly 87 days till Christmas, am I correct? Now, today I was in town and I saw this happy display...

Now really, WHAT THE HELL???

My brother bought a computer on Monday and it has been trouble from the get go. We've been at the store everyday sorting things out now and the problem seems to be getting worse. Upside for me is that I get an excuse to have lunch in town. Today I decided we have to try what they say is the restaurant bar with Tampere's BIGGEST sandwiches, 2h + k.

My brother was really hungry so he decided to have one of the sandwiches made specially by the restaurant. He doesn't like zuchini so he decided to have the salami toast instead of the chicken 9,20e. I wasn't so hungry so I had the king prawns apetizer 9,60e.

While we were waiting my brother was the whole time on the phone trying to fix the computer issue so I had to entertain myself, which proved to be very easy. By the door (next to a wide selection of cigars) is a table filled with the latest news papers and magazines for every taste. Also I noted that they have catered for those who want to engage in the Finish pub passtime, board games (trivial pursuit, kimble etc...)

When the food arrived I swear my brother's jaw dropped at the actual size of the toast. It really was the biggest toast I've ever seen. My apetiser came with the 6 king prawns still sizzling in a mini pan, some house bread and aioli. At first I felt the same food envy that my brother felt at Salud a couple of weeks ago. I thought that maybe the 6 prawns and bread wouldn't fill me up, but I was wrong. The smell of the food was really good especially as I love the smell of cooked garlic. The bread was supple and tasted fresh. Dipping the bread into the sizzling butter sauce in the pan was good. The garlic and chili combination of the butter sauce was nice as was the aioli. The prawns were so plump, but slightly over cooked to my liking. Even though I was quite full at the end I still would have wished for more prawns, but as an apetizer it was a good size.

Verdict: Good food, good service, good selection of entertainment and honestly the big toasts are trully worth seeing!

(23.09.2006)

Another brother sister lunch, this time at Manhattan Steakhouse. Now, Manhattan Steakhouse at Koskikeskus brings back very fond memories of my first year in Tampere. I used to take dance classes almost 6 times a week at Hip Hop House so between classes I used to spend my time eating at the Steakhouse. The Steakhouse has daily specials and you can get a good steak for less than 10e.

So, I had one of these specials a Florida pork steak 6,90e and a big glass of cola 2,10e. You can choose what kind of potatoes you would like your steak with from 6 different options. I always have the fries because they are deliciously crispy (and according to my brother very oily). The steak also comes with pre-made salad (which NO ONE touches). The steaks are all pretty much the same, for example my 'Florida pork' was your standard pork cutlet with some canned fruit salad mix on top of it. Still the taste of the pork is good and the price isn't bad.

Verdict: Don't expect anything too fancy, still good value for money. Two things to remember 1. the offer of the day is always worth checking out, 2. don't eat the salad!

(17.09.2006)
Only three days pass and I'm back at Salud. This time with my boyfriend and my brother. We all ordered the ribs 16,90e. My brother had some San Miguel and we all had a jug of Sangria. The Sangria was much better at Salud than in Sevilla. Somehow it was much softer and the array of fruit in the mix was better.

Verdict: Once again Salud offered a delicious meal and good Sangria.

(14.09.2006)
I had lunch with my parents at Maruseki. This time I ordered 2 salmon nigri sushi 1,50e and cooked kalamari and rice 6,00e. My parents opted for the lunch menu. My mother who is a vegetarian had the vegetarian lunch and my dad the sushi lunch 7,00e (lunch comes with salad and miso soup). The sushi was good like last time. The kalamari was exellent! It was cooked so perfectly, nothing like those horrible calamari rings we used to have at school. But, it was the sauce that really touched my heart. It was some what comparable to the yakitori sauce, really really good.

Verdict: Once again an awsome memorable meal.

(13.09.2006)

My parents were in town so it was absolutely nessecary for them to take my brother and me to a restaurant. We'd planned to go to Maruseki but unfortunately they clossed early (18.00) so we had to opt for something else. A while a go me and my mum checked this Spanish restaurant out called Bodega Salud (another one of Tampere's legends) and I fell in love with the complimentary salad buffet.

I love ribs. I love the intimacy you get while eating ribs. Ribs force you to engage with your food. Ribs demand to be eaten with your hands. So, who cares if I'm an adult, who cares if I'm in a restaurant that is part of the Chaîne de Rôtisseurs, if I'm ordering ribs I have to eat them using my hands, call me what you want, but it's the only way. I've had the Salud pork ribs 16,80e before and I can honestly say that they are the best ribs I have ever tasted. They are succulent with just the right amount of sweetness in the sauce and Salud portions are big but the rib plate is huge! I remember my brother was really hungry and he ordered one of the steaks. When the waitress brought our dishes I swear he almost burst into tears when he saw how big mine was and how small his steak was (in comparrison to my dish of course). But at the end of the night he was totally full from the steak. Anyway, back to the ribs. They are served with "curly potatoes", which are actually Salud special french fries and they are devine. It is one of my all time favourite dishes and I'm scared that I will never order anything else at this restaurant even though there is an array of delicious dished available.

Verdict: Awsome salad buffet (free when ordering main course) with delicious marinated mushrooms. And of course best pork ribs ever!

(10.09.2006)
What do you know, I'm back at Sevilla, this time with my brother. The plan was to go have a light lunch before going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest. So, off to Sevilla for some tapas. We ordered a pitcher of Sangria 16,50e. I had marinated mushrooms 1,50e, serrano ham with bread 2,50e and lamb 5,00e. My brother had the serrano ham and chorrizo 2,50e. The mushrooms were good but not as good as those in Salud. The serrano ham was good as was the bread and with lamb chops you can never go wrong. My brother enjoyed the chorrizo so much that we ended up missing the movie.

Verdict: Tapas in Sevilla good value for money. The Sangria was good but the pitcher size was a bit of a dissapointment.

(02.09.2006)
I love Japanese food. I absolutely adore it! And there is a Japanese restaurant in Tampere that I've been hearing only good things about. So, knowing I would get good company from my brother we set off to Maruseki.

It was prime lunch time on Saturday and the small restaurant was packed. But the staff kindly managed to fit us in. We ordered some sushi. I had 5 salmon norimaki 5,00e and my brother opted for the tuna. The sushi was fresh tasting and delicious (although, I'm ashamed to say that we had some difficulty with the chopsticks). Then we had some rice with seasoning 1,50e and tonkatsu 6e both of which were very very good. And to finish a good meal off my brother had some Genmai-tea 1e, which aparently was good. So in the end the whole meal was 12,50e and I was very full and content.

Verdict: Very nice family restaurant. Pleasant staff and good food.

(27.08.2006)
Once again another bonus card restaurant visit. This time a 2 for 1 herkkusieniporsas 11,90e (button mushroom pork) offer at Sevilla. My boyfriend likes mushrooms, so when I showed him the coupon he really wanted to go and by know you should have realised seldom say no to food! Since we kind of felt cheap for eating for so little we decided to have a starter. Well actually, ever since I read Peter Mayle's book "French Lessons" I have been craving escargots. My boyfriend is small town farmers son, so, experience with food with him is pretty much limited to potato casserole. Luckily he is a good sport and up for trying new things so we ordered juusto-valkosipuli etanat 6,90e (escargots in garlic with cheese). The snails were good, but still quite expensive in my opinnion.

On to the main course. The dish was described as grilled pork tenderloin with fries and creamy mushroom sauce. The sauce was alright and the pork good, as were the fries. Not the most mind blowing experience, but still good considering we only payed 5,95e per dish. Verdict: pretty much what you would expect in a s-etu restaurant chain style place.

(23.08.2006)
I have to confess my pet peeves is collecting bonus/loyalty cards. I can trully say that I have almost every possible one available in Finland. I have Plussa, S-Etu, SK-ravintolat, Suomalainen Kirjakauppa, Yves Rocher, Hesburger, Stockmann... you name it. Anyway my latest addition is the Finlayson restaurant loyalty card. So, of course this weeks restaurant was one of those.

Speakeasy is a prohibition era themed hot wings restaurant, so of course we had to have some of the famous wings. I was really hungry (no surprise) so I wasn't too convinced that the 12 piece wings set 6,80e would fill me up so I also had some Paul "Matchstick Fries" Castellano alias "Big Paul" 3,40e. The fries basket was pretty big so that helped prep my stomach for the wings. The wings were very good. Deliciously crispy and nicely spicy.

Verdict: great value for money (especially considering that I got my brother fed for free with the loyalty card)!

It's been two years since I moved away from home to study in Finland. This summer my brother moved to the sunny city of Tampere and now that we are living in the same town we've tried to make time each week to hang out. More often than not this quality sibling bonding is in the form of lunch or dinner. So, this is what got me writing the blog in the first place, so I can keep track of the good food I've been eating! :)

So, this summer my brother graduated so I ended up going to Switzerland for that. Graduation dinner, as usual, was at the Hilton Hotel. The food was again quite dissapointing. Firstly the apetisers were your average cold cuts! For the amount of 100sfr (that's about 80 dollars), you would expect to have quite a nice classy sit down dinner. Lining up with our plates for the main course I thought heck this is as bad as the year I graduated. The pacing of the dinner was fast too. I eat slowly because I want to eat a lot and I want to savor and enjoy! Anyway enough complaining, needless to say the Hilton graduation dinner was a dissapointment.

Now, on to dissapointing Hilton dinner number two. A couple of weeks later I had dinner with my parents at the Hilton La Grignotière. We had salmon tartar and beef tartar. The salmon tartar was good, but the beef had much too many caprices in it and I couldn't finish it. Such a shame.

The annual Kermesse event at the International School of Geneva is always a good oportunity to eat good food. But, as usual I was working at the Finnish stall and this year I felt like I was working pretty hardcore. On top of that it was hot and I had major hay fever. By midday I was pretty worn out and darn hungry. So, my dear parents went to hunt and gather me food from the assortment of international stalls set up all over campus. What I got was Japanese yakitori and chicken satay (and of course a nice big glass of Pimms). I love yakitori, I could live on yakitori and this yakitori was no exeption. Don't get me wrong, the chicken satay was good, but damn the delicious taste of that yakitori just blew me away.

Now, altough the yakitori was good there was one other dish that just made my taste buds orgasm! We were taking an evening walk along the Nyon shore and passed the Buvette de la Plage des Trois Jetées (situated at Nyon Plage). They have a very nice terace overlooking the Lake Geneva and me being the food whore I am I had to get something to eat there. So, I ordered the gambas á l'ail (shrimp with garlic). Now, the dish did have a bit of an unfair headway from the get-go because I love almost anything that comes from the sea and I adore garlic! The plate when it came was full! The sauce was imaculate and the shrimp were perfectly cooked. And to my delight they were half peeled to ease my devouring them. It truly was heaven on a plate and such an impact it had on my taste buds that I still, months on, dream about it. Next summer when I visit my parents again, I know right where I'm headed.