Location & Decor

Juuri is located in beautiful old downtown Helsinki area. The area is made of old stone buildings with gorgeous architecture. Restaurant Juuri has gorgeous high ceilings and big windows which let the daylight come in beautifully.

The decor combines rustic and fine styles. Interior walls are painted in different colors and there is plenty of wood and canvas used in decor. That makes Juuri very cozy.

However, the finer twist and design can be seen in tableware. The classes are beautiful. Some of them are Finnish design from Marimekko. Plates are unique and interesting too. In general, the decor of Juuri is an excellent combination of old and modern style in a beautiful balance.

 

Food & Drinks We Ate

 

Starter Soup

In the menu, we had the starter was beetroot & sour cream dish which included beetroot soup, beetroot chip, beetroot compote and some sour cream. There was also some chive pieces included.

This plate had an amazing color! It was a small plate, which I think was perfect because when having three courses in the middle of the day you might not want to eat too heavily. I loved the combination of salty soup, sweet compote, crispy chip, soft and sour sour cream and beautiful herbal chive.

 

Bread

At the very beginning, they offered us some water (still or sparkly) and their bread. The bread is handmade in Juuri. I found it fun that they served it with butter that was beautifully wrapped in some wax paper. The bread wasn’t anything super special, however, it was nice and fresh.

 

Main Course Option 1: Rainbow Trout and Onion

This dish really complements the two ingredients included. There was some grilled rainbow trout with grilled onion, onion omelette, onion puree and onion sauce.

The dish was very simple but still stylish and fine. There were only the two main ingredients cooked in different ways but nothing else was needed. Juuri targets to reach the roots of Finnish food culture and offer the most authentic flavors. I think this is exactly what the food in Finland has been 100 years ago at it’s best.

 

Main Course Option 2: Lamb and Tomato

This main course option was a bit more complex what comes to the elements and the flavors of them. There was lamb made in two different ways, some tomato, yoghurt and celery puree.

I loved how nicely cooked both of the lambs were. This had a lot more flavor and this was a bit spicy but still balanced. I loved this one with the red wine they recommended.

 

Wines

We took one class of both of their recommended wines (1 red and 1 white). The white on was a great pair with the fish main course, the red one worked better with the meat main course.

The white wine came from Austria. Owner family of the winery where the wine comes from used to be farmers for 300 years but then they bought the winery and started doing great wines. This wine was golden colored, acidic and so fruity that it tastes quite sweet even thought it is actually dry.

The red wine was nice dark red syrah which has a taste of red berries and some chocolate in it. This was a great pair for the meat. This wine has a picture of a lamb on the bottle. That’s because a story tells that sheep escaped for a demon and hide in the area where the winery is located.

 

Dessert Options

There were two different dessert options available. The first one was traditional Finnish Easter food, Malt and quark ”mämmi”. Neither of us likes mämmi too much so we both ended up taking the option 2 which was Finnish cheeses from small producers.

As you might know, I love cheese. A lot. This dish included three kinds of cheese which were served with some beetroot. At first, I thought the combo is slightly weird or at least interesting but it actually tastes amazingly good. The beetroot paired nicely with all the cheeses served in this dish. Well done Juuri!

 

Coffee & Tea

When the waitress brought our desserts she asked if we want some tea or coffee with / after it. I tried their green jasmine flavored tea and my fiancé took a regular coffee with some milk.

I fell totally in love with their tea! It tasted so soft and slightly sweet and jasmine flavored. I don’t love green tea too much but Juuri sure has some very good one that’s also done properly (green tea turns easily bitter if don’t prepare it correctly). When I asked my fiancé how the coffee was he told it tasted like coffee so I guess it was that kind of coffee that Finns like to drink. Nothing special but okay.

 

Service & General

Service was friendly and fast. Everything in the was authentic and a bit rustic with a nice twist of some Finnish design and finer pieces of decor. The food was made of high-quality ingredients and it sure did complement the Finnish food culture and Finland in general.

All the dishes looked beautiful and the flavors were nicely put together. The wines also paired excellently with our dishes. After all, I recommend you trying three course lunch in Juuri if you want to have a great lunch with no hurrying.

 

 

Have you ever been in Juuri? Would you like to go? Why, why not?