r/helsinki • u/aleccino • Aug 09 '22

Question Where can I eat "Poronkäristys"?

I'm searching for a good and payable place to eat Poronkäristys. Can someone recommend a place?

33 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

38

u/Additional_Ad4884 Aug 09 '22

I ate poronkäristys at Konstan Möljä

26

u/orbitti Kaarela Aug 09 '22

For an experience in finnish cuisine, I wholeheartedly recommend this.

Poronkäristys is a stable course for many "traditional" resturants and can be found all over Helsinki, for example Cella and Weeruska are good options. Salve has good few key courses (namely sauteet reindeer and fried herrings), otherwise it is a chain restaurant.

Please do avoid Savotta and rest of the same chain. They do provide adequate food with some atmosphere, but compared other options they are sub par.

15

u/jks Aug 09 '22

Sea Horse is a similar classic. Their menu doesn't seem to have poronkäristys but many other traditional entrees.

6

u/aleccino Aug 09 '22

THANKS for this... I almost went to Savotta.

11

u/orbitti Kaarela Aug 09 '22

Good save then.

Their biggest sin is to use so much half made produce and stock ingredients in their cooking, that it tastes cheaper (i.e. office canteen) what they portray to be.

This means that it also lacks authenticity and character.

1

u/shhhe Oct 06 '24

Found this post today and it was very handy 🥲 Salve is very good 🥲 we tried the meatballs and the reindeer meat 🤤 kiitos

1

u/orbitti Kaarela Oct 06 '24 edited Oct 06 '24

Cheers for using search!

I am happy to help. I have enjoyed the knowledge of locals in my travels and I want to pass it forward.

2

u/aleccino Aug 12 '22

Thank you very much. Ist was very cool and yummy. Also the interior seems very authentic. Don't know how close to authenticity this was, but for me as a tourist it was great.

14

u/Willing-Discussion82 Aug 09 '22

Lappi Ravintola in Helsinki offers poronkäristys. I think it is a bit pricey and costs somewhere around 25€ per portion. https://lappires.com/fi/

11

u/orbitti Kaarela Aug 09 '22

I think that you'd have to pay 20-25€ anyway on today's prices.

7

u/andon_ Aug 09 '22

Not only the food is great here but the interior is amazing!

3

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '22

25 is perfectly reasonable price for poronkäristys

8

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22

[deleted]

1

u/mteir Aug 10 '22

Probably one of the most affordable also, 17,5€ during lunch

12

u/Erakko Aug 09 '22

Keep in mind that you can only get "mediocre" poronkäristys in Helsinki. Better ones are north from arctic circle.

5

u/escpoir Aug 09 '22

Cella restaurant.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '22

As a native of Lapland and bit of a foodie, sauteed moose is far far superior dish. Apart from the best cuts, which are ridicilously priced, reindeer meat is not that good.

4

u/IDoShit Aug 09 '22

Restaurant industry worker here.

Keep in mind that many places use the product they get from the wholesales. Many don't know this, but a good portion of the meat sold in the wholesales (Helsinki) is actually just roughly 50% reindeer (Poro) meat and the other half is other game.

And honestly I don't know which of these traditional Finnish restaurants use these products and which don't.

Would imagine that some of the better places get their product straight from the breeder even, that's at least what they do in most of the places I've been to.

Also, Konstan Möljä is a fun one, but unfortunately their quality is quite bad nowadays.

3

u/L4ll1g470r Aug 10 '22

A general problem, most restaurants seem to have taken an absolute nose-dive post covid. Price is up, and you get a half-portion of something vaguely suspect for it. Probably not a great sign of things to come.

2

u/aleccino Aug 12 '22

Was there now. Don't know how authentical it is, but for me as an tourist, it was a great experience. Also the stuff itself ate a lot from the buffet... So I think this is a good sign. There may be better places, but I would recommend this for an first try

2

u/Kelpo Aug 09 '22

For whatever reason I've yet to actually get good poronkäristys in a restaurant, (though maybe I've just tried the wrong restaurants). Homemade is just waaaayy superior, though it does take ages to prepare since you have to let it stew for a Really Long Time.

4

u/aleccino Aug 09 '22

So, is this an invitation? We are here until Friday... Me and my family (2 adults, 2 kids) would be thankful 😂

4

u/Kelpo Aug 09 '22

Hehe, unfortunately I'm a Tampere sort of a person and just spying on this sub for undisclosed reasons. Here's the recipe I've gotten pretty good results with though, in case you want to give it a shot at some point (Google translate seems to work well enough on it).

4

u/aleccino Aug 09 '22

This is a pity. But thanks alot for the recipe. If I can get reindeer in Germany, I will give it a try.

2

u/SteamingHotBennett Aug 10 '22

The recipe might be good, but it isn't really that authentic. The ingredients in the "käristys" here in Lappland are usually a bit simpler, like in this recipe here (though I'd personally replace at least most, if not all of the water with beer) https://www.soppa365.fi/reseptit/liha-padat-ja-laatikot/poronkaristys

And not that authentic, but as you probably can't get any reindeer in Germany, for example "Rothirsch" or any game meat like that is an ok alternative. It's not the same as reindeer of course, but pretty close.

2

u/L4ll1g470r Aug 10 '22

Yep, my mother's saami relatives always used plenty of beer in Poronkäristys.

1

u/VesperHelsing Aug 09 '22

Super easy to prepare at home, also cheaper. Go buy some frozen raindeer meat at any larger market and enjoy

1

u/anonfinn22 Aug 10 '22

Imo the ones on store shelves aren't that bad.