Playing the theme to Doctor Zhivago (and if you don't know that it's beautiful balalaika music, you get Ra Ra Rasuptin by Boney M instead)...
Yet another romantic story from haunting Helsinki...this time a Russian love story.
I met Helga (not her real name!) in the sauna at the Yrjonkatu Swimming Bath (nothing suss - see Finland 1 post!) and we had dined together the night before at one of her favourite places, a Turkish restaurant.
Enjoying her food almost as much as me, the two of us got on rather well, so a date was set for the following evening - we were to meet under the clock at Stockman (the very elegant Finnish department store) - and we were going Russian.
Cue: sounds of the balalaika playing
We met at 5pm. Under the clock. Ready for our Russian adventure.
We strolled to our first stop, the beautiful, and by Finnish standards, rather small, Russian Orthodox Church, which is behind the very grand Lutheran Cathedral on Senate Square. There it is, the first pic above.
We were there for the 6pm service, my first ever Russian Orthodox Service.
It was breathtaking. Sigh. Magical, even. The whole service was chanted by a beautiful 4 person choir, the priests helped out now and then as they swung their incense and walked the room. We stood in the middle with the other worshipers, there are no pews, you stand for the hour and a half. It was so beautiful, it had me teary in only a few minutes. The beauty of the gold and icons, the voices, the warmth, and the ceremony of it all...well, it had me at hello!
My date and I slipped out after an hour (who on earth can stand for that long?!) for the second part of the evening. We hopped a tram (the bonus of knowing a local) and headed for our final destination, a Russian restaurant called Troikka.
Now this was even more magical than the Orthodox service.
Turn up balalaika music
I discover that Troikka has been around for a long long time and is a famous Helsinki Russian restaurant. Helga has been passing it for years and always wanted to try it, she said she used to see the owner and waiter sit out the front cleaning mushrooms as she passed. Now, that's always a good sign.
Another good sign was the arrival of an amuse bouche, completely unexpected in such a small local restaurant, and it was my favourite thing ever these days...Wild Mushroom Soup. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. So delicate, so tasty, so foresty, so wild. DIVINE.
And the date only got better from there. My next course was my first ever Pelmeni, it was Siberian Pelmeni. I didn't even know these things existed, but now I'm so glad I do. Pelmeni are Russian dumplings - little spoonfuls of meat wrapped in very thin unleavened dough, they're sort of like small tortellini really. Mine were served in the tastiest, heartiest, saltiest, darkest broth, and served with a bowl of wild mushroom cream, which I started to spoon on by the ladleful!
OH MY GOODNESS. There was silence at the table as I tasted, then prayed (part 1 of the date had left an impression, clearly), then tasted some more. Absolutely unbelievably good. No words. Not one. Sigh. Whatever the Russian word is for heaven, I needed it!
As I floated on my cloud of bliss, the plate was cleared away and space was made for my next course. Wild Boar. With Wild Boar Sausage, sauteed caraway seeded Cabbage and a mysteriously deep gravy. OH MY GOODNESS again.
I had no idea Russian food was this good (Just as an aside, my experience in Russia with HOS in 1995 left me thinking there actually wasn't any food in Russia except bananas, paprika chips and cold and very dodgy hamburgers - but that's a whole other story).
Troikka had me putting Russia on the map, in gourmet terms. I wanted more more more. I was so wonderfully surprised at the guts, grit, and simple elegance of the food...I was hooked.
Thank you to the special Helga for introducing me to the romance of Russian food, I think you've lit a fire that may burn out of control...
Crescendo of balalaika music...then fades out...
Troikka
Caloniuksenkatu 3, 00100 Helsinki
PH: +358 9 445 229
(they speak English)
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