Mmm ... coffee cheese ... om nom nom

July 11, 2009 10:53 AM

Where's the best place to get leipäjuusto in Helsinki?

Inspired by this recent comment, I want to try leipäjuusto when I'm in Helsinki next week (and the intriguing-looking kaffeost). Is it commonly found in restaurants/cafés? Where should I go to get the really good stuff?

posted by the luke parker fiasco to food & drink (4 comments total)

I can't remember ever seeing it in a café. Some restaurants might offer it as a dessert, but it's not like every restaurant in Helsinki will have it (or perhaps I've been eating at the wrong sort of restaurants while in Helsinki...).

It's available at every decent grocery store though, e.g. Stockmann and probably the grocery stores at the railway station as well. I'd just buy some and a small jar of cloudberry jam and enjoy a nice picnic in somewhere. According to this, a 220 g piece costs 2,50 € at Stockmann.
posted by kaarne at 11:55 AM on July 11

If you are in Sweden you should try kalvdans, which is also made from colostrum.
posted by melissam at 11:59 AM on July 11

Lessee..

Depending on where you are -

Holiday Inn Helsinki West has it on the menu of their dining room. With cloudberry jam, not bad.

Downtown one might have it too, but I never went there.

If you want to be more adventurous, grocery stores -

Ruoholahti CityMarket (in the mall, downstairs). Go to the cheese aisle. Turn right to the meat counter, walk all the way down. Once you get near the end, turn left. It's on that end of the aisle, sometimes in an endcap kinda thing, but on the main aisle.

If I remember correctly, they had crappy cloudberry jam though and I never figured out what the topping was. The vanilla creme they sell in the dairy section was a good approximation.

The s-market next door to the mall also has it. The Ruoholahti metro grocery store might as well, but I doubt it.

Rautientori Station grocery store might have it, but I hate that store so it's not really worth it unless your desperate.

Closer in, Kamppi citymarket (or s-market, I forget which one it was), probably has it and they also have a better selection of cloudberry jam since they get more traffic from the bus station

Other places to check -

Aino on Esplanade A little pricey, but simple finnish food and they have leipäjuusto for desert.

The Market over at Hakaniemi might also have it (just go to the metro stop, go to the main square area. If you're facing the tram stops from the big square, on your right is a funky older building with a giant sign on top. Inside there is an awesome market.. And a cool soup guy if you go on weekends..

But I digress.

The market near the Havis Amanda (more touristy, neat the ferry to suomonlina(sp)) probably has it to. Go to the Havis Amanda. Turn towards the bay. Walk across that street so the bay is on your left. There's a few tourist/ice cream stands and then a long building on the side of the street with the bay. That's another market, specializing in touristy stuff.

Or..

You could just to go Stockmann. They have both toursity food stuffs and a huge grocery store in the basement. I'm unsure if their cafe sells it, but you can wander around and ask. It's a cool store anyways.


Oh yeah.. cloudberry Jam is lakkahillo (looks like this.) If you wanted to bring some home.


If you need more specific reqs, I can add more.

Eat.Fi has a great english site so you can use that to pinpoint a restaurant if you ant.
posted by Lord_Pall at 1:42 PM on July 11

A few suggestions for restaurants serving leipäjuusto:

Uunisaari, a nice, quaint restaurant on an island (accessible by foot) just outside the Kaivopuisto park.

Zetor, where I assume you can still enjoy your leipäjuusto seated around an old tractor.

Salve - never been there, but it seems to have a nice reputation for their big portions of no-nonsense Finnish cuisine.

Many restaurants (such as Zetor) serve their leipäjuusto warm, which makes it a bit gooey and somewhat stretchy. It is a valid, traditional way to enjoy leipäjuusto, but still... Gah. I like mine fresh and squeaky, and definitely with jam rather than caramel sauce.
posted by sively at 4:02 PM on July 11