This year, five Helsinki restaurants earned the right to be recorded in the Michelin Red Guide as members of an elite cohort of top class restaurants and hotels.
Among the decorated group was a start-up operation Luomo, which joined the likes of veteran Guide entrants Carma, Demo and Postres.
Chex Dominique remains Helsinki’s - and indeed Finland’s - only two-star restaurant. Proprietor and celebrity chef Hans Välimäki said that although the honours are welcome, he’s still concerned that the industry shows no signs of firing up, in spite of a reduction of Value Added Tax on restaurant fare.
“We may get an increase in business for a few months, but we’ll only see the results in the autumn, and maybe we’ll enjoy that for a couple of months,” he explained.
“I’m willing to bet that the next government and Parliament will propose an increase in VAT on food. The VAT reduction was apparently just a passing popular phenomenon,” he pondered.
First Star for Start-up Luomo
The rise of the fledgling restaurant Luomo to Michelin-star status was unusually rapid, given that the kitchen lit up only in May 2009. The restaurant is run by Jouni Toivanen and Mika Mattila, who clearly took away many sound lessons from their careers at Välimäki’s Chez Dominique.
Apart from the stars, the Michelin Guide conferred honorable mentions on the restaurants Grotesk, Mecca and Solna. The special mention is reserved for restaurants that offer a good price-quality ratio.
All of the Michelin restaurants are Helsinki-based. The Michelin Guide, which appears on Wednesday, listed the best restaurants and hotels in 44 cities in 20 countries.
