Sun, Fun and Soju

After a hectic week, I had been planning to have a fairly quiet weekend, and although I was out and about quite a bit, the weather was so unusually nice that most of it was spent sitting in the sunshine eating and drinking. A colleague (and friend) from New York is in town for a couple of weeks and came to stay chez moi last night. Yesterday lunchtime, we headed to Maltby Street for some gin bloody marys and pulled pork sandwiches at Ropewalk, splitting a pistachio and cherry panna cotta for pudding.

Little Bird Gin bloody mary and a pulled pork sarnie.

Pastries from Polly Smadja.

I bought a new camera on Friday — the Canon EOS 100D — and I was keen to test it out, so we wandered along the river. My friend was surprised to see Tower Bridge opening and so was I. I told her that it happened only rarely, so of course we saw it opening for a second time later that evening.

Tower Bridge opening up.

It is The Bro's birthday today, so went out to celebrate with him last night, starting at The Woolpack, on Bermondsey Street, and then heading on for Korean BBQ and plenty of Soju at the Old Justice, in Bermondsey. I'm slowly getting into Soju, and the food — especially the bulgogi — was delicious and very good value.

Korean-style birthday fun.

As I hadn't eaten enough this weekend, I then went to join The Bro and his lady for brunch at Bea's Diner, which is now opening on Sundays too. Hooray! Although the pancakes are great there, I went for the poached eggs with hollandaise sauce on a toasted English muffin, which was delicious too. Two mugs of the "bottomless" coffee from Hasbean helped to ward off the effects of last night's Soju.

Poached eggs at Bea's Diner.

Cocktails at Browns.

So too did the Bramble I had at the Shad Thames branch of Browns. It was glorious to sit in the sunshine sipping something cool and fruity, while people watching. I then took my new camera for another walk along the Thames, this time towards Rotherhithe, before returning home via Southwark Park, where I paparazza-ed an unsuspecting couple.

A brave kitty enjoys the view.

Lazing on a sunny afternoon.

Vive l'été!

A Whistle-Stop Tour of Helsinki's Design District

When it comes to finding interesting places in new cities, I have a few strategies. The first is to identify online a few independent espresso bars and, if time, boutiques and secret-speakeasy-style cocktail bars. This means that I can wander with a purpose, and usually, I will find other cool venues in the same area. Once I'm in the right 'hood, I usually find that I can spot a good shop, bar or café on the basis of its design and typography. On business trips, when I know I won't have too much time for exploring, I prioritise the coffee bars. Luckily, in Helsinki, a lot of the good places to grab a macchiato happen to be in the same area — the design district.

Pino, a fab Helsinki stationery shop.

So, armed with the addresses of the Kaffa Roastery and a stationery shop I'd found online called Pino, I headed off to the design district, which is in the south-west corner of the city centre. Pino sells beautiful stationery, as well as a carefully curated collection of stylish and often useful objects for the home. I told the sales assistant she needed to open a branch in London. I then had to try very hard not to buy all the things. I think I did quite well to only pick up a couple of notebooks (the pink ones in the haul photo below), some decorative tape and a geometric grey dish.

Stylish smoke alarms at the Design Forum.

I had heard about a Font Walk you could do in Helsinki and asked where I could pick up a map, but the Pino assistant pointed me instead in the direction of the Design Forum. They didn't have the Font Walk map, but they did give me a copy of a map of the design district. I didn't have time to do a very in-depth tour, so I focused on the streets with the biggest number of interesting shops, cafés and galleries. But first, I had a look around the Design Forum. Again, I was taken aback by the huge number of beautiful objects. My favourite was probably the most stylish smoke alarms I've ever seen. I wish I'd bought one, rather than restricting myself to a couple of vintage postcards.

The kitchen section at Peroba.

Next on my list was Peroba, a lifestyle boutique, with a jealousy-inspiring kitchenware section. The thing about all of these Helsinki stores is that they are relatively small, but every item has been carefully selected for its beauty and/or usefulness.

Lunch at Sis.

I had lunch at a café-deli called Sis. They have several branches in Helsinki, and I can only describe it as a much more minimalist version of Dean & Deluca. It's certainly the most elegant place I've ever sat to eat a sandwich (buffalo mozzarella, tomato and home-made pesto) and a blueberry juice! To be honest, though, it would be hard not to find somewhere nice for lunch or dinner in the design district.

WTF, Helsinki?

My final stop was a shop called Moko Market, which is a sort of upscale version of the home section of Anthropologie, but with a more carefully curated selection of products, and an integrated café-deli section (it also has an entrance into Kaffa, which is handy).

Moko Market. I could have spent the afternoon here!

I lusted over a beautiful turquoise desk and some very stylish outdoor furniture, but I wasn't sure BA would agree with me about appropriate quantities of checked baggage.

In the circumstances, I thought I was quite modest with my shopping: a few bits from Pino, some coffee  and single-origin chocolate from Kaffa, and a couple of postcards. When I'm rich and looking to kit out my home, I'll definitely come back to Helsinki. With a much bigger suitcase.

Helsinki design haul.

The Helsinki Caffeine Chronicles Part II

I was too busy working this week to go off and explore the outer reaches of Helsinki, but on my last day, I did have a couple of spare hours before I had to head off to the airport. Armed with only three addresses, I managed to do a two-hour walk through Helsinki's design district (of which more to come) and saw a lot of my favourite things: specialty coffee coffee, stylish homeware boutiques, stationery shops and fine architecture.

Kaffa Roastery, Helsinki.

Address number one was Pursimiehenkatu 29, home of Kaffa Roastery, who provide the beans to Fratello and various other cafés and restaurants in the city. I had been worried I wouldn't be able to make it to Kaffa, but Helsinki's small size meant that it turned out to be only a brisk 15-minute walk from my hotel.

Kaffa is very design-oriented, and they really like bright yellow, paired with black. Yellow isn't my favourite colour, but I love their logo and their yellow business card, which quotes Samuel L. Jackson's character in Pulp Fiction ranting about coffee. After browsing the selection of beans for a few minutes, I realised that tasting notes mean even less to me when they are in Finnish, so I asked the barista's advice. She recommended an Ethiopian coffee and whipped me up an Aeropress brew. It was a bargain at only €2.50, and I really could taste the notes of ginger.

Beautiful Finnish design. Great Finnish coffee (via Ethiopia).

I sipped my coffee from a very stylish cup, admiring the reflections of the building opposite in my drink. Kaffa has a guest book you can write, or preferably draw, a message. They also seem to have won various barista-ing awards. They really know their coffee here. I was just sad that I'd already had too much coffee, and didn't get to try out the macchiato. The roastery is also connected to a fabulous interior design concept store and café, called Moto Market (of which more to come). All in all, it's a pretty awesome place.

Too many coffee goodies to choose from!

The other coffee bar I tested out was an impulse-caffeination. Walking around the design distract, I spotted Kaffecentralen on Fredrikinkatu. I wasn't sure whether to go inside, but it looked like a cool place so I poked my head inside. It is more of a roastery and purveyor of coffee accessories than a café, but I did get sample their macchiato, while perched in a window seat. It was actually pretty good: quite strong and full-bodied.

Kaffecentralen

Double macchiato.

I then had to try really hard not to shell out on a beautiful, expensive coffee machine or grinder. Some of these Helsinki coffee bars make even Prufrock, with its £30 Aeropresses, seem like it's missing a trick. Kaffeecentralen sell bags of tea too, but of the posh, stylish variety. They have two other branches, both in the design district.

I want to buy all the things.

Beautiful coffee machines.

Kaffa Roastery. Pursimiehenkatu 29, 00150 Helsinki. Website. Twitter.
Kaffecentralen. Fredrikinkatu 59, 00100 Helsinki. Website.

The Helsinki Caffeine Chronicles Part I

The thing about travelling to Helsinki from London is that although Finland is only two hours ahead of the UK, the time difference is really hard to get used to, especially around midsummer, because it stays light so late. You think it's about 10 pm and then look at your watch and realise it's gone midnight. Oops. And then when you have to get up at 6.30 in the morning, your body feels tricked and is convinced it's really still 4.30 am. Four late nights and early mornings in a row meant I was in serious need of a constant supply of good coffee during my trip, and to my delight, Helsinki more than delivered.

Fratello, Helsinki

When I did some initial online research a few months ago, I didn't come up with any London- or NYC-standard espresso bars, but luckily, I did manage to find a few interesting specialty coffee shops. The first was Fratello, which turned out to be a five-minute walk from both my hotel and the conference venue — the University of Helsinki's city centre campus. Although its older sister, La Torrefazione, was only a few blocks away, it was Fratello to which we kept returning.

They serve really good coffee in a modern, stylish café, with a few outdoor tables for those sunny summer afternoons. I had a double macchiato there almost every day, and the coffee was good. They get their beans from Kaffa Roastery — full review here — and the macchiato was strong and rich, which was just what I needed to jolt my brain into gear.

I also wanted to try the siphon brew, and a colleague and I shared a Colombian coffee. Sadly, because we were sitting outside, we didn't get to see the magic happen. It was really tasty and flavoursome though, albeit a little too hot for a 28C day. You can tell it's a studenty area, because you get a discount for take-away, and the prices are pretty reasonable anyway.

I had thought that Fratello might be my only chance to sample the local caffeine, but soon realised how tiny the city centre was and that it was only a 15-minute walk to Johan & Nyström's concept store, on the harbour from the university and main central area. As we walked up to the café in the afternoon sunshine, I knew that Helsinki was my kind of city.

Johan & Nyström's concept store

I love this café. The design is lovely: colourful armchairs inside and bistro chairs outside with a view over the water, a great selection of coffee, a beautiful, typography-tastic menu (drawn by the barista), and a selection of beans and posh coffee goodies — including stylish machines and grinders — for sale.

Baristas hard at work at J&N 

It would also be lovely here in winter.

The first time I went, I ordered an Aeropress filter coffee. It was too hot a day, really, but I wanted to see how they fared. The baristas, who look as though they just arrived from Brooklyn, fared well, although it would be hard not to have a great time while you sit in the sunshine, staring out at the boats. I can't remember where the coffee was from, but it was a subtle, delicate brew.

My Aeropress, with my boss's iced coffee.

The double mac. And the view.

I went back the following day when it was even hotter, and was almost tempted by the iced coffee, but I really wanted to see what their macchiato was like. Although there was a dash more milk than I prefer, the coffee was excellent: smooth and rich and tasty. Unable, as always, to resist the call of chocolate and peanuts, I also ordered a slice of Snickers cake, which was rich and delicious — a very guilty pleasure. What a great place.

Snickers cake on a gorgeous plate.

Fratello. Yliopistonkatu 6, 00100 Helsinki. Website.
Johan & Nyström Konseptiputiikki. Kanavaranta 7C, 00160 Helsinki. Website. Twitter.

Kippis, Helsinki

And so my second new country for 2013 is...Finland. I'm in Helsinki for a few days for a conference, and although I have a busy schedule while I'm here, I'm hoping to see a bit of the city too. After a bit of networking, a few of us headed off in search of dinner. The city was eerily quiet. 28 Days Later quiet. I don't know if it's because all Finns head to their summer houses for midsummer, or this is just what it's like on Mondays. It took us a few minutes to get our bearings, and then we seemed to find ourselves in the pricey part of town. Yes, pricey, even for Finland. We were tempted by a restaurant with a sign proclaiming, Fish You Were Here, but with a pun that good/bad we were expecting chip shop prices. Alas.

Something's fishy...

We ended up at an Italian restaurant called Vespa, which was actually quite reasonably priced at only 12 Euros for a tasty small (read: huge) pizza. We sat outside and watched as it failed to get dark, but after our earlier failures to find interesting places to eat and drink, I decided to take charge on the bar front, and research took us to Ateljee Bar, the rooftop bar on top of the Sokos Hotel Torni. On the way, we eyed up the cool-looking shops, and even I liked the look of this pink bicycle.

My kind of ride.

Ateljee has only a small terrace but it does have an amazing view over the city -- it's on the twelfth floor, but towers over its neighbours. There wasn't really a sunset tonight, as it was too cloudy, but it became increasingly surreal to find the hours ticking by while the sky remained light. It didn't help that London is two hours behind Finland; by the time we left at midnight, when it was starting to get a little darker, my body had no idea what time it was. The drinks at Ateljee are nice (my raspberry mojito was good), but to be honest, you go there for the view.

Not a bad backdrop for cocktails.

The view from Ateljee Bar.

A well-earned peach Bellini.

The walk home to our hotel was pretty swift, now that I've aligned my mental GPS. We walked home past a restaurant that displayed typical Finnish modesty. It would just be too presumptuous to claim they were definitively the best in town.

We don't like to brag but...probably the best in town.

Windows of Opportunity

Finding a restaurant in the West End suitable for Sunday lunch with the family today — i.e. one that takes bookings — proved relatively easy. As it turned out, we probably didn't need to book our table at Heaton, Butler and Bayne, which opened a few weeks ago in Covent Garden, as there were only a few other occupied tables throughout our sitting. Still, it did mean we got 50% off our food, thanks to TopTable.

Heaton, Butler & Bayne, Floral Street.

They used to make glass here. Now they fill glasses.

On the site of a former stained glass factory, which was run by the eponymous Heaton, Butler and Bayne, the restaurant is on the relatively unassuming Floral Street. The lack of footfall may have contributed to the lack of bums on seats, which is a shame as we had a really nice lunch (it may have been slightly less awkward if they had turned on the music earlier). It's a nice space, with lots of interesting nooks and crannies, although no stained glass that I noticed. I really liked the design and also the crockery — the milk for Maman's tea came in a tiny milk bottle, and I was eyeing up the bowl for my chips.

To try to fend off a burgeoning cold, I decided to order a cocktail rather than wine, and the Spring Breeze (sloe gin, basil, lemon and Prosecco) certainly blew away a few cobwebs. It was strong and very fruity — my ideal cocktail, in short. The wine list is fairly extensive, with a number of wines available by the carafe.

Spring Breeze cocktail.

In an attempt to save some room for a potential pudding, I skipped the starter, although The Bro's gazpacho with basil pesto looked good. Most of us had the roast beef for our main course. The beef was cooked really nicely, and came with a lovely crispy Yorkshire pudding and green beans. This meant that I could also try the triple-cooked chips as a side, rather than roast potatoes (sacrilege, I know). The chips were great, actually. Crispy on the outside and moist and soft on the inside. I ate far too many of my portion. The menu does vary slightly from day to day, depending on what's fresh. Unlike many other central London restaurants of its ilk, the menu is also relatively unfussy: simple combinations of ingredients cooked really well.

Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. With triple-cooked chips.

Happily, I did manage to order a pudding, although I was pretty full (the main course portions are plenty big enough for me, but aren't huge, as a warning). It was tough deciding between the doughnuts with a caramel cream filling and the frozen Dime bar cake, which was technically on the set menu rather than the à la carte. As I had had some great doughnuts recently, courtesy of You Doughnut!, I went for the Dime bar cake, which was creamy and delicious, complete with crunchy, Dime-bar-esque pieces. It took me back to my Dime Bar Crunch days at G and Ds in Oxford.

Frozen Daim Bar cake.

With the discount on the food, the bill was pretty reasonable, although it might have started feeling a little too pricey if we'd paid full price, especially because the atmosphere wasn't the greatest — it's nice to have at least a little bit of bustle, and if not, do put some music on! I hope more people discover Heaton, Butler and Bayne, because it's a beautifully designed spot, with great food and interesting cocktails. I'm not saying that I want to have to queue for two hours to prove how much I want to eat there, but a few more filled tables would have gone a long way.

Heaton, Butler and Bayne. 27c Floral Street, London, WC2E 9EZ (Tube: Leicester Square or Covent Garden). Website. Twitter.