It’s often said that Finland is a rather undeveloped country what comes to customer service – and I’m the first to agree. At times, however, some good things happen and you get either outstanding service and/or excellent bang-for-buck ratio. Below are a few of these gems that I’ve recently been very satisfied with:

KakkuKeisari. These people make cakes. We recently had a sizeable party and instead of making everything ourselves, we decided to order some cakes from this company. And man was that the right decision – absolutely mouthwatering stuff and at very decent prices, too!

Wrong Noodle Bar – they are to be credited with bringing one of the first (after Subway) healthy fast-food places to Helsinki some years ago. Now situated only near the Kaisaniemi subway station, they serve excellent noodle-based dishes and other good stuff. Fast, affordable, tasty and healthy – what more can you hope for from a fast-food joint? Compared to the Hesburger that is next to this place — well, I would like to think there is no competition really.

Stockmann department stores and the Academic Book Store. Rarely lets you down in terms of selection and never lets you down in terms of service. Quite simply the best all-purpose department store in Finland. And the Academic book store across the street is probably the only real bookstore in Finland. Enough said.

Citymarket at the Sello shopping center in Leppävaara, Espoo. I used to think the grocery department (Herkku) in Stockmann cannot be beat in Finland and thus use it as a reference level for other places. Now I’m not so sure about its unequivocal #1 place any more – this particular CityMarket (of all places!) in Leppävaara has one great selection of fresh meats and fish. And shopping here on a Friday afternoon is a much less stressful experience than Stocka’s Herkku.

Cafe Esplanad in downtown Helsinki is one great cafe. The portions are very generous, the food and the sweet stuff (oh the sweet stuff..) is excellent. They now also serve lunch. With the great food and very central location, the place is almost constantly packed – it’s no wonder that they’re looking to expand again, this time to the basement.