Last week on a short notice, again under the kind sponsorship of my sister, we got a chance to go eat out somewhere – and being on such a short notice, it was going to be with our daughter. We thought the clientele at Michelin-star-studded places probably wouldn’t really appreciate having a sometimes-hyperactive 6-month-old around so we steered clear of those and went couple steps lower to Ravintola Verde, located in the Holiday Inn Helsinki City Centre by the central railway station.

Upon arriving around when the restaurant opens for dinner at 6pm, we found our reservation entirely unwarranted – we were the only ones there. In fact, even when we left an hour and a half later, there were only 4 other people in the restaurant that seats something like 150. So there was a certain eerie feeling to the place. Anyhow, as our goal was a relatively quick dinner we just asked for a couple of Kir Royales in place of starters. I was quite surprised when our waitress said that she’d ask whether they have any crème de cassis. Excuse me? This was in a hotel and if a hotel doesn’t have something as basic as crème de cassis then something is seriously wrong. Anyway, they did, and we got our cocktails.

The menu included a decent cross-section of typical dishes from pasta, fish and chicken to meat. A bit uninspired and playing it safe along the lines of something-for-everyone, but otherwise fine. For the main course I went along with the somewhat boring menu: House special pepper steak with cognac sauce and garlic potatoes (€26,80). As can be seen from the picture on the right, the steak was a bit covered with / buried in the sauce but at least it was cooked right and tasted good. The garlic potatoes were also very good. I wouldn’t call it anything special, but certainly quite decent and there wasn’t anything particular to complain about. Sarita went with reindeer noisettes (€29,80) which I hear also got her approval.

Dessert choice was easy if also a bit traditional – crème brûlée with strawberries (€7,40). It was excellent and the fresh strawberries were also surprisingly tasty, especially considering it’s winter so they had to be flown from who knows where. For comparison, the fresh strawberries I got from the supermarket a few days earlier were nowhere near as sweet.

Overall, the food was good and there wasn’t anything major to complain about the service either. Considering it was “only” good and nothing to write home about, I would consider the prices a bit too high – but that is to be expected of a hotel restaurant. It was still an enjoyable experience – and all but empty, Restaurant Verde is a good choice for those last-minute needs when you can’t secure a reservation from the better places.