New Michelin Guide contains five starred Helsinki restaurants

Domestic Top 50 again headed by Chez Dominique

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When the latest edition of the Michelin Red Guide to the Main Cities of Europe appeared on Tuesday, Helsinki had a fifth starred restaurant to its name.
      Chez Dominique preserved its two-star reputation as "worth a detour" for the quality of its dining, while Carma, Demo, and Postres all held on to their earlier one-star rating.
     
The newcomer to the 2010 list was Luomo, an innovative "molecular gastronomy" establishment in Kruunuhaka that has only been open for business for nine months.
      This is not normally sufficient time for the Michelin inspectors to provide this sort of recognition, but Luomo has admittedly enjoyed stellar reviews on the popular Eat.fi web portal ever since it opened.
      Luomo's chef de cuisine is Jouni Toivanen, who owns the place jointly with Mika Mattila and a third minority shareholder who apparently prefers to remain anomymous. Both Toivanen and Mattila have earlier worked for Chez Dominique, so their pedigree is excellent.
     
Three more Helsinki restaurants kept their "Bib Gourmand" rating for good food at moderate prices - Grotesk, Mecca, and Solna.
      The 2010 Michelin Red Guide to the Main Cities of Europe 2010 singles out 231 Bib Gourmand restaurants, and awards stars to a total of 341 establishments: 271 get a single star, 55 get two, and 15 receive the ultimate accolade of three stars and a dining experience that is "worth a special journey".
     
The Michelin rankings were backed up more or less in the voting by trade professionals for the 50 best Finnish restaurants of the year, which were also announced this week, on Wednesday.
      Hans Välimäki's Chez Dominique once again came out on top, for the sixth time of asking. The restaurant on Rikhardinkatu has won the top spot in the 50 best restaurants in the country on each occasion when the eateries have been compared.
      Second place went to Savoy, and Olo was third.
     
Two new restaurants, established in the past year, made it straight into the top ten - the trans-Asian gourmet restaurant Farang at No.6 and the newly-starred Luomo at No.7.
      Also in the top ten were Demo (4th), Carma (5th), Juuri (8th), Postres (9th), and Ateljé Finne in 10th place.
      A total of 18 restaurants in the top fifty were from outside the capital, with Mami from Turku being the highest placed at No. 11.
      The top-rated restaurant in Tampere was Hella ja Huone at No. 19.
     
Links to the previously-starred restaurants can be found from our earlier articles on this subject from 2009 and 2008.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  No change in Michelin stars, but elite Helsinki eateries see decline in business customers (17.3.2009)
  Helsinki gains two new Guide Michelin entries (12.3.2008)

Links:
  Luomo
  All of the restaurants referred to can be found from the Eat.fi guide linked here
  Via Michelin

Helsingin Sanomat