Terhi Ruuskanen (1978)

You can enjoy all your meals at the 8th floor in Stockmann department store. These restaurants are not inexpensive although you will get good value for your money!

Start your morning at F8 Cafe sipping a latte and enjoying a croissant or filled sandwich.

Have a lunch at F8 Food or F8 Easy. Both restaurants serve different menu everyday (inc. grill, asian and home cooking). Easy is a more relaxed yet stylish place where as Food is more hectic with wok-food and a salad bar where you will have hard time choosing between delicious marinaded artichoke, sun dried tomatoes, cheeses etc.

Stop for an afternoon tea or ice cream at Velvet where music and the couches are smooth and soft. The couches are covered with (what else than) velvet!

For a fine dining there is F8 Fine restaurant. Have the slightly salted salmon with row mousse for a starter and carré of lamb with thyme sauce for the main course. Skip the dessert, because…

… the cherry on a top is the F8 champagne bar. Chocolate and champagne combination is an excellent ending for the day.

This little cute shop sells all the things cool from a few Finnish designers. Antti Asplund, one of the most talented Finnish clothing designers sells his clothes in here. His clothes are unique and the man himself is as well: he adores hats, wigs and pirates.

You can find seriously stunning and bohemian necklaces and earring designed by Youth vs. Future in the shop. The Youth vs. Future brand was founded in Helsinki in 2006 by jewellery designers Laura Vartio and Janni Hyvärinen.

The story behind the pink feather-jewellery: A sudden tragedy took place in Helsinki Zoo Korkeasaari. All 16 flamingos were found dead after a fox found his way to their haw and executed the birds. The designers found this story meaningful in many ways, and invented the pink feathers and have written a short story in honor of the flamingos.

Personally I love the shop because it is small, cosy and luxurious at the same time. I have bought few too many feathers as it is…

Anton & Anton (A&A) is a small food store, where you will find FRESH vegetables, ORGANIC spices and LOCAL food. The fresh stuff is not in plastic and several things are from the farms near to Helsinki. The cheese, bread, meat and fish counters are well worth mentioning.

The customer service is excellent. This is a food store from the past. You feel welcome and the food is pure and as organic as possible. The floor is very cute with the black and white tiles too. (Clearly I have a fixation with cute floors, because I mentioned the floor in Green Dress article as well).

To be honest, I did not mean to praise the place this much and wanted to be critical about it, but I guess it is impossible. So I just say what it is: a perfect little food store where you can find pretty much all you need for cooking and living a healthy life. In these times when the big super markets leave little to no room for the little shops like these it is great to see new little shops opening.

The quickest way to visit the countryside when visiting Helsinki is to have lunch/dinner/multiple drinks at Zetor restaurant.

I have to admit two terrible things: before last summer I had never been in Zetor and it has been in the city for the past 20 years! And… I thought that the customers would all be hillbillies. I was wrong. And amazed how cool, funny and interesting the place was! There are old tractors and stuffed animals inside. The walls are covered with old signs. Instead of serviettes they have paper towels! The place is hilarious and there are all types of customers!

The food is very, very good: reindeer and other meat, fish and salads. The menu is written well: every meal is like a short story, for instance:

“Sausage on the Sauna Stove. Sauna at five is a Saturday tradition the Finns cannot live without. The heat of the moment is cultivated with a sausage, mashed potatoes and pickled gherkin served inside a sauna pail.”

Although the menu is in 20 languages, it doesn’t mean that the place is a tourist trap. We locals and out-of-towners (the Finnish country folk) love it! My friend told me that the place turns into a very happening night club after the sunset. I believe her – she parties a lot.

After the lunch I wondered: did I really love the place that much, or did I just spend too much time in the countryside last summer? Either way I do recommend you experience Zetor!

The green Dress has been selling vintage and ethnic clothes & accessories for few years now in Helsinki. Recently they moved to a bigger premise at Erottaja street.

The vintage they sell is rather expensive, but the pieces are unique. I fell in love with a teeny tiny burble Chanel pursue, which – sadly -I can’t afford at the moment, due to the scary number on the price tag. Not everything is expensive at Greendress though: an old necklace was 40 euros and silver earrings were just 10 euros/pair, so I guess no matter what your price-limit is, you will find something nice. The jewelry materials are vintage, dead stock and re-purposed or mixed of all of those.

A good example of their ethnic side are the Afghan Hands -products. Afghan Hands is an organization that supports the role of Afghan women, their employment and education by selling scarves and shawls made by them. The products are made and embroidered in the organizations headquarters in Kabul.

In addition to selling clothes and accessories they have a small juice bar/cafe in the store. You can buy fruit smoothies and organic coffee during your shopping marathon. The Vitamin Water-products and organic juices are good addition, so now the whole store concept is even more ethnic.

The shop is adorable: it has red-white striped floor and colorful clothes and items, so I’m sure even just visiting it will make you happier.