Espoo Restaurants

Tung Hing is very well hidden Chinese restaurant in Tapiola. If you don't know its exact location, you are deemed to fail finding it. That's too bad, as it is one of the best Chinese restaurants that I've tried in Finland. The secret of finding it is easy: locate K-market Aslak. There are stairs that ascend near the main entrance of the shop, seemingly to nowhere. Climb the stairs, pass the barber shop and turn left (there's no other option), and you'll see the gate to the restaurant.

The special thing in Tung Hing is that the various portions actually taste different -- in some Chinese restaurants, it really doesn't matter what you order, you'll always get the blandish generic chopped meat in a sauce and rice. That's not the case here, the chefs use spices and there are both mild and spicy portions available.

Apart from the food, the decor is very traditional for a Chinese restaurant. The service is swift, as usual. Sometimes you may even spot a smile on a waitress.

Frutti di Mare restaurant, located on the ground floor in shopping mall Heikintori, is part of the Frutti di Mare chain that has several pseudo-Italian restaurants around greater Helsinki. Beside the common menu, the places have also a common atmosphere: they feel like really cheap Italian bistro transferred to Finland. During the process, some typical Italian perks, such as good and unreserved service, have been lost and replaced with dull Finnish alternatives.

In other words, the place is sort of repulsive. For some reason, I still have found myself there from time to time. The pizzas are okay, they are big and quite inexpensive, the service is fast, and as you don't have any expectations, you won't get disappointed, either. They serve also a few varieties of pasta each day and some salads.

Escafé, a hybrid between a cafe and a restaurant is tucked at the very end of Tapiola's Heikintori, one of the oldest shopping centres in Finland. They serve full hot lunch and also breads and bagels, as well as the full variety of coffees and pastries.

One thing sets them apart: they serve really delicious pastas. I was a little apprehensive to eat there at first, but after having the first bite I was sold. I have rarely eaten so good and richly flavoured pasta, including my visits to Rome and Milano, as I got in Escafé. Usually these kind of places cook the pasta once in the morning and keep it warm the whole day, and add really sloppily made sauce -- so it was refreshing to be proven wrong.

Restaurant Kilim is one of the rare Turkish restaurants in the greater Helsinki region. I have not counted various Kebab kiosks as restaurants, as there is a plethora of those and most of them are not worth mentioning. But Kilim certainly is.

The restaurant is located a little bit away from the centre of Tapiola, on the road towards Länsiväylä and Helsinki. It is still in walking distance, but you have to know the route, as the changes are that you won't stumble there by accident. There is a map on their website.

During lunch hours the restaurant has a selection of various Turkish salads combined with a couple different main courses. You usually can't help stuffing yourself so full that climbing stairs is painful. They have also an à la carte selection, but the price / quality ratio of the lunch is unbeatable.

The service is very personal and you can find the owner chatting and joking with the patrons -- something that usually doesn't happen in Finland.

Tapiontori is the best -- and the only -- fine dining restaurant in the garden city Tapiola, nested in the southeastern corner of Espoo. The restaurant is located in one of the more subtle architectural landmarks of Tapiola, U-house. As Tapiola is quite compact, everything is in walking distance, including parking slots.

The restaurant has been carefully renovated in an old bank and the big glass windows create an illusion that you are sitting on a park. The bank heritage can be seen from here and there; for example, the wines are stored in the old vault.

The food is excellent and usually the place is packed during lunch hours and evenings. It's best to reserve the table beforehand, especially if your party has more than two people.

Curry Palace is the first and the best Indian restaurant in Espoo. The staff is always very friendly and polite. They make you feel relaxed and welcome.

Favorite Dish: If you are familiar with Indian food I highly recommend you to try chicken-jal-farzi. This is a very hot spiced chicken. Great experience. If you are not a friend of spicy food try for example meat thali. This is a selection of three meat dishes (lamb, chicken and beef), raitha, rice and Naan-bread. You should also taste Lassi which is a starter drink made of fresh yoghurt.

If you want to eat a dinner in a nice restaurant in Espoo, there really aren't too many choices! Usually people head to Helsinki, since it's very close.

However, there's a really good restaurant in Tapiola: Tapiontori. The restaurant is rather small, but has very fine and clean interior with nice design and the food is really good! On the menu there are not very much dishes, but the ones on the menu are very nice. I have never been disappointed here. Even though the restaurant is rather fancy, it's not one of those places, where you'd have to dress up in suit in order to fit in.

Of course, everything comes at a price, which is certainly not from the lowest end. Typical main courses at about 15-25 euros.

There’s no aboundance of restaurants in Tapiola, but you can find few places in the center to have a coffee or grab a bite of something. I had my first VT meeting with Soili in Tapiola and we went to Escafe, a nice place in Heikintori shopping center offering sandwiches, salads or sweet options (like the one we had) that goes well with coffee or tea.