SAVOTTA RESTAURANT (known as SMOURAZI in the Bond book)

Location: Helsinki, Finland
Address: Aleksanterinkatu 22
Bond book appearance: James Bond, the Authorized Biography of 007

The Restaurant Savotta takes its guests directly from Senate Square to a nostalgic view of Finland from past decades. Both the authentic interior and the dishes, served in original style, have been inspired by the Finnish forests and thousands of lakes, with a dash of Finnish “sisu” and logging traditions. The restaurant pays homage to the thousands of lumberjacks and log floaters, the matrons and foremen at the logging sites, as well as the mill owners.

The old china designed by the world-renowned Arabia, the hundred-year-old floorboards, the old chairs and tables and many old artifacts have been brought from all over Finland. Each of them tells its own story from past decades and takes you back in time to the logging camps of the old days.

Savotta’s kitchen cherishes the Finnish food tradition. Savotta uses only Finnish ingredients from the pristine forests and lakes and from carefully selected small suppliers. The menu includes e.g. lake fish, game and berries, as well as traditional Finnish dishes with home-made touch perfected in the course of generations. In Savotta you can taste traditional Finnish delicacies e.g.  Karelian casserole, lamb in a wooden särä-dish and vendace pasty. Savotta also serves a good selection of Finnish beers including Lammin Sahti, which is strong traditional home-brewed Finnish beer.

“Bond enjoyed his first afternoon in Helsinki.” 

“In the evening Birkin wanted to take Bond out for a dinner.”

“They went to Smourazi, traditionally to the best Finnish restaurant in the city. It was opposite the Helsinki Cathedral, which is a massive building and its dome looks like a symmetric bold head. The restaurant was full, but the customers were mostly Swedish and somehow unwieldy ceremonious. Bond drank quite a few shots and stated that the crowd started to look more cheerful. Birkin wanted to order traditional Finnish food – savoury pie, Karelian casserole and reindeer tongue.”

“The good side of the Finnish food is that gives you guts. (Finnish “sisu”) It is needed in the place like this. It´s a shame that you won´t be staying longer.”

John Pearson: “James Bond, the Authorized Biography of 007“

See the whole travel story here

See more 007 RESTAURANTS (visited) here