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What the experts say
Steve Hart, MD of Helsinki-based The Travel Experience: After opening in the summer of 2007, A21 Cocktail Lounge quickly established itself as an elite amongst the Finnish bar scene. Trendy interiors with intimate and varied coloured lighting, combined with an astonishing range of drinks, including some stand-out unique Finnish concoctions. Even getting inside was cool, pressing the bell on an unmarked door.
3 years on, a new concept was born, pairing fine dining not with wine but a selection of these creative cocktails. Sounds unusual, bizarre even, but believe me, it works. This is not about sipping gin and tonic along with your steak, its a carefully constructed themed menu matching top-notch modern Finnish cuisine with specially-designed cocktail drinks which really do work together.
What the diners say
Eat.fi user Foodargonaut: As a general idea and concept A21 is exceptional in every sense – the “story” of the menu is fantastic, service is very dedicated, yet in overall execution it falls short of becoming a classic mainstay. In order to be exposed to the full experience we had the 8 course menu with the cocktail package. In some of the dishes the combination to cocktails and their taste worked exceptionally well (apetizers and dessert) – in others the combinations were either not working (birch/apple coctail with fish) or just a bit weird (the cloudberry coctail with the wildboar). I understand that for some this might work, but for other diners it is just an overload of sweetness.
After the euphoria of the first cocktail/food combo, I gradually got fed up on the overpowering sweetness, and at that point I understood why wines have ruled the dining rooster for 8000 years. I would definitely recommend A21 to those who want to experience a great gimmick – but personally, although I’m glad I went, I do not long to get back to these sweet woods. For me A21 is a once in a lifetime experience.
What Luxury Travel Beat Says: Be warned. Finding this restaurant can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you are both geographically challenged and choose to rely solely on the addresses both Google and Tripadvisor give. A21 Dining is the less famous sibling of the A21 Bar and Cocktail Lounge on Annegatan 21, which has been voted one of the world’s best bars, and it is this address you’ll encounter if you search for A21 online.
When I finally find my way to A21 Dining, I’m pleased to find that I don’t have to ring a doorbell, which is the case at the A21 Bar and Cocktail Lounge. Still, with a door so heavy it takes me almost half a minute to figure out it’s not actually locked, it perpetuates the “for those in the know” air A21 has become synonymous with. Having only opened last fall, very few people – mostly food critics and other opinion leaders – know of its existence. Today, there are only a couple of guests in the restaurant, including the team behind Angry Birds.
I’m greeted warmly and led to a lounge area with an artificial fireplace atop a table. Guests are meant to relax here with a cocktail, a so-called “greeting from the bar” before moving on to their tables. I do just that, sipping on a Maiden of Finland cocktail while taking in the distinctly Finnish design and ambience.
A21′s “mind dining” concept is all about teleporting you to another place using food as the transportation medium. The first dish I have - entitled Jarvi - is supposed to conjure a “refreshing moment by the lake” by way of cured white fish in a clam fennel consomme, pickled cucumbers and a cocktail made from cucumber, lemon and fennel. Despite my initial scepticism, I find myself being taken back to the warm Scandinavian afternoons I spent picnicking by the lake. The selfsame clever food and cocktail pairing, however, keeps bringing me back to this cold, wintry night in the Finnish capital.
My main (Neva) consists of cloudberry glazed wild boar which is so tender it basically melts in my mouth, buckwheat, parsley root pyre and cloudberry sauce. The accompanying cloudberry cocktail is a bit too much on the sweet side for my taste but surprisingly, so well suited to the wild boar it feels like I’m drinking the accompanying sauce. By the time my dessert of Arctic bramble sorbet with white chocolate, Finnish berries and licorice cream arrives (Marjamaa), I have made up my mind: Finnish cuisine, which Jacque Chirac once described as having the worst cuisine in Europe, is in the throes of a revolution.
A21 Dining: Kalevankatu 17 00100, Helsinki. Tel. +358 40 17 111 17 Email: dining@a21.fi
Opening hours: Tue-Thu 17-23 / Fri-Sat 17-00
[...] and staff attentive without being intrusive. For a more upscale ground-breaking experience, head to A21, whose cocktail-paired dishes are designed to transport you to other [...]