Baskeri & Basso

This place is a true mastery of culinary. The details were simply outstanding in each item. I had the Grilled Pulpo while my wife had the catch of the day, we both had salad appetizers with chicken gizzards and grilled zucchini. The desert creme brulee was out of this world. Only cons the portion of the food is rather small, I guess the concept here is to appreciate what you are eating not just eat to consume.

I was hesitant about keeping my 11pm dinner reservation. But several local strongly encouraged me to keep and I didn't regret it. This is one of my favorite dinner experience in Helsinki! It's a casual restaurant in a room anchored by a large open kitchen. menu and wine list is on the wall. Service is friendly and most importantly, the food was delicious. At 11 pm the restaurant was bustling!

One of the most amazing restaurants I’ve ever been to! Down to earth, professional and joyfully, I can’t fault the experience. The food tastes amazing, so good that you can’t forget it. I can see the chef is an artist, very calm and very professional. There was a waitress that couldn’t stop laughing hysterically, she was literally rolling on the floor, which I personally found a little bit weird and unprofessional, but I’m sure many thought it was normal. I saw the chef wasn’t that impressed by it either, but the evening it was amazing and I will definitely be back. ❤️ 100 points.

What I liked: The atmosphere was gorgeous. Dark and moody. I loved it. Even though we arrived early for our table, we were seated very quickly. Very friendly service. Both of the dishes I order were fantastic. The food was incredible. So tasty and the flavours were nuanced. What I didn't like: The drinks menu was bad. No wine by the glass, no cocktails, no details of other drinks. I prefer to take a moment to study the drinks menu to choose what I wanted. Maybe some information was on a board but I didn't have my glasses. I ordered a bottle of wine but it wasn't opened in front of me. This has only happened to me once before and the wine was fake. The wine tasted fine but I don't want to second guess whether a wine is really from the bottle or not. So open the wine bottle at a table. When we finished eating, we wanted to have dessert. But the time between getting the menu and being asked to order was too long. We skipped it. This could be better.

Food was good and down to earth. There wasn't any dish that was bad but there was nothing surprising or mind blowing either except the ground artichokes with fish roe, a new combo which we really liked. The wines they recommended were good too. Service was prompt and cheerful. The ambience reminded us of restaurants in the meat packing district in New York. The only fault, which was quite unforgivable is that the first reservations are timed for 4pm. We arrived 10 mins before, there was another group behind us and the door to the restaurant was locked! I could hear the group behind us gasping and complaining that it's cold. This meant the first guests were standing out in the cold (5 degrees Celsius) for quite a while before someone actually came and opened the door at 3.58pm! Where I come from, this would have been rude and unacceptable. You would at least open the front door before opening time and let guest wait inside at the coat area where it is warm. I have never experienced this kind of manners from an establishment except in Finland (mind you this is not the only restaurant that does this in Finland). Aside from this first impression, we had a pretty delightful dinner.