Finnish restaurant pops up in Soho
Located at One Leicester Street, Soho, the venue will be open until 30 December (but closed on Christmas Day) for dinner.
It was created by Antto Melasniemi and Klaus Haapaniemi, the duo behind the travelling food, design and art event HelYes!.
Targeted at ‘adventurous Londoners, late-night shoppers and curious travellers’, the menu is inspired from Eastern Finland, with ingredients such as reindeer, berries and mushrooms and dishes similar to the ones served in Melasniemi’s Helsinki restaurants Ateljé Finne and Kuurna.
It includes creamy salmon broth with allspice and dill; chicken liver mousse with lingonberries; cold smoked pike with buckwheat pancake; or reindeer fillet with beetroot for example – with no distinction between starters and mains.
“My version of Nordic food is a complete surround experience. I value concepts that simply make the guests feel good, and much of that comes from the setting and surrounding of the meal,” said Melasniemi.
Mythical drawings
The menu will also change throughout the month, and dishes can be ordered individually.
The duo is also using the pop-up to launch a new gin label, also called Tënu, distilled in Helsinki.
The décor features Haapaniemi’s drawings of mythical landscapes and strange creatures inspired by Finnish mythology.
“Food is overrated as part of the restaurant culture. The idea of spending an evening in a space that only serves dinner is dated. Tënu opens to the customer a story charged with conceptual mysticism and reinvents the reason to go out for a bite,” the artist said.
One Leicester Street
The venue was recently bought by the Honky Tonk group from The Unlisted Collection, with the intention to turn it into a ‘quirky’ 18-bedroom boutique hotel opening in March.
Honky Tonk owner and CEO Elliott Blum said: “What better way to show how interesting and dynamic the space might be than to allow our international friends to showcase their talent.”
