Finnair A350 XWB to Helsinki

[yflyer]

The next wine was a Candialle Circe Toscana, an Italian wine in the style of a Super Tuscan...





This was a deep, concentrated wine with a fragrant bouquet which was quite delicious to drink...

As a prelude to the main course, I was served a crisp slice of reindeer blood...



...followed by a very fine and tender reindeer fillet.





A very satisfying main course...

[yflyer]

Dessert was ice cream...



...the wafer in the picture is cracked because I began eating before remembering to take the photo...such was my state of mind at that point in the evening...

It was accompanied by a glass of Lorenz Auslese...





And chocolate to finish...these were ultra fine...



What an incredible dinner...refined, imaginative cuisine using many local ingredients, that delighted the senses and tastebuds without ever crossing the line into novelty for its own sake. The wine pairings were quite inspired too...and this was the regular wine pairing, not even the prestige wine pairing!



At the end of dinner, you were given postcards which they would mail anywhere in the world...



A top restaurant, and a dinner I will remember for a long time. This was the shorter of the two dinner menus available. I hope to be back at some point in the future to try the "Longer Way" menu...which must be quite a journey!

[yflyer]

Earlier that day, I headed to Market Square for lunch.

Knowing that I had a reservation for dinner at Olo that evening, I decided to have something light at midday, and headed to Finlandia Caviar Shop and Restaurant.



This establishment overlooks the Helsinki the waterfront, close to Market Square, and serves a range of caviar and fish roe preparations in a modern cafe/bistro setting.



While not inexpensive, this place seemed to represent reasonable value for anyone out to taste caviar and fish roe in a setting that didn't smack of over-the-top luxury.





I've always wondered what the hype over caviar was about, but I could not bring myself to cough up EUR65 for a tasting portion of premium Russian caviar...



...so I opted for several of the other less pricey caviar and fish roe preparations on the extensive menu, which showcased many ways to serve this delicacy.

I sampled Siberian sturgeon caviar on quails eggs...



...and indulged in a single Fin de Claire oyser with Malossol caviar...



...and a selection of Finnish fish roes, including lumpfish, salmon, capelin, vendace and trout, all served with quails egg in croustade cups...



I ended the meal with a soft boiled egg with truffled butter and sturgeon caviar...



All these dishes tasted very good...delicate morsels tasting of cream, egg and the salty sea...



Did I gain any more insight into why caviar has become such a sought after luxury food item? Apart from the rarity and the cost?



Well not really...while it was all delicious, it was quite hard to pinpoint exacly why these preparations tasted as good as they did. Was it the egg that accompanied the caviar, or the other way round, with the caviar enhancing the flavour of the egg? Which part of the dish was hero and which was the sidekick? Maybe the pairings were so harmonious that it did not matter.

I did learn that caviar and fish roe was delicious, especially when served the right way, as they were in this restaurant, and that there were many fish roe and caviar preparations where you could get a lot of the taste without breaking the bank...

As for top end, premium caviar...that remains a mystery to me. It's not something I can afford, so maybe it is best that I have not acquired a taste for it.

And the real revelation from lunch? I accompanied it all with a shot of Beluga Russian vodka, served freezing cold in a frosty shot class. This tasted sublime! The rich, velvety mouthfeel of this freezing cold vodka was just delightful. I never knew a shot of ice cold vodka could taste so good...



Only one shot of vodka, as it was kind of early in the day for a drink, although I was sorely tempted to order another. In any case, I planned to go for a run later, so another shot would have been out of the question.

[yflyer]

On the last day of my stay in Helsinki, I spent much of the day finishing up work, before making arrangements for a late check-out, and one final mid-afternoon run around Helsinki before dinner and a taxi to the airport.



My final dinner in Helsinki was at Gastrobar Emo...



The setting and concept was quite casual...





The day's beers listed on the chalkboard...



A fairly eclectic wine list...



There was an a la carte food menu...



But you were encouraged to try the chef's tasting menus...several courses chosen by the chef...



There were some items on the a la carte menu which looked interesting, but after a hectic week, I thought "enough decisions...I will leave it all to chance..." and ordered the High Five, along with the beverage pairing, and sat back to enjoy the ride...

[yflyer]

Bread to start...



And the first wine of the evening, a Lionel Osmin Cami Salie Sec from the Appellation of Jurancon in Southwest France. A wine (And appellation) that I had never encountered before. The grape varietals in this wine (Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng) were not familiar to me either...



My waiter was a young man who was clearly passionate about wine, and described the wine and it's origins at length...



The first course was potato flatbread and parsley...



The next wine was Riedlin Rot 2011...



This was a pinot noir, which went beautifully with the next course, which was elk tartar...essentially this was minced raw elk meat...



This elk tartar was delicious...one of the best tartar preparations I had tried, with the meat minced more finely than some beef tartar preparations I have had, and arguably more flavourful.



For the next wine, we were back to whites, with the Spanish grape varietal Gordello, from Bodegas Rafael Palacios, in a wine named "Louro"...



...which accompanied the fish course of white fish with potato salad...



This was an exceptionally delicate fish, with wonderful flavour and texture...



The bed of creamy potato salad on which the fish was placed was also quite delicious...

[yflyer]

The next wine was from Austria, named Klosterkeller Siegendorf O'Dora, and made with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc...



What an amazing run of unusual, and very interesting wines so far...



O'Dora was a powerful red wine, which went very well with the next course of veal sweetbread...



The sweetbreads were served piping hot, and had a soft texture and a subtle, nutty taste...this was a real treat...

[yflyer]

And finally, a moscato, Elio Perrone Bigaro Rose, to go with dessert...





...which was cloudberry and white chocolate...



I did not order a cheese platter to accompany my meal, but there looked to be quite an interesting selection available...



All in all, an outstanding dinner at Emo. The cuisine was superb, and the wine pairings were quite inspired as well.

I found the food scene in Helsinki to be quite remarkable...beyond traditional Finnish fare, there are many very creative and imaginative chefs cooking up a storm here, as well as a very adventurous wine culture.

After dinner, I took a taxi back to the Holiday Inn, picked up my luggage, and headed to Helsinki Airport to check in for my flight back home to Singapore.

[yflyer]

Helsinki airport is not a large airport. Check-in was quick. Security queues were also fairly short at the time I was there (I was there early...I arrived at 8.15pm for my 11.55pm departure).



At the Finnair Lounge, I was once again directed to the Premium side of the lounge...





...where I couldn't resist a Napue G&T...

[yflyer]

At the gate, Airbus A350 registration OH-LWA -- Finnair's first A350, just over a year old.





Inside, it was the same configuration as my outbound SIN-HEL flight,with Cirrus Business Class seats arranged in 1-2-1 herringbone configuration...





The first section of the Y cabin was reserved for "Economy Comfort": Economy class with additional legroom and enhanced amenities (Although the meals were the same as Y).



Economy Comfort bulkhead seats...



A view of Economy Comfort seat pitch...



The regular Y cabin...



A few shots of the very generous seat recline in Y...this Y seat is very comfortable.





Some snow visible on the tarmac...

[yflyer]

A flight time of just under 11 hours to Singapore this evening...



Deicing/inspection...



Take off, as seen from the forward-facing camera...



Cabin ambience on this full flight...

[yflyer]

Dinner was served shortly after take-off...



Two choices, chicken or beef...I opted for chicken...





A very tasty dinner. As on my outbound SIN-HEL sector, beverages, including hard liquor, were complimentary throughout the flight.

We were flying into daylight, and not long after take-off, the sun began to rise in the East. Cabin window shades were drawn to allow pax to rest.



I slept well in my economy class seat...this seat was well padded and had superb recline.

Our routing during the night took us over Central Asia and quite close to the Himalayas...

[yflyer]

Prior to landing in SIN, breakfast was served...





No choice of breakfast dish, but this was a tasty, and quite substantial, breakfast.

[yflyer]

The high-res cameras on this aircraft provided great views of the A350 on final approach...



Landing on 20R this afternoon...









Looking at the yellow lines and aircraft types at the gate in Changi was an exercise in nostalgia...A310, 707, 747SP, DC10, L1011...what are the odds of flying any of those again?

A close look also revealed an interesting bit of trivia, the nosewheels of the A359 stop at the same point as an IL62...

At the gate in SIN...

[yflyer]

Final reflections?

My SIN-HEL and HEL-SIN sectors on A350 were both superb. Hard product, soft product and cabin crew were all top notch.

Transit in Helsinki was quick and straight forward as well. I would highly recommend Finnair for flights to Helsinki, as well as for flights connecting within Europe.

As for connecting to New York or further afield, I would also be comfortable doing this if the airfare was attractive. Also note that Finnair uses an A330, not an A350 on the HEL-JFK sector.

As for Helsinki itself, I had a wonderful time exploring the city. It is compact enough to explore on foot, and has a lot to offer for visitors, not least an amazing restaurant scene.

I am also tempted to explore Lappland and the more remote parts of Finland on a subsequent trip, just to get a sense of the vastness of the Finnish forests and countryside.

For anyone interested in comparing Finnair's product with the A350 on a couple of other airlines, here are links to TR's on QR's A350 (Here and here), and Premium Economy on SQ's A350.

Thanks for reading!

[eminere™]

OMGGG those caviar pics I am DYINGGG!!! yflyer I think you may have just outdone yourself with this one!