Sandro Kallio - Helsinki

Food is healthy and tasty. Poss. a bit of a place. The staff’s attitude is a little too relaxing for my,, but I’m going to come back a second time.

A pleasant surprise. The food was really good and tasty. Immediately ystävä and international. business in English. I have to come again.

Ihan jees jos tykkää alueen ruuasta. Suomea ei osaa juuri kukaan ja menukin on englanniksi

The first thing I will say in this review is that the photos already uploaded to Yelp do not do it justice. I had bookmarked it before travelling to Helsinki after reading about it in an online travel guide but was not overly swayed by the pictures. After walking about looking for food, to no avail, in minus 8 heavy snow fall, I decided to check my bookmarks and this was nearby and would have to do. As soon as we walked in I was taken aback at how cool it looked plus it was really busy which is always a good sign. I scanned the tables to have a peek at other diners plates and was pleasantly surprised... this looked good! The waiter was chirpy and said he could squeeze our party of 4 in if we gave him a few minutes...we all breathed a sigh of relief at this point! There was a small cocktail menu, I went for the berry bang with rum, it was a delicious proper cocktail, just the right ratio of rum and sweetness. So far so good. The food is Moroccan/Middle Eastern and the waiter answered any questions we had with ease. Three of us, myself included, ordered the Boulettes (24 euro) and one ordered the tagine of the day (market price). The Boulettes arrived on platters with meat balls, couscous and a egg...it looked a bit dull until a second plate arrived, teaming with houmous, tabbouleh, pomegranate seeds, tomato infused bread, crunchy salad, mint yogurt, zaalouk (aubergine salad) to name a few. It was superb! I loved how you could mix and match all the flavours so that each mouthful tasted different... Like tapas for yourself on your own plate. The portions were big but it was so tasty I could have eaten more. My friend ordered the tagine of the day which was probably too much for one person, maybe best to share, but it looked great and the meat was succulent and soft. We have returned home to Scotland and upon writing this review I'm starving at the thought of it. There was a Sandro cookbook which we now regret not buying, so will call the restaurant to order a copy. The food was fantastic, if we go back to Helsinki I'd go back here in a flash. Well done Sandro, just wish we'd found it sooner

The food gets 4.5 stars. I ordered the goat cheese and dates pastillas which were delicious. I also had a berry bang drink; it might have been the most attractive fruit covered drink I've ever had. Huge thumbs up for the bar tender. The thing I disliked the most was service. When I could get it, everyone was nice. But, it sometimes took flagged someone down. I HATE having to flag someone down. It makes me feel like a jerk, but also shows a serious disconnect between expectations and service. If this were a cheap or crappy restaurant maybe I wouldn't feel so strongly. But, when your menu is 50E/person, I expect service with that.