Restaurant in Helsinki, Finland
Two Michelin stars retained. Book early.
Finnjävel Salonki holds a Michelin star — retained in 2024 and 2025 — and is one of Helsinki's harder fine-dining reservations to secure. Chef Fleur de Lin leads a contemporary Finnish kitchen at €€€€, with a 4.5-star average across 812 reviews. Plan ahead, confirm the current menu format before visiting, and treat this as a special-occasion commitment rather than a flexible night out.
Finnjävel Salonki holds a Michelin star — retained in both 2024 and 2025 , and operates from a single dining room in central Helsinki at Ainonkatu 3. Availability is tight. If you are planning a special occasion dinner or a serious celebratory lunch in the Finnish capital this season, this is one of the harder reservations to secure in the city. Book as far ahead as you can. Waiting for a convenient window will likely mean waiting too long.
The contemporary Finnish format positions Finnjävel Salonki alongside Palace and Olo at the leading end of Helsinki's fine-dining tier , all four-price-symbol venues with tasting-menu sensibilities and a clear identity rooted in Nordic produce. At €€€€, you are committing to a serious spend. The question worth answering before you book is whether the experience justifies that spend relative to what else is available in the city, and whether your timing , lunch or dinner , changes the calculus.
At starred restaurants in the Nordic countries, the lunch-versus-dinner question carries real weight. Dinner services typically run the full menu with the full wine pairing, meaning the price ceiling is higher but so is the depth of the experience. Lunch, where available, often delivers a shorter format at a more accessible price , making it the better entry point for first-timers or those with a tighter budget. Finnjävel Salonki's specific lunch and dinner menu structures are not publicly confirmed in our data, so contact the restaurant directly before booking to confirm what each service offers and how pricing differs. What is verifiable: a 4.5-star average across 812 Google reviews signals consistent execution across sittings, which suggests the kitchen holds its standard regardless of service time.
If you are coming for a special occasion and cost is not the primary concern, dinner is almost always the right call at this tier , more time, fuller expression of the menu, and the full arc of a serious meal. If you are visiting Helsinki on a shorter trip or want to experience the Michelin-starred Finnish-contemporary format without committing to an extended evening, ask specifically whether a lunch format exists and what it covers. That conversation with the restaurant will tell you more than any assumption about what the kitchen does in the afternoon.
Chef Fleur de Lin leads the kitchen at Finnjävel Salonki. The cuisine sits in contemporary Finnish territory , a category that, at this level, means seasonal Finnish produce interpreted through a modern, technique-led lens rather than through folk tradition. This is not a heritage reproduction project. It is a contemporary restaurant that draws on Finnish ingredients and approaches them with the rigor you would expect from a Michelin-starred kitchen. Think precision over rusticity, restraint over abundance. For diners familiar with the broader Scandinavian fine-dining register , Grön in Helsinki or Chez Dominique in Copenhagen , the sensibility will be recognizable, but Finnjävel Salonki's identity is its own.
The venue sits at a price point where the full experience , food, pairings, service , should feel complete and considered. A 4.5-star rating across more than 800 reviews is a meaningful signal of consistency at this level, where disappointed expectations tend to land harder in public scores. That said, for a special-occasion booking, it is worth calling ahead to align your expectations on format, duration, and any seasonal changes to the current menu. At €€€€, a brief confirmation conversation is worth the effort.
See the comparison section below for how Finnjävel Salonki sits against Palace, Olo, Grön, Savoy, and Gaijin in Helsinki's fine-dining field.
Planning a broader Helsinki trip? Our full Helsinki restaurants guide covers the city's dining scene in detail. For where to stay, see our Helsinki hotels guide. If you want to extend beyond the capital, VÅR in Porvoo and Kaskis in Turku are worth your attention for serious regional cooking. Elsewhere in the city, The ROOM by Kozeen Shiwan offers a creative alternative at the high end. For bars and experiences, see our Helsinki bars guide and Helsinki experiences guide.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finnjävel Salonki | Contemporary | Michelin 1 Star (2025); Michelin 1 Star (2024) | Hard | — |
| Palace | Finnish, Modern Cuisine | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Olo | Scandinavian, Modern Cuisine | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Grön | New Nordic, Creative | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Savoy | Pizzeria, Contemporary European, Modern Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| Gaijin | Middle Eastern, Asian | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how Finnjävel Salonki measures up.
This is a single dining room operation at Ainonkatu 3, Helsinki, with a Michelin star held in both 2024 and 2025. Seats are limited and demand is high, so booking well in advance is not optional — it's the difference between getting in and missing out entirely. Chef Fleur de Lin leads a contemporary Finnish menu, which at this price point (€€€€) means a structured format, likely a set menu rather than à la carte choice. Come prepared for that format and you'll get full value from the experience.
At €€€€ with a Michelin star retained consecutively in 2024 and 2025, Finnjävel Salonki sits in the tier where the price is justified by consistent, independently verified quality. For Helsinki specifically, that credential puts it among a small group of restaurants operating at this level in the city. If you're comparing it to Olo or Grön, which operate in a similar contemporary Finnish space, Finnjävel Salonki's Michelin recognition gives it a documented edge — though value ultimately depends on how much you weight formal fine dining versus a less structured meal.
A single dining room at this price point and format can work well for solo diners, particularly if counter or bar seating is available — though the venue data does not confirm whether that option exists here. At €€€€ with a set-menu format typical of Michelin-starred Finnish kitchens, solo dining at Finnjävel Salonki is more about whether you're comfortable with a formal, extended service on your own. If you want a solo fine-dining seat with more confirmed counter availability in Helsinki, Palace is worth checking alongside.
Bar seating is not confirmed in the available venue information for Finnjävel Salonki. check the venue's official channels before planning around that option. At a single dining room operation of this format, walk-in bar access is less common than at larger or more casual venues.
Michelin-starred restaurants in the Nordic region routinely accommodate dietary requirements when notified at the time of booking — it's standard practice at this level. Finnjävel Salonki's contemporary Finnish format, led by Chef Fleur de Lin, suggests a kitchen capable of adjusting a structured menu. Flag any restrictions clearly when you reserve; last-minute requests at a €€€€ tasting-menu format are harder to accommodate.
Specific menu items are not confirmed in the available venue data, and menus at this level change with season and availability. At a Michelin-starred contemporary Finnish restaurant in the €€€€ range, the format is almost certainly a set tasting menu rather than à la carte — meaning the kitchen decides the direction and ordering isn't really the question. Trust the menu, communicate dietary needs upfront, and consider the wine pairing if your budget allows.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
