Apart from cuisine the city also offers a variety of dining experiences- right from fine dining to steak houses, from artists’ haunts to fast food joints, visitors have a choice of over 800 restaurants which Helsinki is peppered with. Here’s looking at a few most loved restaurants in the city.

The traditional Finnish food is a delicacy one must try while visiting this cannily quaint town. Finnish food is somewhere midway between Russian and Scandinavian cuisines and is largely focused on cold fish, which is readily available in the region.

You could savor the tastes of Salmon in its various forms – cold, smoked, salted; you name it, they have it. A traditional summer favorite in Helsinki is fish served with potatoes and dill, salmons and Baltic herrings are especially favored for this delicacy; a most awaited treat is the Crayfish which make its appearance just before summer bids goodbye.

Helsinki is known for the many crayfish parties which are organized during the fag end of summer. Reindeer meat is another delicacy which is a specialty of this region, and a number of eateries offer it in their menus. However, if you are a lover of various kinds of berries, you couldn’t have had it better than Helsinki, as it is known for the wide range it offers.

Strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants, and the much loved cloud berry are all prominent items on the Helsinki menu. Served fresh with pastries or ice cream and pastries during autumn, they are also deep frozen to be enjoyed in the winters. Finnish cuisine typically goes easy on spices, so as to maintain the fresh flavor of the ingredients.

Amongst the most reputed Finnish restaurants in Helsinki are Lappi, VPK, Sea Horse Keittio & Bar Jurri. All these restaurants are mid-range and offer traditional Finnish food. Lappi as the name suggests offers traditional food from the Lapland, the reindeer meat and snow grouse here is a much sought after delicacy.

Popular with tourists, this restaurant has a kitschy feel to it and the ambience has a rustic flavor. Sea Horse is a remarkable sea food restaurant which has been a city landmark since 1933; known for its exhaustive herring preparations, this restaurant is a hot favorite with tourists and locals alike. VPK restaurant is known for its buffets which change daily; maintained by the Volunteer Fire Brigade, the restaurant has pictures of firefighters adorning its walls.

Come here on a Thursday to enjoy the immensely popular pancakes and pea soup. Sundmans is another favorite restaurant here, best known for its desserts and wine cellar. Housed in the 19th Century building designed by Carl Ludwig Engel which offers pleasing views of the Helsinki Market Square, this restaurant is open for lunch and dinners Monday to Friday; on Saturday only dinner is served at Sundmans.

For Russian cuisine, there is no place better than Bellevue, which offers a romantic setting with its candle lit atmosphere. Babushka Era and Aleksander Nevski are the other popular Russian eateries. If you want to sample Italian cuisine in this Finnish town, head to Papa Giovanni in the World Trade Centre; known for its incredible lobster pool, pastas, meat and fish preparations, Papa Giovanni also has a list of recommended wines to go along with the dishes on the menu.

On the other hand, La Famiglia is a budget restaurant which serves delectable Italian cuisine. Amongst Oriental restaurants, the most notable ones are New Bamboo Centre, China and Namaskar & Wok It. Mount Everest is a great Nepalese restaurant in town, and Lebanese cuisine can be sampled at the Farouge. Helsinki also has a number of strictly vegetarian restaurants, namely Herne & Nauris, Silvoplee and Govinda's.

For those who love garlic in all its forms, head straight to the Garlic Restaurant, which serves dishes which have garlic as their main flavoring. From the subtle to the overpowering, there is a dish to suit every garlic lover’s palate. Be sure to try the garlic bread and butter here. Other notable eateries in Helsinki include Kosmos, Elite, Kappelli, Kamp and Belge.

No matter where you are from, and no matter what your preference are; Helsinki will surely win over your palettes with its exhaustive culinary experience. Helsinki amongst other things can be one hell of a gastronomical joyride, provided you are a self-confessed foodie!