Dinner Date & Staycation: Lapland Hotel Bulevardi

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Helsinki has a bunch of really special hotels, and the newest addition to those is the Lapland Hotel Bulevardi that just opened in early 2019 – and it brings, as the same says, a piece of Finnish Lapland to the Capital. Using the heritage of the North to create a unique design experience is really quite the undertaking, and they succeeded magnificently. The care for detail prevails and it really is not just staying over at a hotel to have a place to stay, but a way to get a glimpse into Sami culture, in a way that feels natural and not kitschy at all.

My dear friend Veera Bianca invited me to join her for a stay at Lapland Hotel Bulevardi and hells yeah, I was very game. There are different room types available, but no matter which you choose, they will all bring mysterious Arctic vibes to you, and great beds, too. Our room was divided into the large bathroom and the living and bedroom area by a giant glass wall, which made the whole room feel extra open and spacious. If you don’t like your room companion that much you can also close the curtain to the glass wall for more privacy.

Life is busy, and the prospect of taking a dip into a bathtub that could be my living room and to sweat it out in a private sauna in the Lapland Hotel Spa room (that’s a whopping 38qm) sounded just like what we needed – it was also both of our birthdays not much long ago, so it felt like the perfect occasion to take a little time out with a face mask and great food.

Speaking of food – I will tell you more below on the restaurant experience, but at this point, I also do want to mention their breakfast, which is easily one of the most curious and special ones in the city – in all good ways. Nowhere else you’d find fresh cloudberries, a reindeer omelette and a spruce smoothie, which sounds like such an extravagant way to start off your day – but I would return here just for the breakfast.

Restaurant Kulta

The food could be a whole story of its own – Kulta (‘gold’ in Finnish) restaurant is located on the ground floor, with big bright windows out to the busy Bulevardi street. We often oversee hotel restaurants, as they often serve as a convenient place for tired travellers, but we should definitely pay closer attention these days. The concept of Kulta ties in seamlessly with the hotel vibes, from the decor to the menu, everything is put together with so much care and effort. Using local and traditional ingredients alike, we got to try their five-course surprise menu that’s kind of a best-of-the-best of what they offer that week, and it comes in at 69€ (accompanying wines for 62€) which isn’t a total bargain, but if you’re up for a truly unique culinary trip to the North, this is a great treat for the soul. An à la carte menu is of course also available if you prefer to choose your dishes.

With the aforementioned birthdays in mind, we started with some delicate, Arctic-inspired cocktails, and tasted our way through the menu. I’d like to especially point out, that this meal was incredibly well timed, at no time we felt rushed, but we also didn’t feel like we were waiting.

There were some parts of the menu, that we found really special, from the grouse meat which we had both never had before, so super smooth potato mash and a piece of reindeer rack that just melted. I’m not gonna go into all that much details on the menu here, but I want to give a special shout-out to the cassis-leaf sorbet from the dessert that took me right to my grandmas garden and her blackcurrant bush. The smell will always be a trip back in time, and to experience that smell as a taste, was really wild to me.

Kulta is a wonderfully classy trip into the wonders of Lapland and into Finnish ingredients and special flavours. I would definitely come here with guests to experience the cuisine of the country. I haven’t tried their lunch yet, but the changing menu comes at a more affordable price tag.