Restaurants in South Coast
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Pizzeria Dennis
This place doesn't look much from the outside, but within is a warren of cosy rooms adorned with Chianti bottles and strings of garlic. There's a long and innovative range of pizzas and pasta, but you're better sticking to the tried and tested combinations: there's a good reason you don't see parmesan cheese and curry sauce together more often! Enthusiastic service.
reviewed
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Svenska Klubben 5th Floor Restaurant
It’s often tough to spot the menu that’s at street level and points the way up to this excellent Scandinavian (yes, we know it’s not technically Finnish) eatery. If you can, get a ‘cabinet’ (small room for groups) that is decked out in Nordic minimalism. You can nosh down on the likes of whitefish with pickled lime, or roasted duck breast sweetened with cognac cream. Three-course lunches are consistently delicious and set menus have several choices.
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Viikinkiravintola Harald
Dust off your feasting horned helmet for this Viking restaurant where subtlety is run through with a berserker’s broadsword. Food fits the theme, and while set menus (or Voyages as they’re called here) are filling three-course samplers, picking and mixing means you can indulge in barbarian ribs on a plank or tar ice cream with cognac. It’s not exactly gourmet, but it is great fun.
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Kala-Trappi
This gourmet option in a fine wooden building, is perfect for a refined meal. The menu is based on Finnish specialities with roast goose in an apple and seabuckthorn sauce and several options for whitefish, but also has seafood or reindeer pastas and simpler steaks. Save room for the expertly chosen cheeses including deep-fried camembert with lakka (cloudberries).
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Henri’x
You’ll need to catch a free ferry out to this refined little island restaurant that feels a world away from the rugged granite island it perches on. The cane marine interior oozes comfort and the menu is hearty sailor fare including a rib-sticking potato and sausage stew. As it’s in the port, you can expect yacht rock and a boat-shoed crowd to match.
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Degerby Gille
Set in the oldest building in town, this is an enchanting restaurant that is usually only open for group bookings. It's worth inquiring, though, at the Hotel Degerby, as the restaurant is usually open for lunch once a week for the local Rotary Club, and the public can take advantage. There are five separate and charmingly old-fashioned dining rooms.
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Enkeliravintola
This heavenly eatery features several rooms brightly decorated with their namesake angels (enkeli means angel) in a tasteful fashion. It’s tough to escape the winged wonders with so many of the dishes named for them. Mains, all served with house-baked bread and pesto, run to roast duck and a classic roast reindeer with lingonberry sauce.
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Vaakahuoneen Paviljonki
Set a little away from town, this restaurant is worth tripping out to find. As well as an à la carte menu of snacks, pasta, pizzas and steak, there are daily buffets in summer, which include a variety of fish and several Asian options. The river-front locale can be enjoyed in spring and summer when live jazz accompanies the sunshine.
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Tomate
An ebullient Spanish restaurant washes down its meals with plenty of Iberian wine. Meals-wise they pull off classics like gazpacho and shrimp-rich paella, but make a few concessions to Finnish palates (there are simple fish dishes). The selection of three tapas dishes is best with a few cervezas (beers) on the terrace.
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Degerby Gille
In the town’s oldest building, this enchanting restaurant opens for group bookings. It’s worth inquiring, though, at the Hotel Degerby, as the restaurant is usually open for lunch once a week for the local Rotary Club, with the general public allowed as well. There are five separate and charmingly old-fashioned dining rooms.
reviewed
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Baan Thai
This is an authentic and intimate little Thai restaurant a short walk north of the kauppatori. With a fairly down-to-earth interior (the trellised grapevine is a little out of place) and no-nonsense service, the dishes are tasty, if a little mild by Southeast Asian standards. The lunch buffet during the week is a bargain.
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Trattoria Romana
Food surrounds you in this Mediterranean favourite, from the pots and pans decorating the walls and ceiling to rich flavours wafting from the kitchen. The menu has classic lasagne and a tasty chicken with goat’s cheese, but blackboard specials always bring a bit of experimentation to the intimate tables.
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Cafe Noir [closed}
While it's far from fancy, the Noir is a Turku institution and one of the cheapest sit-down places to eat. It's very cheap, with simple but filling plates such as meatballs or spaghetti with salad at low prices; the eclectic menu also includes pizza, schnitzel, chicken curry and omelettes.
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Pirate
Plenty of other sea dogs know this is the spot to weigh anchor if you’re after straight-up grub. Below decks on the ground level there’s a restaurant that runs to burgers, pizzas and pastas, while up top there’s a lively bar that plays the odd sea shanty (or other live music).
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Jonathan
With a maritime-themed dining room upstairs, and a terrace and bar, this restaurant (named after the seagull) is a good choice. There are small but tasty tapas portions, snails in delicious garlic butter, and great salmon and roast chicken mains. The service is good here.
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Kahvila Liisa
In a pretty yellow wooden building, this café has a little outdoor terrace where you can enjoy tasty karjalanpiirakka (rice-filled savoury pastry) and excellent quiche. In the same building is a shop, Tuulentupa, selling attractive handicrafts and souvenirs.
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Sininen Juna Aschan Café
With a name meaning ‘blue train’, you’d expect to be able to sit in a converted carriage in the middle of the market, right? But this coffee institution is currently run by the Turku bakery chain, which supplies delicious buns and cakes, so it’s a tasty destination.
reviewed
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Kahvila Kisälli
At the entrance to the Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum, Kahvila Kisälli is a large, cheery café in a historic 1851 building. It's a good spot to stop for coffee after visiting the museum; they also do tasty slices of pancake with strawberry jam.
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Pursiravintola Vantti
On a small island, this yacht club has the best views in town. Dishes use local salmon and seafood, but also include traditional Finnish meatballs. Larger groups can book out the sauna. A ferry collects you from Tervasaari harbour with the press of the buzzer.
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Sergio's
This stylish Italian restaurant and café is a cut above most of its kind. The outside tables are perfectly poised to have a drink and do some Turku-watching. The mains are classy and the pizzas good value; there's also a decent selection of Italian wines.
reviewed
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Alan’s Café
Set in a delightful villa with an appealing forecourt this place features treats (€1.50) hand baked by the jolly owner, plus there’s a small (mostly Finnish) bookshop and gift shop attached. It’s the ideal place for a post-seaside stroll and cuppa.
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Foija
It's quite a surprise to descend under the Hansa shopping centre and discover this gently-lit, brick-vaulted space. It's been a restaurant for over 150 years, and these days is a favourite for tasty steaks, but also has several vegetarian options.
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Wanha Fiskari
Right by the Maretarium, this place specialises in seafood, smoking its own salmon and pan-frying a mean Baltic herring. The nautical decor is laid on but the first-rate food means you might not even notice the model sail-boats and sea doggerel.
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Blanko
Look for the Scrabble-tile signage to double-word score on a hip eatery. Inside it’s all Scandic chic with periodic DJs, but the dining area is discrete enough for you to enjoy the global menu of pastas, curries and a worthwhile lunch special.
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Svarte Rudolf
The best of the floating restaurants moored on the south side of the Aurajoki, this place does Italian with a leaning towards seafood. While long summer evenings invite top-deck drinking, the downstairs dining room is an elegant alternative.
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