RFK Cuisine · New Nordic · Helsinki
Best New Nordic Restaurants in Helsinki 2026
Finnish new Nordic, tasting menus & foraging · Helsinki · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
Helsinki now has two two-star restaurants for the first time in its history. When Gron earned its second star in the 2026 Nordic guide, it joined the harbourfront grande dame Palace at the top of a scene that has quietly become one of the most serious in the Nordics, all built on Finnish ingredients, fermentation and foraging rather than imported luxury. This is a small city that punches far above its size: a clutch of one-stars from the long-held Demo to the newly crowned Boreal, a deep green-star streak led by Nokka, and a clear identity built on wild herbs, lake fish and the long Finnish winter. Helsinki new Nordic runs from a 120-euro tasting to a 290-euro two-star menu. Ranked here on the cooking, the room and value, with what to order at each.
1.Palace
Eero Vottonen's two-star harbourfront room with the city's best wine list and views; book it for Helsinki's grandest tasting-menu occasion.
Palace, on the tenth floor of a modernist building on the Etelaranta harbourfront, is the grande dame of Helsinki fine dining and one of the city's two two-star restaurants, under chef Eero Vottonen. The cooking blends French technique and Nordic ingredients with a clear Japanese sensibility, precise, restrained and seasonal, and it is matched by the finest wine list in the city and a wall of windows over the harbour and Market Square. It is the most polished, view-led occasion in Helsinki, the place to bring someone you want to impress and to take the full pairing. The room is small and the seatings limited, which keeps the experience personal. It is the pick for the grandest Nordic dinner in the city. Book well ahead and take the wine pairing; the view is best at dusk.
Book well ahead; take the full tasting and the wine pairing, and ask for a window at dusk.
2.Gron
Toni Kostian's vegetable-led room, promoted to two stars in 2026; book it for the most personal foraging-driven tasting in Finland.
Gron, a small room on Albertinkatu in the design district, is the other half of Helsinki's two-star club, promoted to a second star in the 2026 Nordic guide under chef Toni Kostian. It made its name on vegetable-forward, foraging-led cooking, wild herbs and seasonal produce worked with intensity and a light touch, and the second star confirms a kitchen that has only deepened over the years. The menu is a tasting built around what Finland gives that week, with meat and fish present but the produce always leading, and a thoughtful drinks pairing alongside. It is more intimate and more personal than Palace, the chef's own vision rather than a grand hotel-scale room. It is the pick for the most distinctive Nordic tasting in the city. Book well ahead; the room is tiny and word is fully out.
Book well ahead; take the vegetable-forward tasting and the paired drinks flight.
3.Olo
The dependable one-star Nordic tasting by Market Square under Mikko Pakola; book it for refined Finnish cooking with a bistro downstairs.
Olo, in a handsome old building on Pohjoisesplanadi near Market Square, has held a Michelin star since 2011 and remains one of the most reliable fine-dining rooms in Helsinki, now led by chef Mikko Pakola. The cooking is modern Nordic in the polished, ingredient-driven mode, a seasonal tasting of Finnish produce, lake and Baltic fish and game, plated with Scandinavian restraint and served in a calm, grown-up room. There is a more casual bistro downstairs, Olo Bistro, which is the cheaper, walk-in-friendly way into the kitchen's style. It is neither the flashiest nor the most experimental room on the list, but it is consistently excellent and central, which makes it a safe, smart booking. It is the pick for a dependable one-star Nordic dinner. Book the tasting ahead, or drop into the bistro for the lighter version.
Book the tasting ahead or try Olo Bistro downstairs; the seasonal Finnish tasting and pairing.
4.Demo
Helsinki's longest-held star, a daily-changing tasting and a deep cellar; book it for the city's most wine-driven Nordic dinner.
Demo, on Uudenmaankatu, has held its Michelin star since 2007, the longest unbroken run in Helsinki, and it remains a benchmark for the city's modern Nordic-European cooking. The format is a daily-changing tasting menu, so the kitchen cooks to the market and the season rather than a fixed list, and the room is built around one of the deepest wine cellars in Finland, several hundred references accumulated since it opened. The style is more classically European than the foraging-led newcomers, technical and refined, which gives the city's fine-dining scene a steady anchor. It is the pick for diners who care most about the wine and want a kitchen with nothing left to prove. Book ahead and take the pairing; the daily tasting and the cellar are the reasons to come.
Book ahead, take the pairing; the daily-changing tasting and a bottle from the deep cellar.
5.Finnjavel
The one-star room reinventing traditional Finnish home cooking; book it for the most national, identity-driven tasting on the list.
Finnjavel is the one room on this list cooking explicitly from the Finnish past, a one-star kitchen that takes the country's humble home and heritage dishes and rebuilds them at fine-dining level. The concept is the point: the food Finland actually ate, rye, root vegetables, game, lake fish, dairy and preserves, reimagined with modern technique rather than imported gloss, so the tasting reads like a national autobiography. The room is elegant and the service serious, but the cooking keeps its sense of humour and place, which is rare at this level. It is the pick for diners who want to understand Finnish food specifically, not just generic new Nordic. It is the most distinctly national tasting in the city. Book ahead and take the full menu; the reinvented Finnish classics are the reason to come.
Book ahead; take the full heritage tasting and the matching Finnish-leaning pairing.
6.Boreal
The buzziest new opening, a first star within a year for fermentation-driven cooking; book it for the city's most current Nordic tasting.
Boreal, in the design district, is the most talked-about new opening in Helsinki, a kitchen that earned its first Michelin star less than a year after opening in the 2026 guide. Chef Pasha Demin, Russian-born and devoted to Finnish produce, turns fermentation into fine dining: a hyper-seasonal menu built on preserved ingredients, koji, kombu and curing, with plants and seafood leading and small local suppliers behind almost every plate. It is the clearest expression of where Nordic cooking is heading, technical, preservation-driven and intensely seasonal, and the speed of the star tells you how good the kitchen already is. It is the pick for diners who want the newest, most current Nordic tasting in the city rather than an established name. Book ahead; demand has spiked since the star and the room is small.
Book ahead, demand is high since the star; the fermentation-led tasting and the drinks pairing.
7.Nokka
The harbourside green-star room built around named Finnish producers; book it for sustainable Finnish cooking with the farmers on the menu.
Nokka, in a converted warehouse on Kanavaranta in the Katajanokka harbour district, is Helsinki's reference for sustainable, producer-led Finnish cooking, a Michelin Green Star room under long-time chef Ari Ruoho. The whole menu is built around named Finnish farms, foragers and fishers, with the suppliers credited and the sourcing as much the story as the plate, from reindeer and game to root vegetables and lake fish. The cooking is more rustic and direct than the starred tasting rooms, generous and ingredient-first rather than cerebral, in a warm, beam-and-brick space by the water. It is the pick for diners who care about provenance and want excellent Finnish food without the full tasting-menu ceremony or price. It is the most values-driven room on the list. Book ahead and ask which producers are on the menu that week.
Book ahead; the producer-led Finnish menu, the game or reindeer, and a Finnish wine or beer.
How Helsinki eats new Nordic
Helsinki fine dining sorts cleanly by ambition and price. The two-star rooms, Palace on the harbour and Gron in the design district, are the grand occasions, 200 to 290 euros for the tasting before pairings; book weeks ahead. The one-stars, Olo, Demo, Finnjavel and the new Boreal, run 120 to 190 euros for the menu and each has a clear identity, Olo's polished classicism, Demo's wine focus, Finnjavel's Finnish heritage, Boreal's fermentation. Nokka anchors the green-star, producer-led end. The cooking is built on Finnish ingredients and the seasons, so eat what is good when you visit: summer brings herbs, berries and new vegetables; autumn brings game and mushrooms; winter leans on preserves and fermentation. The bistro spin-offs, like Olo Bistro, are the cheaper, more flexible way in.
Booking is essential at this level. The two-stars and Boreal need reserving weeks ahead; the other one-stars and Nokka take bookings a little closer in. For the wider city, the Helsinki dining guide maps it by neighbourhood and occasion, the best restaurants with a view in Helsinki cover the harbour and skyline rooms, and the best new Nordic restaurants worldwide pillar sets Helsinki against Copenhagen, Stockholm and Oslo.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for serious Helsinki new Nordic
Market Square tourist tents. The harbourside stalls and tents that sell fried vendace and reindeer to cruise-ship crowds are a fun snack but not the cuisine; the cooking is generic and the prices are tourist-rate. For real Finnish food at that level, eat at Nokka a few minutes along the harbour, or take a tasting at one of the starred rooms.
Hotel "Scandinavian" buffets. The generic Nordic breakfast-and-dinner buffets in the big hotels flatten the cuisine into salmon and meatballs. For the genuine, seasonal, foraging-led version, book Gron, Boreal or Finnjavel, or compare how it is done across the region in the best new Nordic restaurants worldwide.
Frequently asked
What is the best New Nordic restaurant in Helsinki?
Helsinki now has two two-star restaurants, and they are the top of the list. Palace, on the harbourfront under chef Eero Vottonen, blends French and Nordic technique with a Japanese sensibility and the city's finest wine list and views. Gron, in the design district under chef Toni Kostian, was promoted to two stars in the 2026 Nordic guide for its vegetable-forward, foraging-led cooking. Palace for the polished, view-led occasion; Gron for the most personal Nordic tasting. Book both well ahead; the rooms are small and the seatings limited.
How many Michelin stars does Helsinki have?
As of the MICHELIN Guide Nordic Countries 2026, Helsinki has two two-star restaurants, Palace and Gron, the latter promoted to a second star this year, alongside a clutch of one-stars including Olo, Demo, Finnjavel and the newly starred Boreal. The city also picked up a new one-star, Latitude 25, in 2026. Several kitchens hold a Green Star for sustainability, among them Nokka. It is a small but serious scene: Helsinki punches well above its size for a city of its population, with a clear new Nordic identity.
What makes Helsinki new Nordic cooking different?
Helsinki's new Nordic leans hard on Finnish ingredients and preservation. Expect wild herbs and foraged greens, lake and Baltic fish, game and reindeer, rye and barley, and a deep use of fermentation, koji, kombu and curing to carry flavour through the long winter. Gron and Boreal are the clearest expressions of this, vegetable-forward and fermentation-led; Nokka builds its menus around named Finnish producers. The style is less austere than early new Nordic and more technical, often with a French or Japanese influence, as at Palace. Eat what is seasonal: in summer, the herbs and berries; in autumn, the game and mushrooms.
How much does a Michelin dinner cost in Helsinki?
Helsinki fine dining is expensive but below the priciest European capitals. The one-star tasting menus, Olo, Demo, Finnjavel and Boreal, run roughly 120 to 190 euros a head for the menu, with wine pairings adding 90 to 160 euros. The two-star rooms, Palace and Gron, are higher, around 200 to 290 euros for the menu before pairings. Nokka, the green-starred farm-to-table room, is a touch more accessible. Lunch and bistro spin-offs, like Olo's downstairs bistro, are the cheaper way in. Book the tasting menus ahead and set the budget to include the wine pairing.
Which Helsinki restaurant has the best wine list?
Palace, the two-star harbourfront room, is widely regarded as having Helsinki's finest wine list, matched to chef Eero Vottonen's French-Nordic cooking and the harbour views. Demo, the long-running one-star on Uudenmaankatu, is the other serious cellar, with a list running to several hundred references built up since it opened in 2007. For the new Nordic style with a strong pairing, Gron and Olo both pour thoughtfully. If the wine is the point, book Palace or Demo and take the full pairing; both lists reward it.
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