I’ve been having a lot of Finnish soup.
The food here is really great. From the elegant restaurant to the fast food joint everything has been fresh and well prepared.
Poronkäristys (sautéed Reindeer)
Poronkäristys is reindeer served primarily with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. It is a traditional Finnish meal from Lapland. We have had reindeer many ways (sautéed, smoked, sausage, salted, and as a burger) and they have all been tasty. The tongue is good too and often served as an appetizer.
I am very excited to have the poronkäristys.
Not Your Mother’s Waffles
The waffles at Cafe & Bar 21 in Rovaniemi are topped with fresh ingredients. I wouldn’t have thought to make Salmon waffles. If I go back I’m getting them again.
Viking (Harald Restaurant)
This Viking themed restaurant was a surprise. This is a chain restaurant in Finland. We went there because it was one of the few restaurants with beer open Sunday evening. The Viking theme is fun. Like all the food we had in Finland the food here is great.
Roadside Fast Food
These roadside “Hot Dog” stands are along the primary roads. You can get a kabob, hot dog or hamburger here. It’s a nice stop for a quick bite while you are on the road. Next time I’ll get the kabob.
Don’t Miss The Fish Soup
Salmon soup seems to be a staple. You can find it most anywhere. 
Arctic Fish Pizza
Salmon, shrimp, cheese, and tomato sauce. The crust was great too.
Inari Restaurant Arctic Pizza
Päijänne Lake Dinner Cruise
The three hour tour on the longest lake in Finland was calm and relaxing. It was raining so we stayed inside. We were on the ship Suomen Suvi.
Dinner was surprisingly good. Salmon prepared several ways, and the favorite, Muikku.
The Muikku is a little fish breaded and fried in butter. It is yummy. It looks like a sardine. The best Muikku I’ve had is at the outdoor market in Oulu. It was fresh out of the pan.
Muikku
Here is paistettu muikku at Market Square (Kauppatori) in Helsinki. Sorry about the red color from the sun shining through the tent.
Whitefish Three Ways (Nallikari Restaurant)
Sautéed, raw, and roe. This dish is surprisingly small. Maybe a tablespoon of each is all. It sure tastes good. Jen was sniping bites from us, since hers was gone in three bites. (The waitress warned it is not much food.) We still giggled when it showed up.
My pork barbecue sandwich was substantial.
BBQ Pork Nallikari Restaurant
Breakfast
Most days we had sweet rolls (pulla) Coffee. Pulla is a cinnamon roll. 
Cafe Regatta http://caferegatta.fi/in-english/ in Helsinki has probably the best pulla that we’ve had in Finland.
There were some hot cooked breakfast meals. Those were the exception. If they ask if you want vanilla sauce the answer is YES!
The vanilla sauce on the blueberry treat below is highly recommended.
Picnic coffee shop
Pannukakku
We ended up eating Pannukakku at Pannukakkutalo (pancake restaurant) in Oulu. See the delight in her face?
Open Faced Sandwich
Open faced sandwiches are common. We had many with salmon on them.
Open Faced Salmon Sandwich
Licorice (lakrirsi)
Licorice is a popular candy in Finland. It turns out that I love it too. It comes in many different flavors. You can get salted, jalapeño flavor, fruit flavored, regular flavor, etc. The list of varieties is long. Try them all.
Arvitrekking 
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