Your correspondent prefers to write about the best while avoiding any mention of bad experiences, but sometimes something so nutty appears on the radar that a few words of wisdom can possibly improve the world a little…
So with this in mind, here is a short story about a single experience of one of Finland’s most beautiful hotels in its glorious settings.
Every Finn knows the history of the “Punkaharju Hotel” which was built many years ago on what must be one of the most beautiful strips of land between two huge lake systems. You can find it on a high ridge of sand pushed there many millions of years ago when the ice age was in full blast.
The hotel was purchased by a very imaginative entrepreneur couple, a former model and her partner, after poor public ownership failed to attract any visitors. They received a huge amount of positive media attention because they were not rich but highly motivated to create a wonderful high class hotel and restaurant – which they did…
Punkaharju is literally in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of deserted lakes and forests, but fortunately it is on the main route to Savonlinna, where there is that world famous opera season every summer. People flock to the opera, and on their way many well-healed people stop off for a night or two at the hotel and its highly regarded restaurant.
Your correspondent did not want to be left out, so we decided to have dinner there while visiting one of our family’s summer houses to pick chanterelles and bilberries in the forest for a couple of days. Their place is just a short 40 minute drive from the hotel.
We arrived on time, hungry with high expectations. The entrance and surrounding woodland is entrancing. High thin pines tower over the hotel which has been carefully renovated under its new management.
We were quickly seated at our table overlooking the lake. The service was friendly and professional, and after ordering drinks, we decided to try the “Turnip, nettle and spruce” starter along with their house bread made of “Saimi” sourdough with spreads, to be followed by the main course of “Wild Mushroom Risotto”.
The first course was excellent, not just because the ingredients were sourced locally, but because it looked and tasted great!
We were anxious to experience the risotto because the starters were so good, but… readers will probably recall what tinned rice pudding taste like – it is a poor man’s desert, normally over-sweetened with sugar…
Their mushroom risotto was a sad reminder of this poor man’s desert. It was a watery blend of a small handful of over-cooked rice with some scrapings of chanterelle that had shrivelled in the pan. A disaster for the chef, the customer and the restaurant and that should never happen…
We did mention this to the nice waitress but only afterwards… we needed time to cool our disappointment about “Finnish Fine Dining…”
The final desert of “Apple Surprise” was surprisingly excellent – perhaps the cook had too much to drink when preparing the risotto and forgot to put in all the ingredients…
