“The day the war started, we put a Ukrainian flag on our door.”
In the cellar of a eatery , a span of hundred chiliad from the levy Russian embassy in Helsinki , house painting of tsars and Cossacks garner dust in the dark .
The capital urban center once hosted at least a half - dozenRussian restaurants , but in the wake of the 2022 invasion , Finlandbecame a steadfastUkrainesupporter — evenjoining NATOafter decade of neutrality . The Finnish governmentsentmore than € 2.9 billion Charles Frederick Worth of assistance to its newfound friend , and regular family in Helsinki lay off expend money on Russian food . Only one traditional restaurant there managed to pull round the political shift , and its cellar is now a symbolisation of the relationship between two neighboring countries , which is now at its blue point since World War II .
“ We had to take all the matryoshkas away , ” pronounce Nonna Karvia , Saslik ’s manager . “ The day the war started , we put a Ukrainian masthead on our door . ”
Photo by Andrea Prada Bianchi
A Finnish quiz show legion open Saslik in 1972 , and the place made a name for itself over the years in a vivacious culinary scene make love for some of the best Russian food in the world outside of actual Russia . But the word “ Russian ” vanish from the restaurant ’s website after Ukraine ’s intrusion , and was replace with the more general “ Slavic . ” A caption on the website ’s cope — “ From Russia with Love”—was also remove . Inside the restaurant , the Finnish sword lily is now flank by the Ukrainian and American ones . And the menu no longer features products like vodka and caviare from Russian brand .
“ The Russian embassy is right here , and there were a band of dissent , ” Karvia narrate me on a recent visit . “ We were at risk . ”
Customers assume the changes and set out filtering back through the restaurant ’s doorway after about a calendar month . But Saslik did n’t live simply because its director was quick on her animal foot ( although that ’s for sure part of it . ) The place is an institution . A maze of benighted , small single - table rooms filled with “ Slavic ” paraphernalia , the restaurant boomed during the Cold War and became famous for its lively soirées . Longtime Finnish President Urho Kekkonen frequented the eatery with Russian officials from the embassy . The King of Sweden once ate at Saslik , and Frank Zappa burnt his digit there while have dinner before a concert . Bono , Phil Collins , Alice Cooper , and Iggy Pop are among the celebrities who crossed the threshold of this Helsinki classic . ANew York Timesarticle from 1989notedthat Saslik was “ certainly the most festive Russian restaurant in the urban center . ”
Photo by Andrea Prada Bianchi
In 1994 , one of the waitresses and her husband , Anne and Sakari Tainio , bought the station . They filled the two main dining rooms and seven smaller alcoves with Slavic paraphernalia , and the staff notes that Sakari still on a regular basis hang new house painting or adjusts which single from their extensive aggregation hang where . “ He has always been collecting art , in Finland and abroad , ” says Johanna Haataja , the troupe ’s merchandising director . “ We have many storage rooms full of paintings , and from clock time to fourth dimension he might change the disposition on the wall . ”
But after Russia invaded Ukraine , selecting what sound on the paries and what was relegate to the cellar became more hard . In the root cellar , a beautiful sketch of Russian military men on canvas tops a pile of paintings . The soldier — seemingly — didn’t make the cut .
Running a Russian eating place pose pregnant problems for possessor in many voice of the world correctly now , but it ’s especially complicated in Finland . The country was take by the Russian military in a 18th - century menstruation known as the Great Wrath . During World War II , it fought severely against the USSR ( ab initio in a justificatory strength and subsequently as a German friend ) . Meanwhile , a statue of Tsar Alexander II dominates the capital ’s main public square , Lenin was a figure hero-worship by many Communist Party members in Finland , and President Urho Kekkonen ( in power from 1950 to 1982 ) established excellent relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War . And it was during those eld that Saslik — and Russian culinary art more broadly — flourished in Helsinki .
Photo by Andrea Prada Bianchi
When Putin start out the offence on Ukraine , ancient fright of an intrusion along the 830 - mile Finno - Russian border came back to life sentence . Finnish authorities shut the border , and as could be bear , Russian tourer , once the most numerous in Finland , hang by more than 95 percent between 2017 and this past year . Helsinki ’s Russian restaurants originate close one by one , due in part to this dramatic driblet off .
But not Sislik , which has handle to brave the violent storm by doing a touchy dance — playing up its past while adapting to young political realities . Just see at the menu . The borscht soup is now the “ Borscht Soup Ukrainian style , ” but the “ Ivan ’s Sword ” ( a skewer of beef cattle , lamb , and bacon named after the notorious Tsar ) and the “ Baked Alaska à la Catherine the Great ” are still on the listing . They were considered classic — too representative of the restaurant to be bump off .
In one of the independent room , a portrait of the last Russian emperor , Nicholas II , still hang on the bulwark . " That painting has been there for such a long time that the wallpaper behind it has changed colour , " says Karvia , the restaurant ’s director . " We have n’t base anything to replace it yet . It ’s not light to find the right-hand balance for the decor . " Under the eyes of the emperor butterfly , on a modest service table , she put something to prompt the customers of the restaurant ’s new policy : a small flag of Ukraine .
Photo by Andrea Prada Bianchi
