Farang

Food was good. They were out of chicken and lobster on a Saturday night which they told is after attempting to place our orders. Service was terrible. Waited a over an our for our final course. We cancelled it.

Had the full tasting menu. Not only was it delicious, it was wonderfully filling as well. Delicious dish after delicious dish kept coming out. The wine menu was excellent. There was some miscommunication about replacing the dessert wine with another, but the waitress sorted it out and made it right in the end.

I sometimes go here just for their particular dish, which is one of the greatest inventions of Finnish cult cuisine by Tomi Björk. This particular dish has to be the slow cooked palm sugar glazed pork. Topped with fresh chilli and coriander, it goes so well with the entire southeast Asian themed menu that this restaurant is so hyped for. The starting cocktails are also fabulously made, with authentic ingredients. Desserts could be a fraction bigger than what they are, but certainly worth experimenting. The overall interior of the venue does not differ from any other standard ‘sleek’, über chic or hip dining venues aimed at affluent professionals. However it is truly the crowd and the impeccable service in various languages that makes this my all time favourite restaurant in Helsinki.

An excellent restaurant experience in central Helsinki! I recommend warmly their tasting menus, which are best when served for small groups. Also the vegetarian tasting menu is excellent.
The last time we visited there and took the tasting menu they served our group including one vegetarian, one very allergic person, one who can’t eat fish, one who doesn’t tolerate lactose and one «normal» customer — without any mistakes, glitches or delays in their service!
This is not a cheap place, but it’s worth the money spent. The only minus comes from somewhat noisy atmosphere — especially if your table happens to be near a bigger group — and very basic and sometimes a slightly messy bathrooms.

A party of 9 people ordered the standard tasting menu. The various dishes ranged from very tasty to way too sweet. The problem occurred when the waitress came around with a bottle of white wine and then a bottle of red. She began pouring without asking if we wanted any. I pointedly asked her if the wine is included in the tasting menu. In perfectly good English, she said «yes, it is» then continued to pour. The white wine was only okay and I didn’t like the red at all and hardly touched it. When the bill came, we were surprised that Farang had added 330 € wine charge. We asked the waitress about it only to be told the wines are «recommended pairings» with the various dishes. At no time did the staff inform us that the wines were in addition nor did any of them asked if we wanted a pour before serving. We could have easily ordered better wines separately according to our preferences. None of us at the table liked this semi bait-​and-​switch policy of Farang. We left the restaurant with an odd and somewhat unpleasant taste after an otherwise enjoyable outing. A pity.

Great food, great service, very cozy environment. Beware it’s much more affordable to go there with a bunch when you can share. If you go as a couple, either it will be too much, or you can try only a limited selection.

Good, but no wow factor. Fresh, but too much coriander. More variation in the menu, please. The meat dishes were super, though. Very good wines.

I had heard a lot about this place. I was prepared to shell out a bit of money but also expected to be blown away. But I wasn’t.
We were two and we ordered a vegetarian tasting menu. The food was delicious and well presented. However we found very similar ingredients and Evert dish was sweetish. Individually every dish was great but I wouldn’t have expected such similarity. I did mention this to the staff with 2 main courses remaining but I guess it was too late.
We had several persons serving us and they brought the next course before we were done with the previous. That was a major blunder.
The wines were fantastic and dessert was probably the most thought out item.

Always a pleasure to dine here, and I tend to always order the same few items from the menu. Great food, you can’t really go wrong with any dish, and service has always been great.

We had a great dinner but, have warn you even without drinking we were well over our travel budget.
Nice professional staff, excellent service. Very clean, hip Resturant.

I thought I knew a lot about South-​East Asian cuisine… but Farang still managed to surprise in many ways during this absolutely fantastic dinner!
We ordered the Farang tasting menu, in which each dish had a special twist: it was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle where every piece finds the perfect spot in an explosion of goodness! They each had the right amount of spices and all the flavours mix so well together: chillies, betel leaves, palm sugar syrup… The caramelised pork was probably my favourite of the menu: amazingly crunchy on the outside, and incredibly tender on the inside (Ok I’m drooling on my keyboard now :)).
The cocktails were also remarkable: I can recommend the Mojito style one with ginger in it… gorgeous!
Let’s not forget the great service: friendly, efficient and helpful without being too pushy, what more could we ask for?
I’ll definitely go back!

Excellent food and atmosphere. Try out the tasting menu’s or caramellized pork. The drinklist is interesting with a lot of delicious cocktails to choose from.

Easily one of the best restaurants in Helsinki! Food is absolutely delicious, the service is top top-​notch (friendly and professional) and you definitely get your moneys worth every time! I love it!

Is Farang Helsinki’s best restaurant? Well does a bear shit in the woods?
I cannot vouch for all the bears, but in the case of Farang, my answer is yes! Some people might say that Chez Dominique is the best one, but those people do not look at food as sustenance, rather as some sort of art. Plus, they are commonly skinny whereas I’m on the chubby side. So who do you wanna trust more… seriously?
Let’s look at the facts. The cocktail list is impressive and skipping over it would be a mistake. I highly recommend trying the Malay Pom Pom with chai vanilla and ginger. If you want the full Farang-​experience you should also go for both the wine and food tasting menus. If you do not care for sharing meals and trying loads of different courses, then the hell with it — order a Singha beer and go for the crispy pork. You will not be disappointed.
For a free meal of cripsy pork, I would steal a baby, throw rocks at old people and watch Adam Sandler’s hit movie «Jack and Jill» from start to finish. That’s how good it tastes!
I also like the high sealing. It makes the restaurant seem more open and spacious. The stylish décor and dim lighting give off this very New York –like vibe. It’s a perfect blend of cool trendiness and old school romance — an ideal setting for a Prince music video.
Stop thinking about where bears take care of their business and go enjoy the awesomeness that is Farang!

If you want to go fine dining in Helsinki, the place to go is Farang. This is no doubt the best restaurant in town (as also the readers of CITY Magazine agree). Farang serves modern Asian cuisine and is run by the famous chef Tomi Björk. He is know through several cooking shows on Finnish TV.
If you come to Farang first time you should order one of their tasting menus. They contain of seven to nine courses that are each an experience. The menu starts with cold starters like Cha Plu leaf with smoked trout.
Among the warm courses could e.g. be the the Veal Cheek Seremban with slow braised veal cheeks, aromatic chili vinegar broth and mint-​sprout salad.
As a last course a delicious sweet treat like ‘Hola Hola 6 with thai style marinated fruits, sweet peas, lime, vanilla-​coconut cream and mandarin mango sorbet awaits you.
With every tasting menu comes a wine recommendation. But you can also start your Farang experience with one of their delicious cocktails.
Don’t forget to reserve a table at least a week early. And calculate with around 80 € per person if you go with a tasting menu. You can of course also order each dish separately.

After having visited Gaijin (that is owned by the same people as Farang and Boulevard Social) I was eager to also visit Farang which was the first restaurant in this mini empire of restaurants. While Gaijin is more inspired by Japan, Korea and the Northern parts of China Farang is more Southeast Asian inspired. The concept is otherwise similar as Gaijin with food made to be shared among everyone at the table and with fabulous drinks.
The quality of the food is in general excellent and the flavors are great. I especially liked the Crispy Pork and the Grilled Lamb. Those are not to be missed and the satay is also rather good. Fun that they have some different beers then normally can be found at Asian restaurants and the cocktails are great.
It is really a place I wish was available in Stockholm so imagine the joy when hearing that they will be opening in Stockholm early 2013. Just hope they will be able to keep the same quality there.