A pie in the sky

Underneath the Heron's nest restaurant

It looks a bit like a UFO, but this is the Heron's nest restaurant (Näköalaravintola Haikaranpesä) situated in one of Helsinki's districts called Espoo. Approximately only a 20 minute bus ride from the centre of Helsinki, the Restaurant has been developed from an old water tower, and began functioning as a Restaurant in 1968.

The tower itself measures 76 metres from top to bottom and has space for 150 guests. The restaurant section is surrounded by a balcony giving a view of the surrounding scenery of over 10 kilometres in every direction.

We visited the Restaurant for our Easter Sunday dinner, where we enjoyed a very nice buffet with a vast assortment of different foods to taste. Although with the weather being very rainy and windy we could not fully enjoy the scenery to its full potential.

My starter course consisted of different flavoured spiced herrings, fish pastes of different sorts, smoked herrings, spiced salmon, prawns and mussels. This was followed by either Lamb, chicken or beef with vegtables. The lamb was very nice, well cooked with an absolutely excellent tasting sauce. For desert, there was a wide range of cakes and sweeteners with coffee or tea. The staff were very friendly and hard working to give every satisfaction.

Seeing that the rain had slightly abated and a little more of the surrounding scenery came into view, I ventured out onto the balcony to record the surroundings. Although very windy and cold I did manage do walk one circuit of the tower before getting back inside and out of the cold wind.

We found the atmosphere very relaxed and friendly, staying for about four hours before making our way home again. The weather could have been better and plans are already being made to return in the summer when hopefully the scenery will live up to its full potential.