Upon leaving the ferry, we took the 1T tram, which cost €3.40 per person for zone AB and was valid for 80 minutes. The ride itself was less than 15 minutes to Erottaja, the nearest stop to our apartment for the next two nights, Bob W Helsinki Kaarti.
The apartment cost €169 for two nights, booked through Booking.com. It was modern, clean and quiet, with free ground coffee and tea bags. There were plenty of places to eat nearby and a supermarket only a two‑minute walk away.
Food and Drinks on Iso Roobertinkatu Street
During our stay, we had lunch at Bà Bu, a Vietnamese restaurant about an eight‑minute walk from the apartment. We ate there on our first and last day. The quality of the meals was excellent, and we highly recommend it if you fancy an authentic Vietnamese dish.
What we had:
Braised pork with egg and Bun Bo Huey cost €40 with beer. Pho Tai and Pho Sot Vang cost €32.
Besides the Vietnamese restaurant, Iso Roobertinkatu street had plenty of other restaurants, fast food places and bars. That evening we picked up a takeaway dinner from Fafa’s Iso Roba, a falafel restaurant where the food was prepared by locals. (Not the best we had, but it was okay).
We visited three bars along this street. Next to Bà Bu was Tommy Knocker Brewery, where we had our first drink before lunch. Prices were noticeably higher than in Latvia. Strongbow was €8.50 and a premium pilsner was €8.80.
Our second stop was Bar Llamas. I loved the decoration here, and we spent a few hours ordering cider, beer, schnapps and the Finnish long drink, or lonkero. This long drink was created in Helsinki for the 1952 Summer Olympic Games as a quick way to serve drinks to international visitors. Cider and beer were €8 each; two long drinks cost €17.60, and two shots of schnapps were €17.
The third bar was The Riff, a rock and roll themed bar. It happened to be bingo music night, and we won three rounds, earning three €5 gift cards. This made the drinks slightly cheaper. Brooklyn Lager and the Koff long drink were €9.50 each, but with the discount it was bearable.
Food & Drinks at Kallio
The next morning, Mike went over to the old market hall to get breakfast to take away, and it was there that he found Hanoi Vietnam and got me Pho. It was as tasty as Bà Bu.
For lunch, we went over to the Kallio neighbourhood, and to get there, we took the underground M to Sörnäinen, which cost €3.40. It was at Cella that we had our most expensive lunch so far.
I had my first reindeer sauté, which was very tasty, and Mike had Vorchmacky. We also tried more long drinks on tap, including grapefruit and cranberry, and one off‑tap flavour, pineapple. The total bill was €92.20.
In this part of the neighbourhood, beers were noticeably cheaper. At Bar Wanha Apteekki, Hartwall IPA and Joe cider were €6.20 each. At Ravintola Tenkka, two Crowmoor ciders cost €13.50. The place was almost empty, with only one table occupied next to us.
Unfortunately, the couple at that table made the mistake of leaving their pink bag unattended. Someone had been eyeing it from outside the window and came in to steal it when they stepped away. I only realised something was wrong when they returned and made a fuss. The CCTV later showed exactly how it happened.
We visited a few more bars, including Vivian’s Kitchen & Bar, where tap beer Aura was €5, and Happy Joe cider was €6. At Bar Kallion B12, Happy Joe cider and an IPA cost €12.40, and Lapin Kulta was €4.80. Across the road at Bar Kalliohovi, Happy Joe cider and Erikois Neipa IPA were €12.50.
Before leaving Kallio, we took a taxi costing €7 and picked up two pita kebabs from City Kebab‑Pizza for €11. In this area, three out of five bars we visited were tended by Vietnamese staff.
Journey Back > Finland > Estonia > Latvia
Our ferry back to Tallinn was with Megastar, departing from Terminal 2, the same terminal we arrived at. Departure was slightly delayed by 15 minutes. This time there were plenty of seating areas, especially in the bar and restaurant. We secured a window seat for the two‑hour journey and had some Coke, which cost €3.20 per can.
While walking around the deck, I met some Singaporeans travelling with a group tour on a day trip to Tallinn. I cannot remember if it was LG or VG, but it was lovely meeting them.
When we disembarked at Terminal D in Tallinn, we spotted a Lux bus bound for Riga. We asked if we could board from there, even though we were supposed to board at Tallinn Bus Station. The driver kindly allowed us to board, saving us a taxi fare. The bus left five minutes early, which was the same at the bus station too.
We arrived in Riga at 20:55, five minutes earlier than scheduled. Total travel time was 4 hours and 35 minutes.
This trip was more about eating and drinking than sightseeing. With Vietnamese restaurants on every corner, steaming bowls of noodles were non‑negotiable. We ate, drank and feasted as if it were an Olympic event, getting bolder with our taste buds and looser with our waistbands.
Maybe next time, if we return to Helsinki, we will do what tourists normally do and go sightseeing.
