Food tour with a rooftop bar: review
Verdict: the one to book if you want the three hours to end somewhere. It meets at Robert’s Coffee Jugend on Mannerheimintie, visits the Jugend Hall and the Old Market Hall, runs through seven tastings, and finishes with a drink and a city view from a rooftop bar. Lunch is included, which no other walking tour here can say. Rated 4.9 across 28 reviews — a modest sample, and the reviews are unusually specific about what they liked.
What you are actually buying
Three hours with a roof on either end of it. The meeting point is Robert’s Coffee Jugend at Mannerheimintie 1a, at the top of the Esplanadi end of town. The tour goes inside the Jugend Hall and the Old Market Hall, and ends above the roofline with a drink and a view of the city. Taxes and fees are in the ticket. Alcoholic drinks and tips are not.
The tastings are local cheese, fish delicacies, smoked reindeer, traditional rye bread, a local pastry, artisan chocolate and a non-alcoholic drink. Set against the centre walk, the plate is broadly similar — the same cheese, the same reindeer, the same rye. What differs is the frame. Lunch is included, so these three hours replace a meal instead of sitting awkwardly between two, and the walk finishes on a high floor rather than at a tram stop.
That inclusion changes the arithmetic of a day more than it sounds like it should. A tour that feeds you is a tour you can put in the middle of an afternoon without planning around it. Food tours with drinks sets out what each of the six actually pours.
What the reviewers say
Twenty-eight reviews, and they name things. Astrid from Germany: “The tastings were varied and delicious. The highlight was the small chocolate factory.” Peter from Australia: “We tried a range of interesting and high quality things.” Brandon from the United States: “Very high-quality food with a knowledgeable guide.” Valerie from Australia went to the ending: “Rooftop bar ending was great.”
The one I would hold onto is Abeer from Saudi Arabia, who wrote that the guide “told the story of Finnish culture and heritage through food in a way that was engaging.” That is the sentence that separates a food tour from a tasting menu, and it is the same note the city walk reviews keep hitting. Lara is named as a guide here. Reviewers from Belgium, South Africa and the United States appear alongside the ones quoted, which is a wider spread of nationalities than twenty-eight reviews usually produces.
The reservations, plainly
What works
- Lunch included, which no other walking tour here offers
- Goes inside two halls, so the weather matters less
- Ends with a drink and a view instead of on a pavement
- Seven tastings, including artisan chocolate and smoked reindeer
- Taxes and fees are inside the ticket
- Reviewers name specific stops rather than writing in generalities
Worth knowing
- Twenty-eight reviews — a modest sample for a 4.9
- Alcoholic drinks at the rooftop bar are not included, and tips are not either
- English and Russian only
- Three hours, and the last part of it is standing at a bar
- It covers the Old Market Hall, so it overlaps the centre walk substantially
- Not the tour for anyone who wants the working city rather than the centre
The overlap is the honest caveat. If you have already done the city tour, you will walk into the Old Market Hall a second time and taste a version of the same board. Book both and you are buying the same reindeer twice. Book one, and the question is whether you want the cathedral and Senate Square or lunch and a view, because that is genuinely the difference.
The rooftop drink is also the part most likely to disappoint, for a reason that has nothing to do with the tour. The included drink is non-alcoholic. If you want a beer at the top, that is yours to buy, and in Finland the strong stuff is a state-monopoly matter anyway — Alko and alcohol explains the rule.
Who it is genuinely for
People who would like the afternoon to have a destination. Anyone booking a tour as the main event of a day rather than as a gap-filler, because lunch being included means it can be. Travellers in poor weather, since two of the stops are indoors. Couples on a first evening, who get a view at the end instead of a dispersal.
Who should book something else: anyone who has already walked the centre with a guide, anyone whose priority is the history rather than the ending, and anyone who wants to be sat down — three hours on foot ending at a bar is a standing afternoon. Compare the six on which food tour to choose.
Go up to the rooftop expecting wind. Helsinki is a harbour city and a high floor in June is colder than the street was, which catches out people who dressed for a walk. Take the layer you would take on a boat. What to wear is two minutes long.
Frequently asked questions
Is lunch really included on the rooftop food tour?
Yes, along with taxes and fees. It is the only walking tour on this site where lunch is inside the ticket, which means the three hours can sit in the middle of your day rather than beside a meal. Alcoholic drinks and tips are not included. See food tours with drinks.
Where does the rooftop tour meet?
At Robert’s Coffee Jugend, Mannerheimintie 1a, at the top end of the centre and a short walk from the Esplanadi. From there it goes to the Jugend Hall and the Old Market Hall. Where tours start lists every meeting point with a landmark.
How does it compare with the city tour with food tasting?
Similar tastings and the same Old Market Hall, so booking both means tasting the same reindeer twice. The city walk adds Senate Square, the cathedral and 62 reviews of evidence; this one adds lunch and a view. Both are on the reviews hub.