jwoods 6 reviews

The food quality here is very high. It is (as far as I know) one of the only Chinese restaurants in Finland that hasn't been 'adapted to local taste'. It is certainly comparable to Chinese food bought in the UK (which has a much larger Chinese population). Even the chilli oil on the table is just perfect.

The price is also very low. One of the cheapest restaurant lunches in Helsinki.

Another reason I love this place, is because unlike every other ethnic food restaurant in Finland, they serve you food on real plates. Not those awful prison-style metal ones with sections organising your food for you that the Finns seem to love.

The staff seem very efficient. Food arrives quickly, water is continually topped up.

My wishlist: put chopsticks on the table & translate the lunch menu into English.

If anyone is interested in the meaning, 'Nanking' is an old, mostly disused Romanisation of the name of city of Nanjing.

A very comfortable trendy local bar.

They seem to have got away with the arrogance of giving the bar no name, and having no signage outside whatsoever; the place always has people in it and gets very busy at peak times.

The place has a very homely feel to it, warm colour-scheme, thick carpets, chilled music, comfortable seats.

When I first moved to the neighbouring street and had no furniture, it was great to be able to spend every evening here. And I still think it's cool to have such a 'trendy' place as my local bar.

The prices are slightly higher than average, which I believe is intentional to keep the degenerates out. Which seems to work, although occasionally one or two do slip in.

Staff seem to change fairly regularly, but seem nice enough. Some of them are a little bit too-cool-for-school though and look down their nose at you.

A fairly good collection of magazines and games to keep you entertained - I just only wish they'd get that Pacman table console working :)

No food except toasted sandwiches, peanuts and biscuits.

It's a pretty good cafe food-wise. Seating is a bit poor and it gets very busy.

Salads are very fresh and delicious and look beautiful on the plate.

The cakes always look delicious but I've never eaten one in the 5 years I've been going to this place as they are insanely expensive.

The sandwiches look a bit too Finnish and tasteless (e.g. heavy rye bread with lettuce).

There always appears to be more staff than customers; yet you still have to queue up for ages. The staff can also be a bit rude and obnoxious, but this may be because of the location of the cafe they have to deal with so many dozy tourists.

Not particularly comfortable, or much of an atmosphere. It's the kind of place you meet people for a coffee or salad, then get the hell out of there.

Being a semi-regular, I once begged them to give me 1 small piece of sun-dried tomato with my €9 salad (to cut-through the creaminess of the mozzarella caesar chicken) - but they declined and said it was absolutely impossible. Utterly cretinous.

a fun place to go to when you're hungry and fancy a burger.

This is one of my favourite places in Turku. I always make sure to stop by at least once when I am in town.

You always get plenty of food for your money. Menu is burgers/steaks/pasta, but all prepared very well.

My personal favourite is the BLT. You don't see these sandwiches, or bacon in general so much in Finland. So I often treat myself when I'm there :)

Informal atmosphere. Nice staff.

It would be nice if it opened earlier on Saturdays, and at all on Sunday.

I can't praise this place highly enough. The lunchtime food is bordering on fine-dining.

They are responsible for making me part with far too much of my money :)

I occasionally go elsewhere for lunch, but always regret it. I'm a very fussy eater, but I can say the food quality here is absolutely superb. I even eat things here that I wouldn't normally eat.

The superb food quality, comfortable atmosphere, music and beautiful unobstructed views of the park are all genuinely invigorating and is just what I need before going back to work in the afternoon.

The regular staff are really cool and fun, and always stop and say hi when I bump into them around town. The temporary staff are a bit typically Finnish and stroppy though.

The Ikea furnishing and modern art might not appeal to everyone - but I think they have got the whole formula just right, and I'm surprised they don't open up in new locations.

Very occasionally I've found the food to be not quite hot enough, but I'm sure that problem could be easily corrected with some heat-lamps in the kitchen.

Other minor irritations are more related to the place being a victim to it's own success: sometimes it's hard to find a place to sit - and quite often the majority of tables are reserved, or the place is closed for private functions.

They used to do food in the evenings too, but now they don't for some reason - except toasted sandwiches.

It would also be nice if they had some loyalty-card or something, for us regulars :)