Fazer [Mimi's World Tour]

Bakery: Fazer
Address: Kluuvikatu 3, Helsinki
Website: http://www.fazer.fi
Style: Finnish, European
Price: $$$

I really am a little ashamed to say so, but as soon as I'd heard that Finnish chocolate brand Fazer (they also make candies and crisp bread which are exported around the world; it may take a bit of effort to find it) had a cafe that I could visit, I was swayed even more so to visit Helsinki. Okay, okay, it wasn't like that, but let's just say that once I had my trip to Finland planned out, I could NOT wait to visit this huge place in downtown Helsinki dedicated to chocolate and everything else delicious. ;D

Nevertheless, I ended up at the Fazer cafe for lunch and it was just... wow, a real experience. *___* I mean, it was really only half a cafe, as the other half was a store, but omg, it was well worth the visit. They had a whole variety of yummy baked goods, cakes, sweet rolls. Farther down there were sandwiches as well, but come on, this is me we're talking about. I am *not* coming here for a sandwich.

This may look weird as a pic, but the first time I ordered myself an apple cake (omenapiirakka), mainly because (at around 2,50 euro [I think]) it was the cheapest treat you could get except for the doughnuts, and it was served on the edge of a soup bowl filled with vanilla sauce. You pushed the cake with apples and cinnammon baked on top in slowly, so it soaked up a little bit of the sauce and just OMG! *swoons* It was amazingly good. In keeping with the Finnish "coffee party" idea, I ordered with that a cappucino (around 3,50 euro), because it was the cheapest coffee that wasn't black. :D It was served with a Fazer chocolate. This was quite honestly the most blissful moment I had in Finland... .___.;;

 Anyways, I could not keep away from this place for long and returned a second time; it also was my last evening here in Finland, so this was my going-away party. Seeing as I had a little more money to spend, I splurged a little this time around, though I found, oddly enough, the coffee to be more expensive than the cakes. Seeing as you could get cakes at around 3 euro, but coffee was easily 4+ seemed a little strange for me...

This time around, I got a cafe latte (over 4 euro, definitely) and a strawberry/pistachio cake (I pointed when ordering it, so I have no idea what it is XD) that was absolutely delicious!!! I don't remember the price, but I believe that it was somewhere between 3-4 euros. Nevertheless, the cake pretty much consisted of three layers: a strawberry mousse on top followed by a thin layer of jam and then a dense, almost soft biscotti-like cake with chunks of pistachio. Wow. I really don't know which I liked more: the apple cake or the strawberry one. This is a question I haven't been able to answer for over a year now. ;)

Fazer... is absolutely amazing! Yup, that's the verdict. I adore this place and when (no if's here!!!) I return during my tour of Scandinavia and Finland, you can guarantee I'll be getting back in line for something else flawlessly yummy! ^__^;;;

Rating: ****