Stockmann [Mimi's World Tour]

 Bakery: Stockmann
Address: Aleksanterinkatu 52, Helsinki
Website: https://stockmann.com
Style: Finnish
Price: $$

Stockmann is without a doubt *the* Finnish department store and their head location on Aleksanterinkatu can't be missed. It's Scandinavia's biggest department store, after all (see what kind of useless trivia I can churn out ;D). But I'm not here to talk about the department store, since that doesn't concern me all that much. Instead, bypass all those designer goods and fragrance counters and head directly to the basement, where there's not only the Stockmann grocery store, but an impressive in-house bakery serving up dozens of mostly baked goods, though there are some pastries behind the glass too, if I'm not mistaken. However, I'm so into the baked goods that the rest doesn't matter to me. :P

Nonetheless, I think one of the minuses of Stockmann's bakery is that a majority of goods -- all self-serve products -- are sold by weight, including doughnuts, cinnamon buns, fruit danishes, etc. And everyone knows what that means: the chances of it being overpriced are very big. Thankfully, the scale is also self-serve, so if you don't like the price printed, you can just take your bag, discreetly deposit your item back into the bin and carry on. I didn't do that myself, but it's been done while I was on the premises. XD But yes, I did indeed, even after the weigh-in, end up with sweets purchases~!

On my first trip to Stockmann (and to Finland ^^) I ended up with this blueberry bun which had quite a bit of blueberry in it, though it was more jam-like than real fruit, which would have been better, and a lot of crumble on top. In my opinion, it certainly wasn't worth it, as anything with fruit is priced considerably higher than other baked goods.

The more recent time, I got myself a cinnamon bun (1,70 euro), both because I figured it would be cheaper (it was) and because I was curious how it would taste. This really didn't disappoint: super fresh, soft dough with just that perfect combination of buttery cinnamon filling, cardamom and rock sugar on top. Mmmm.... I had it as my uh, "lunch" right outside the department store and it was just so good. Nothing beats freshly made, Scandinavian cinnamon buns! *-* And this was without a doubt the best I had tasted in the land of the midnight sun, despite having followed my travel guidebook's advice to try it elsewhere (a future post), where it's apparently the best. Nope, Stockmann may be a bit of a ripoff with the prices (though they did have cinnamon buns which you could order yourself and which were sold per item, but were more expensive) and they wouldn't necessarily be considered first and foremost a culinary destination, but their bakery is still worth visiting... if for the sole reason that you can't afford anything else (anymore) in the iconic department store. ;DDD

Rating: ***