In the basement of a restaurant, a few hundred meters from the imposing Russian embassy in Helsinki, paintings of tsars and Cossacks gather dust in the dark.
There were once at least half a dozen Russian restaurants in the capital, but after the 2022 invasion, Finland became a loyal supporter of Ukraine – and even joined NATO after decades of neutrality. The Finnish government sent over €2.9 billion worth of aid to its new ally, and ordinary people in Helsinki stopped spending money on Russian food. Only one traditional restaurant there survived the political change, and its basement is now a symbol of relations between two neighboring countries, which are currently at their lowest point since World War II.
“We had to take all the matryoshkas away,” says Nonna Karvia, Saslik’s manager. “The day the war started, we hung a Ukrainian flag on our door.”
A Finnish quiz host opened Saslik in 1972, and over the years the place has made a name for itself in a vibrant culinary scene known for some of the best Russian food in the world outside of Russia. But after Ukraine invaded, the word “Russian” disappeared from the restaurant’s website, replaced by the more generic “Slavic.” A subtitle in the website header – “From Russia with love” – was also removed. Inside the restaurant, the Finnish flag is now flanked by the Ukrainian and American flags. And the menu no longer includes Russian-branded items such as vodka and caviar.
“The Russian embassy is here and there were many protests,” Karvia told me during a recent visit. “We were in danger.”
Customers accepted the changes and returned to the restaurant after about a month. But Saslik survived not only because its manager was quick on her feet (although that is certainly part of it). The place is an institution. A maze of dark, small rooms with just one table, filled with “Slavic” knick-knacks. The restaurant boomed during the Cold War and became famous for its lively soirées. Long-serving Finnish President Urho Kekkonen frequently visited the place with Russian embassy officials. The King of Sweden once dined at Saslik and Frank Zappa burned his finger there while eating dinner before a concert. Bono, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop are some of the celebrities who have crossed the threshold of this Helsinki classic. A New York Times A 1989 article noted that Saslik was “certainly the most festive Russian restaurant in town.”
In 1994, one of the waitresses and her husband, Anne and Sakari Tainio, bought the place. They filled the two main dining rooms and seven smaller alcoves with Slavic knick-knacks, and staff notice that Sakari still regularly hangs new paintings or changes the order of paintings from their extensive collection. “He has always collected art, in Finland and abroad,” says Johanna Haataja, the company’s marketing manager. “We have many storage rooms full of paintings, and from time to time he might change the arrangement on the walls.”
But after Russia invaded Ukraine, it became more difficult to decide what went on the walls and what was banished to the basement. There, a beautiful sketch of Russian soldiers on canvas stands enthroned above a pile of paintings. The soldiers – apparently – did not make the cut.
In many parts of the world, running a Russian restaurant currently presents owners with significant problems, but in Finland it is particularly complicated. The country was occupied by the Russian military in the 18th century, a period known as the Great Wrath. In World War II, it fought hard against the USSR (initially in a defensive posture and later as a German ally). Meanwhile, a statue of Tsar Alexander II dominates the capital’s main square, Lenin was revered by many members of the Finnish Communist Party, and President Urho Kekkonen (in power from 1950 to 1982) built excellent relations with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. And it was during these years that saslik – and Russian cuisine in general – flourished in Helsinki.
When Putin launched the offensive against Ukraine, old fears of an invasion along the 1,340-kilometer-long Finnish-Russian border were revived. Finnish authorities closed the border, and as expected, the number of Russian tourists, once the most numerous in Finland, fell by more than 95 percent between 2017 and last year. Helsinki’s Russian restaurants gradually began to close, partly due to this dramatic decline.
But not Sislik, which has managed to weather the storm by performing a delicate dance – playing up its past while adapting to new political realities. Just look at the menu. The borscht soup is now “Ukrainian style,” but “Ivan’s Sword” (a skewer of beef, lamb and bacon named after the infamous tsarina) and “Baked Alaska à la Catherine the Great” are still on the menu. They were considered classics – too representative of the restaurant to be left off the menu.
In one of the main rooms, a portrait of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, still hangs on the wall. “The painting has been there for so long that the wallpaper behind it has changed color,” says Karvia, the restaurant’s manager. “We haven’t found a replacement yet. It’s not easy to find the right balance for the decor.” Under the emperor’s gaze, she has placed something on a small serving table to remind customers of the restaurant’s new policy: a small flag of Ukraine.
Want more Thrillist? Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Þjórsárdalur, on facebook., PinterestAnd YouTube.
