The chef who serves up food with character
Chef Markus Maulavirta is as well-known to Finns as Jamie Oliver and other celebrity chefs are to their own countrymen. He is known as an advocate of Finnish food, but it is not enough for the ingredients simply to be Finnish. The raw materials must always win their place in Maulavirta’s kitchen.
Organic eggs from the chickens at Karhumäki, Benjam’s bacon, Finnish rye bread, yoghurt from Aho farm, blueberry puree, cloudberry jam. “Some people feel we offer a rather narrow selection, but our priority is to serve high-quality foods, not to serve what everyone else is serving,” says Chef Markus Maulavirta, in charge of the restaurants at Klaus K, a trendy hotel in the centre of Helsinki.“The more I can tell my customer about the origin of an item, the better,” argues Maulavirta. He has personally visited the farms to see the production of his raw materials first-hand and he appreciates the work that goes into producing these foodstuffs. But sound production methods or a Finnish origin are not enough on their own. Above all, the food must taste good.
“Even a Finnish ingredient must win a place in my kitchen on its own merits. Whoever is producing it must have a passion for the finer points. As an example, the yoghurt produced on the Aho farm begins with the feed given to the cows. It’s a joy to serve something like blueberry compote or sea buckthorn muesli on this snow-white yoghurt. Those who want to pamper their digestion have the option of our barleycorn porridge, cooked in the oven until it is golden brown, and served with home-made raspberry or lingonberry jam.
In Maulavirta’s opinion, the food served in Finnish restaurants has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years. “The expectations have grown enormously. It’s like the sprint: it used to be good if you could run a hundred in just over ten seconds, but now you don’t stand a chance if you go over ten seconds. The same is true of restaurants, and the choice is always made by the customer.”
RIITTA MUSTONEN
PHOTO KREETTA KUOKKANEN
