Bakery Eatery Levain Töölö — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

Average at best. We got the fish burger, eggplant sandwich, two egg tarts, a blueberry sweet croissant and some brioche. The eggplant sando turned out to be a large dish reminiscent of a grilled cheese but sans the cheese and filled with hummus. I wasn’t too sure what to make of it. The pickled radishes(?) that came with it though were bomb dot com! The fish burger did not come with any sides but there was a thick slab of fried fish sitting on top of some slaw. It wasn’t too memorable. The egg tarts were definitely stood out!! Could have easily eaten 3 by myself. Other pastries were good but nothing mind blowing. The prices were quite high for the quality and quantity.

The decor was cute and kind of bohemian with dark colored walls. The tables were uncomfortably close to each other and there was very little air circulation inside. Overall seating inside was quite limited but there did seem to be a small terrace outside (it was raining though!).

Lady at the cashier was a little slow and quite personable but the waitress who served us was awesome!

Probably a good spot to grab a quick elevated (due to price) lunch/coffee break if you are in the area but I wouldn’t come out of my way...

I love pulla and coffee from different places around Helsinki, so I wanted to give a try at Levain too. Unfortunately I visited the place in winter and my main concern is not how good or bad the two munkki and sandwich I ordered were, but the fact I was freezing in there. The longer I stayed the colder I felt. It was like everyone was keeping their coats on... Radiators next to the window were dead cold and there was an hideously noisy fan heater, which had been switched on only towards the closing time. Needless to say it didn't really made the place warm, but the noise was something quite awful, also according to other customers puzzled expressions :) Unless you are a modern instagram influencer with thick fur coat, scarf and gloves, you can skip this branch and maybe try another with a better heating system. Much smaller and less popular cafes would probably offer slightly less good pulla but at least a warmer atmosphere will compensate for it :D Said so, I hope to find a better temperature in the Punavuori branch next winter but, moreover, I hope you had great sales and invested into fixing the vintage but...

Least favorite breakfast in Helsinki thus far.

I can start by saying that we are breakfast/brunch hunters. We (myself and my wife) both love a great eggs benedict, and american style pancakes is always the cherry on top.

Levain was honestly a joke. I ordered eggs benedict, pancakes with bacon, and a cafe latte. 30e which I thought was okay.

These portions wouldn’t have satisfied a new born baby. I received HALF of a muffin for the eggs benedict. If you want a full muffin you need to pay 6.5e more.

The (3 very, very small) pancakes were the size of silver dollar and look like they were made in some muffin cup in the oven. They could have been taken home as dog biscuits.

Only OK thing was the latte.

P.S. My wife wants to say the pancakes are ugly looking.

Overall will never come back here nor recommend to anybody.

Thanks for letting us know where not...