Ravintola Green Hippo Punavuori — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

visited at 09:50 on tuesday morning. i ordered the breakfast combo (“COMBO OF THE WEEK”). i’m new to helsinki (traveling), so i’m gonna write detailed process here for others like me.

you order at the front, the smoothie bowl and a shot of ginger juice(?) are served on the black and white marimekko-esque plate right away. the combo comes with an avocado toast, and i added a poached egg. it’s served to you to your seat. the coffee, cutlery, and napkins are self service at the station on the left side. the smoothie bowl was good. it was mostly banana from what i could tell, but the homepage it listed last. (the smoothie is “HILBERT THE HIPPIE” and it’s “Sea buckthorn, mango, banana”) the avocado toast was crunchy on the outer edge and soft/mushy on the center. i guess probably avocado was sitting on the toast for a while. i assume it’s to make the making process fast and efficient in the kitchen, but it might have had better texture if it was prepared when it’s ordered. that’s the reason i knocked one star off. the egg was poached just right to my taste.

the atmosphere was pleasant, the seats were only sparsely occupied because the lunch hour(11-14) had not started yet. i could take a peek at a lovely and majestic dalmatian, because people can bring their...

...curious experience, with downs & ups... food tasted too dry, albeit interesting combination visually. bit overpriced for that dish. my hunger was gone, but didn't feel satisfied.

chose to sit on the long bench, leaning on the wall, as it looked cosy, but in fact... it is uncomfortable experience... as the seating bench is too high compared with the lower table (so one needs to bend-over continuously), and too wide for reclining on the wall... so, no rest feeling, just tensed, to finish my food and leave.

atmosphere looks nice overall, place had trendy young people, sitting with laptops to eat drink and drag time. at around 16h+ mostly people at 20s.

felt as interesting experience to try, at least for once. as was curious to see how the over-powering reviews are ...in reality. got disappointed. perhaps... might try once more in future, but... during lunchtime, as to save on the pricey dishes.

anyway, after one visit... it's not a restaurant I would remember as tasty and comfortable. not on my priority list for returning again and again. pity.

so, found a moment of quiet in a nice looking restaurant in Punavuori📍 🍽️🤷🏻‍♂️ on a Thursday...

Could have been excellent. Instead, I find the concept, similar to those I've had in other cities, to be an opportunity as wasted as the electric cars were in 1888 (yeah, truly). The ample chicken would be better served "pulled", so as not to look like off white lumps. The sugar peas better halved and not micro sliced, so as to not disappear for no textural or flavour effect. The wasabi dressing...well, it would help to taste wasabi. Not sure how ponzu finds itself separated from said wasabi Mayo, but I'd suggest lining the bowl with it, before assembling the dressed and tossed salad within, that has the pulled chicken crowning it, with a dab of extra wasabi Mayo holding the sprouts in place...maybe a few nigella seeds for decoration. My friend said much the same of her salad. Seems an affable place...