Ravintola TAR — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

A Culinary Gem on Tervasaari: Restaurant Tar

Nestled on the tranquil island of Tervasaari, Restaurant Tar offers an exceptional dining experience that seamlessly blends Helsinki's maritime heritage with contemporary culinary artistry. The restaurant occupies a beautifully restored historic building where original architectural elements have been thoughtfully preserved while modern design touches create an elegant, sophisticated atmosphere.

The setting alone makes Tar worth the visit. The peaceful island location provides a welcome escape from the city's bustle, and the restaurant's position offers lovely views while maintaining an intimate, secluded feeling. The modernized historic space strikes the perfect balance between honoring the building's past and creating a fresh, contemporary dining environment.

Service throughout the evening was attentive and professional, with staff demonstrating genuine knowledge of both the menu and wine pairings. The team clearly takes pride in their work, contributing to the overall refined experience without being overly formal or intrusive.

The cuisine at Tar truly shines and easily reaches Michelin-worthy standards. While seafood and fish preparations are clearly the kitchen's specialty, the menu thoughtfully accommodates various dietary preferences with well-executed vegetarian and meat options. Each dish demonstrates remarkable technical skill, balancing bold, assertive flavors with delicate, nuanced touches that showcase the quality of ingredients.

The artichokes were a revelation – prepared with such finesse that they transcended their humble origins to become something truly special. The sea bass was equally impressive, cooked to perfection with accompaniments that enhanced rather than masked the fish's natural flavor. Every dish we tried showed both creativity and restraint, hallmarks of haute cuisine at its best.

The beverage program deserves special mention, offering an extensive and well-curated selection that complements the food beautifully. Whether seeking wine pairings or other libations, the options are thoughtfully chosen and expertly presented.

Restaurant Tar represents Helsinki's dining scene at its finest – a destination that combines stunning location, impeccable service, and truly exceptional cuisine. This is the kind of restaurant that makes a meal into a memorable experience, worthy of special occasions and culinary...

Place is very nice. Great interior design. For the price, flawless service and amazing food is expected. BUT: Food: smoked fish, burrata, dna bread, white fish, skagen fries was good/very good (not delicious, and not surprising). Recommended brioche: dry, as eating a carpet… new potatoes were over cooked (not to say that the portion brings 5 mini potatoes and 1 sparragus) Service: obsequent, and useless. They treat you as you are a king, describe their plates as “delicious” before serving, and interrupt a conversation to sweep 2 breadcrumbs over the table. They informed: you can change your baby there. I go, it was a regular bathroom. come back and say: “there’s no changing table or whatsoever”. “Yes, in that bathroom” they insist, escort me to the bathroom to show me… “oh, you are right, there’s nowhere to change a baby…” no one solved, no one asked any colleagues where the changing table has gone, how can we give this customer a solution. The whole obsequent and snob staff saw me and my wife walk out in the wind, change the baby in the ground of the park. No apologies, no dessert on the house. Only a surprise on the bill: 12 euros for tap water, that no one ordered. Without warning, without asking and mandatory to pay! That is...

We had a bigger dinner tonight here and I am sharing several photos including dishes from others. My review is mostly tied to only the food that I had.

We started with the caviar bumps. Good for a funny experience but I am not a big caviar guy. 2/5

As a starter I had the duck taco. Those were excellent as the crispy texture was pure joy in my mouth. 5/5 I also took a photo of the charred rye bread and I heard others especially praising the unique flavors of the grilled romaine lettuce.

My main dish was the seafood soup and to me this was a disappointment. A proper bouillabaisse is way more satisfying. It had a couple of shrimps (with skin!) in it and some other minor seafood but consisted mostly of a salty broth. The mayo was nice but I guess the star from a kitchen point of view is the Garlic brioche which was quite nice but nothing that I would have to order just for that. 2/5

Many people had the steak (see photo) and I think people were satisfied with it even though one person didn’t finish it.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is beautiful and service is solid.

For me food taste matters the most and based on that alone I don’t feel the urge to come back since it was nice but nothing that really...