Restaurant Natura — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

Tonight, my wife and I had a superb meal and wonderful time at Natura. Massive Thank you to each and all who made our time at Natura so special. We had pre-ordered the Easy 4 Menu as a Vegan menu. We were extremely impressed with each and every dish from amuse bouche, all the way to dessert. Thanks also to the serving staff who made an excellent wine suggestion which really matched our menu. The amuse bouche of endive served with house bread was scrumptious and delicate and a great way to begin. The starter of roasted carrots with pickled carrots and a delicious sauce really delivered and impressed us with its presentation as much as its subtle yet rich flavour profiles, well executed and refined cooking. It was also very nice to have the chef serve the dishes to the table as well as presenting what was in each dish. It showed great passion and care about the menu they had prepared for us. The next course was a stunning warm dish of buckwheat risotto with grilled king oyster mushroom and lingonberries. It was a really perfect dish which slipped down and satisfied with each mouthful eaten. Every component on the dish worked in perfect harmony and delivered a divine culinary experience. It was followed by a celeriac main which came with seasonal mushrooms and a delicious sauce. It was as delicious as the risotto(which we had thought was our main) so to have had two delicious warm main dishes we were already feeling very comfortable and well looked after. After the main came the dessert and yet again, a winner. A delicious chocolate brownie with a fantastic rowan berry sorbet. Fantastic flavours that complemented each other and elevated the dish. It was a glorious way to close our menu and time at Natura with. It was clear in each dish the great level of culinary talent the chefs put in and all the ingredients and dish components really worked well throughout the entire menu. Considering this was a Vegan menu in a restaurant that usually offers fish and meat menus as it's primary menu, the attention to detail and quality of its Vegan menu was most note worthy and most commendable. Thank you ever so much. We look forward to dining with you again in the near future and highly recommend Natura to our friends, and to those who are looking for a great place to eat in Helsinki. Excellent value for money and fantastic food in a...

Unremarkable, disappointing food.

I always like to visit places that elevate food standards and always willing to pay the premium that comes with it. However, the food at Natura is distinctly unimpressive.

It looks better than it tastes. It seems more effort was invested in making the food look Michelin standard rather than actually make the food taste impressive. At best, the dishes tasted okay. There is no ‘wow factor’ in terms of flavour. It was just lacking. It was often bland – and often lacking seasoning!

To take some examples, the blood sausage dish is totally bland. The addition of “fried moss” seems to added for the sake of a chef being clever and trying to be unique. In reality, it adds nothing to the dish.

The beef dish – again – looked visually impressive. But it didn’t pack a flavour punch. It’s just okay. It doesn’t feel elevated in terms of flavour. I have eaten tastier beef at elevated gastropubs.

The goose dish. The addition of truffle will always make something taste better but that’s about it. What was under the truffle was borderline tasteless.

The arctic char dish. I’ve eaten plenty of arctic char dishes, particularly in Iceland, and this is the worst Arctic char dish I have tasted. Again, it’s just okay. It doesn’t pack a flavour punch.

I wish this restaurant would stop focussing on presentation at the expense of flavour – especially if trying to pretend to be elevated cuisine.

Service throughout was patchy – often delayed. The overselling at tables, wine descriptions, and dish explanations seem to be about ‘ticking the box’ in terms of what’s expected at fine dining level.

The gin and tonic had no gin flavour whatsoever! It tasted as if it were just blueberry juice and ice.

Everything feels confected to pretend to be finer dining. And then you’re let down by the actual flavour profile of the food in front of you. I’m sorry but the flavours are average and not up to scratch.

Overall, a disappointing experience. I had hoped for better, especially given the...

While I reviewed the menu prior to my visit, it would have been nice to get some guidance from the server, who I felt only re-read the menu at best. I had a gin and tonic. There were choices and I asked for information on the choices and all she did was read the names and say middle one kind of dry. My G&T didn't come until after the appetizer was served. Anytime I have had dinner out, the server brings the before dinner cocktail, well, before dinner. I went with the a la carrte selection which, I am not sure was the best choice as I paid the same for one less meal item. Would have been nice for the server to explain. Appetizer was interesting and tasty but I had to google as server didn't expain what it was. Except I did google and no explanation. I think it was a raw seafood dish. I asked if the "organic" salmon was farm raised and she said it was organic. , not what i asked. The salmon was good but honestly portion was maybe the size of a deck of cards but thlckness was only 2 suits. The white chocolate dessert was a white chocolate brownie with a white cream topping and thinly sliced strawberries. It was served on a flat stone. It was so hard I was afraid it would go flying when I tried to cut with dessert fork. A disappointing experience. For this intended caliber of this restaurant, the server was just not who should be working there. The other server did a much better service for the other table. While I might have overlooked the food shortcomings, the bad service...