Ravintola Kastu — Restaurant in Salo sub-region

Finally (after some time) a restaurant in Salo with a personal touch preparing food out of quality produce from scratch instead of ready made frozen ingredients. The specialty seems to be a woodfired(?) oven, which is used in preparation of many of the dishes in one way or another.

We enjoyed a full course for two and the menu gave some interesting options.

The tartar was well made and the companions (pickle/capers/red onion) go nicely with the meat and the housemade aioli. The slight problem was to get the right amount of condiments with the tartar to every mouthful, because the strong flavours of the sidekicks easily hide the subtle taste of the tartar which was not heavily seasoned (as expected).

The Mushroom cappuccino was basically a mushroom soup with a twist having dusted mushroom on top of the foam. I usually like thicker soup, but this version was obviously meant to be more runny which also helps the subtle tastes to come forward.

We chose the Lastu (Kastu's special entre sized "pizza") with caramelized onion, anchovy and olives. Although nice and crispy, it was a bit too salty for me. Then again, I'm not a huge anchovy fan. Needless to say, it was my companion's choice.

I wanted to try the "Ranut", sort of wedges made from a sweet Finnish potato variety growing in nightless summers of the Northern Finland. It was a slight disappointment though, because they were a bit soggy and I was expecting something a bit crunchy. Suspecting they are cooked in the oven, hence the appearance. The taste was ok though.

Iberico Secreto was a nice dish with pork. Originally secreto is a "secret" cut of the pork which can be mouth watering. This Secreto was tasty, tender and juicy. Balanced companions such as slighty charred leek and almond made it very enjoyable. This cut is quite fatty, so I would recommend taking a lighter side with it than the "ranut" which are fairly greasy and heavy as well.

Fish of the day today was Siika (common whitefish or lake herring??). White FInnish lake fish. Siika was well prepared and the sauce with the chosen tattari-side (buckwheat) well complemented the nice and flaky fish.

Judging from the choices we were given, the wine list is thought out and there are choices for most palates. Brooklyn's APA was a good choice for the entre's and for the rest of the meal, I simply chose a regular Karhu tap beer.

All in all, very pleasant experience and will certainly return to try some of the other options. Giving only 4 stars this time so that there is room for improvement.

The place could use a bit more soft/warm lighting. As interior is light/white, the white bright light gives it a little bit industrial feeliong.

Also people who complain about the amount of food, are plain wrong. If you are expecting a lunch buffet type of experience, you should go and stuff your face full of kebab or cheap pizza. If you want to have a break from your regular diet, you can find new interesting flavors from this place without having to go out of town and if you take 1-3 entre's and a main, you will not...

There's a few happenstances that likely bias my review, but here goes:

In my opinion the food here is rather too pricy for what you actually get. Big part of this opinion is due to the chicken we got on our Lastu tasting rather old, making the experience already a little sour on the appetizers.

Main meal was alright taste wise (likely since there wasn't any I'd the days chicken involved) though I wouldn't call it filling. We didn't get desserts either, because I personally had a very bad experience with the waitress, so I can't really rave about the service either.

All in all, disappointingly mediocre for its pricing and the waitresses do seem overly busy or otherwise engaged to provide friendly service, as mentioned in some of the...

Mukavan väljähkö tilasuunnittelu. Rento, raikas samalla kuitenkin tunnelmallinen ja lämmin miljöö. Ruokalistalla riittävästi selkeästi erilaisia vaihtoehtoja. Seurueemme, 6 hlöä nautti illallisen ns pitkän kaavan mukaan. Erilaisten annosten maut kohdillaan eikä turhiin kikkailuihin tai liiallisella maustamisella peitetty raaka-aineiden aitoja makuja. Makumaailma tai esillepano ei kuitenkaan yllä lähellekään fine dining paikkojen elämyksiä. Viinilistaa ei ollut saatavilla??? Oli kuulemma viinilista / valikoima vaihtumassa ja vanhat listat poltettu jo (omituinen ja erittäin ontuva vastaus). Pyysimme täyteläistä lihalle soveltuvaa viiniä. Annettiin kaksi viini nimeä / vaihtoehtoa. Annoimme tarjoilialle vapauden valita tilauksillemme parhaiten sopivan viinin. Viini sopikin annoksiimme ja maistui kaikille. Omalle kohdalleni sattui harmittavasti niin, että sain lasejamme täydennettäessä (itse kaataen, ei palvelua tämän osalta) viimeiset viinit. Viimeisellä kulauksella lasistani suuhun sain valtavasti karkeaa sakkaa. Sitten huomasimme sitä olleen myös pullossa runsaasti. Mainitessamme asiasta, tarjoilia sanoi sen olevan tyypillistä ja tavallista. Tästä olen eri mieltä! Mikäli se tämän viinin osalta olisi tietoista. Siitä kuuluisi mainita, ettei kannata kaataa loppua pullosta lasiin ronskisti. Tai vaihtoehtoisesti laittaa viini erilliseen tarjoiluastiaan degantoitumaan ja jättää kaatamatta pullon sakkoja sinne. Tämä pitäisi tapahtua ravintolan toimesta. Kyse kuitenkin arvokkaamman hintatason ravintolasta. Pikkaisen moitteita siis tästä sekä hitusen myös tarjoilijan ammattitaidottomuudesta. Hänellä oli epävarmuutta koko illallisen ajan, eikä palvelu / osaaminen ollut sujuvaa kaikilta osin. Jonkin verran asiakas sai "opastaa" mitä heiltä löytyy ja on saatavilla, koska vastaus oli ensin kieltävä vaikka saman listan tuotteisiin oli paria viikkoa aiemmin saanut ruokavalioon soveltuvia muutoksia. Ja sai nytkin, kun tarjoilijaa opasti. Kokonaisuutena kokemus hyvä mutta ei kiitettävällä tasolla. Osa toileteista suljettu ja kaikki sukupuolesta riippumatta asioivat samoissa...