I travel a lot with my work so inevitably eat out quite a bit. I sometimes wish that I had kept a diary of the good, bad and mediocre restaurants I have visited. Well... this is a start.
Tonight I am in Tampere which is Finland's 3rd or 4th biggest city. It is an industrial town built on a neck of land between two large inland lakes. More precisely there were rapids between the lakes which are now exploited for hydro-electric power. They are called Tammerkoski in Finnish (-koski means rapids) or Tammerfors in Swedish (-fors means rapids much like High Force in the north of England).
In the late 1990s I was surprised to see that there was a victorian factory near the rapids with the name Finlayson. A scottish name like that seemed out of place in Finland. However, James Finlayson brought the industrial revolution to Tampere in 1820 by establishing a cotton factory. The factory expanded and one hall built in 1877 was named after the battle of Plevna in the Russo-Turkish war. This is now converted into the Plevna brew pub & restaurant.
The restaurant has the feeling of being in an industrial setting. It is a bit dark and noisy though not tinny like some American microbreweries. There is a long bar and the eating area is on a mezzanine level - separate seating for smokers and non-smokers. Service was helpful and I do not know if the waitresses were following traditional Finnish dress or trying to look vaguely Germanic.
The menu includes some starter platters, a few fish dishes, some traditional Finnish meat dishes and the specials mainly involve sausages. On an earlier visit I tried the "dip platter" which like many similar dishes in Finland was basically tex-mex. I rated it at 7/10 but it filled me so much that I could not finish one of the specials later.
The beer is a mixture of Czech, Germany, British and Irish style brews. I have previously tried the "little dark number" (3.8%) which is a dark Czech lager - rating 6/10. Tonight I tried the IPA (4.6%) and a light lager (3.8%) both of which I would rate at 7/10. However I have not been in the Czech republic since 1993 so my recollocation of their authentic dark beers may be rusty.
On a previous trip I tried the "Plevna Sausage Pan" which tasted great (7/10) but I had to admit defeat about 2/3 way through. Another time I tried the Bockwurst pan which was decribed as "warning this is hot" with its green pepper and curry sauce. Although there was nothing wrong with the Bockwurst I was disappointed at the blandness and rate it at 4/10; food OK but expectations mis-set.
So tonight I tried the lamb sausages. They were served with garlic potatoes, red cabbage and mustard. The lamb sausages tasted good but quite frankly not as good as the Morrisons lamb and mint sausages I barbequed recently. Merguez style lamb sausages I would rate even better but to compare North African and Finnish sausages is hardly fair. Rating of this dish 6/10.
Plevna has a website http://www.plevna.fi/index_e.html
Although Finland is not the best known country for its cooking - and its cuisine despised by no less than Jacques Chirac - there are some good things. Usually fish is good and I must admit I like some of the meat dishes with garlic potatoes.
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