Top chef Hans Välimäki opens Brasserie Lionne on May Day. The new restaurant opens in the former Cafe Esplanadi premises at Pohjoisesplanadi 37.
Hans Välimäki’s new restaurant will serve French classics. Wind Lindgren
Hans Välimäki opens a new restaurant, Brasserie Lionne, during the spring. The top chef says the restaurant will be his last opening.
– This is the last opening, there are no more to come.
According to Välimäki, Brasserie Lionne, which will open on Pohjoisesplanadi, will be Finland’s most Parisian restaurant. The restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. On weekends, you can get brunch from the restaurant, which is open seven days a week.
– Breakfast and brunch will be served as plate portions, Välimäki says.
Lionne, which opens at 8:30 on weekday mornings, will offer, among other things, cronuts baked in its own bakery, pain au chocolat, homemade juices and various egg dishes. Välimäki promises Lionne will also serve the best breakfast porridge in town.
He says that he is excited about the location of the restaurant and says that he already thought about how to get to such locations as a restaurateur when he was a student.
– 30 years later, here we are.
In Brasserie Lionne, in addition to the actual restaurant, there is also a bar behind the wall, through which you can access the covered backyard. A wine cellar and another kitchen for pre-preparations will be built on the restaurant’s lower floor. And of course the bakery where they prepare to make orthodox croissants.
– Let’s try to make sure it’s not a chubby bun. The croissant must have proper layers, it must crunch in the mouth and it must taste like butter.
Välimäki describes the line of the novelty restaurant as the most Parisian in Finland, and the lunch and dinner menu will not be defined as exclusively focused on meat or fish. Salads, pastas and classics such as Croque Madame and grilled lobster Thermidor will be available.
Lionne’s name goes back to Välimäkie’s previous project.
– When we were designing Bouchon Caremê, one version of the logo had a lion, and the name ‘Lionne’ came to mind then. Now it felt like the right time to use the name – it’s elegant and at the same time easy to pronounce.
The restaurant is operated by the same team as at the popular Bistro Bardot, Italian Bistro Gina, The Rook and Bouchon Carême. In addition to Välimäki, there are Maria von Graevenitz-Välimäki, Arto Rastas and Miika Lonn.