Finnlines’ new ships will start operating in September.
Swedes in particular may only eat whole shrimp at the buffet, so a bucket of crab is offered in the bistro. Eeva Paljakka
Finnlines, the largest shipping company in Finland’s freight traffic, will make a new territorial conquest in the autumn, when it will launch two new ships aimed at passengers.
Finnlines says that it invests heavily in the food supply on board.
– We believe in traveling where you don’t need so many nightclubs and discos, but you can enjoy food. In our opinion, this is the right way to enjoy the Finnish archipelago, says the CEO of Finnlines Tom Pippingsköld at an event presenting a new food concept.
A snapshot of the restaurant world of the new ships. Finnlines
According to him, the food world of the new cargo-passenger ships that start operating on the Naantali-Långnäs-Kapellskär route has expanded a lot.
– Nowadays, you can eat in a traditional buffet on our ships, but the new ships have plenty of options and taste experiences, Pippingsköld continues.
Restaurateur and chef Henri Alen has been planning a new food concept.
Alén describes the food style as having a touch of the Mediterranean, but the food still fits the archipelago.
The food offering has not gone after easy wins, as there are no hamburgers or snack baskets.
– For breakfast, you can get more than just non-wrestling scrambled eggs, Alén grins.
He continues that there will be Nordic ingredients in a French style. According to Alén, the offerings of all restaurants speak the same language, even though they are different.
One of the biggest challenges is that the food is cooked at sea, because not everything can be done there. Minimizing the loss also required consideration.
– At first it was a Rubik’s cube that can’t be solved in any way. The cross-use of raw materials required planning, the fact that everything can be used, such as, for example, cold-smoked salmon tails.
In addition, Alén wanted to minimize the number of useless articles and instead invest in quality.
– The buffet does not have to be 8 and a half kilometers long. Even less is enough, as long as the food is of high quality. Every product has been carefully looked at and thought about how it can be made one step better.
For example, the oatmeal in morning porridge is steel-cut, so the structure of the porridge becomes coarser and the porridge has a more chewy feel than traditional oatmeal porridge.
Alén promises passengers coming on new ships a dining experience that Finnlines’ ships have not had before.
Finnlines kitchen manager Dan Grönvall and Henri Alén have been planning the new food concept for more than a year. Finnlines
– I’m really proud of the a la carte breakfast, and I bet Fishmarket & Grill’s Barbeque products and sauces are something that hasn’t been seen on ships, says Alén.
The ingredients for the new menus have been found, for example, in the archipelago. The bakery products are from the Turku region, lamb from Åland, island table and local lemonades, for example. Finnlines has started cooperation with Kespro this spring. Kespro supplies the raw materials to Finnlines’ ships on the route between Finland and Sweden.