This is what the new Helsinki hotel’s 45-euro breakfast looks like

The food is presented spectacularly at The Hotel Maria. Wind Lindgren

The Hotel Maria’s breakfast is served in the restaurant Lilja, and breakfast is available with a table reservation. The restaurant hall is beautiful. All tables are decorated with fresh flowers.

The waiter is friendly and immediately introduces the breakfast concept: the price of breakfast is 45 euros, and it includes both a buffet and an egg dish that can be ordered from the chef. Scrambled eggs, fried eggs, fried eggs or an omelette are available. Based on the waiter’s recommendation, I end up ordering an omelet, with spinach as the filling.

The omelette turns out to be well fried and seasoned. The portion tastes great and is the right size.

Coffee and tea are served at the table, as well as fresh juice. The juice options are orange and blueberry.

The buffet’s offerings are beautifully displayed, and a lot of ready-made small portions have been used in the serving. Smoothies and fresh porridge can be found in serving glasses, while the butter is already cut into cubes and served on small plates. Finger salt is sprinkled on top. An aesthetic and at the same time waste-reducing operating model.

Oatmeal is the star of warm foods

The selection of hot dishes at the buffet is limited on Monday morning. Under the covers you can find bacon, pancakes and oatmeal.

Head of the hotel’s restaurant and kitchen operations Petri Rauha confirms that the supply of hot food is the same even on weekend mornings.

– We update the selection a few times a year and we also try to take into account the seasons when possible at breakfast.

The breakfast bacon is fried to a crisp, but you would expect more from pancakes in a luxury hotel. For the price of 45 euros, I would hope that pancakes could be found on the list of breakfast dishes to be ordered, so that the customer could enjoy them freshly fried.

Sweet blueberry jam and maple syrup are offered as toppings. There are no berries at breakfast at all.

Oatmeal turns out to be just as good as it looks. At the same time, the soft velvety and chewy porridge rises to a new level when topped with blueberry jam and salty butter. It is clear that Lapland Hotels Boulevard’s famous oatmeal now has a competitor from The Hotel Maria’s porridge.

– Porridge is made from wild oats, whole milk, water and salt. Porridge is made overnight in an iron pot on low heat, says Rauha.

The deliciousness of the porridge has also been noticed by the customers.

– Porridge has been a favorite among customers, and it collects a lot of praise.

A little surprise

The staff made a mistake with the cheeses, because the emmental and smoked cheese slices on the plate have dried out so badly on the plate that the corners of the cheese slices have already started to curl. You wouldn’t expect to see something like this at a luxury breakfast.

So the cheeses don’t convince, but truffle salami and reindeer stand out from the charcuterie board. The hotel’s own kimchi is also delicious, which is a fresh and suitably surprising addition to the breakfast table.

The cold smoker also tastes good, and as a customer I would love to read more about its origin. I miss more information about some of the other products on offer, such as breads and cold cuts. I find myself thinking about Hotel Runo in Porvoo, whose suppliers of breakfast products are transparently explained on the menu signs.

The dessert selection at Hotel Maria is spectacularly laid out on three-tiered trays. Among other things, mouth-watering eclair pastries are available.

Rauha says that the pastries come to the hotel from the French Le Jardin bakery in Lauttasaari. The cooperation partner has clearly been chosen appropriately.