Woolshed

Premium gastro bar with excellent pub food and special beers. Low-priced, Burger meal & bottle of red wine ~33€.

I wasn't exactly sure if I should review Woolshed at all, it being "a sports pub" and all. But considering the establishment in comparison to standard pubs there are so many good elements at this Australian premium gastro bar that I believe a review is in order.

For saturday night there was a plan of going out with a couple of friends and my idea of getting some good bar food at the same time was accepted for execution.  I had visited Woolshed three times before and already knew they offered really good burgers, lobsters and steaks.
Woolshed is situated really close to the central railway station, still fortunately on the "quieter" side, at Töölönlahdenkatu.  They have a buzzing (and extremely hot & windless) terrace with quite a lot of space, about 120 seats inside and they have 50% reservation policy that gave us the possibility to get a table without reservation, even on saturday evening.

This time the place was rather empty inside which was a big surprise.  Obviously we didn't mind and took ourselves good seats after getting our drinks (lagers called Fuckin' hell) and started eyeing the menu.  There's lobsters, steaks, steak & lobster -combos and of course burgers on it.
I chose to take the easy way and just went for the Aussie burger.  Only thing that's not for my liking (that much) on the dish was the sweet caramelised onion.  Mayonnaise, beef and everything else included on the burger were really good.  Even the fries that were served on the side were pretty good.

There are couple of things you should know about Woolshed besides their special beers and premium bar food.  
First of all, you should get their membership card (Boomerang card) that costs five(5) euros.  You'll get 10% off from all the draft beers, meals and a big discounts on wine bottles.  10€ off from a red wine bottle is a deal-maker for me.
Secondly, even though I like the place and will visit there quite regularly, I'll have to say they have a lot to learn in terms of customer service.  They have gotten better at it every visit, but there's room for more improvement.  If you're on the counter ready to make an order and you're the only customer at the moment, I believe it's rather rude from the bartenders to talk to each other for a long time about something even if they know there's a customer waiting.  Also the general attitude seems to be pretty much "take your beer and go."  I'm well aware that customer service is not always fun and you don't have to smile all the time but still...

On the right there's an introductory video showing you (mostly) some burger-making action at Woolshed bar & kitchen. 
As said before Woolshed's menu consists of a lot more than just burgers so don't let all the minced meat on the video fool you. 
 
If you're looking for premium pub food and want to enjoy a bunch of special beers, I recommend checking out Woolshed.  Just make sure you're not going there during match evenings IF you're not into all that fan shouting.




Woolshed Bar & Kitchen
www.woolshed.eu
Töölönlahdenkatu 3 B 1, 00100 Helsinki

Domo

Plain-looking Japanese restaurant that offers various kinds of dishes in addition to delicious sushis. Low-priced, two courses & beer ~25€.

Pretty much at the center of Helsinki, just two blocks from both Stockmann and Kamppi shopping centre, sits a homely japanese restaurant Domo.  Even though I'm not a huge fan of sushi I found Domo's menu otherwise quite appealing and decided to take my significant other there.

On late friday evening we could just stroll there without a reservation and find only a couple of the restaurant's about ten tables in use.  After a narrow entrance we were quickly greeted by a brisk waiter who showed us our table and, with fluent English I might add, took care of us decisively and politely and I had my Sapporo beer in front of me in no time.  If you come across impolite service in a Japanese restaurant, there's definitely something wrong with the place. 

"Pork filled dumplings with a soy-vinegar and chili oil sauce"

This time I took pictures of my two courses though I should've pictured my companion's dishes which were a lot better looking.

For starters I took pork filled dumplings with soy-chili sauce.  Quite tasty, yet I believe the sausage-like pork filling is not a big hit in general.
This well-sized dish suited me quite well but in retrospect I'd probably go for the beautiful "Rainbow" sushi.  Still, considering standard Scandinavian customers, I believe these kind of dishes fit well to the menu in addition to the big variety of sushis.


My main course was a plate of really tasty and crispy chicken marinated in ginger soy, and some grated daikon.  I ordered rice to accompany the dish but that's not a necessity, at least not with this dish.

"Ginger soy marinated crispy chicken, citrus soy and grated daikon"

As said, the chicken (and daikon) was really tasty.  It did leave me wanting for more but at the same time it didn't feel like "a proper warm dinner", more like exceptionally good nuggets.

Overall experience at Domo was pleasant.  Service was good, prices were reasonable, settling in somewhere between low-priced & mid-priced, and quality of food was good, particularly when looking at all the nice sushi dishes.  Everyone who enjoys Japanese cuisine should check out Domo, especially if you like your Japanese food with a hint of Scandinavian flavour.


Ravintola Domo
www.domoravintola.fi
Kalevankatu 21, 00100 Helsinki