Harald stole my heart.
Ok, Harald is the best viking era theme restaurant I've ever been to. I'm almost ashamed to admit it but it's just so much better than f.ex. the Icelandic ones that they cannot even compete. The Icelandic Fjörukráin looks good and all but the menu's nothing to shout about and the staff are dressed a little bit shabbily (although I do like it that they aren't wearing uniform clothes there, unlike in Harald) and the service is also a little bit lacking. I can say it out loud when waiters aren't performing properly, I'm a Finn after all! My expectations on service are that I get to make my order within the first half an hour and that I don't have to wait another half an hour for drinks. Everything else is a plus. And yet Fjörukráin has never once met these expectations the three times that I've been there to eat - no wait once I got my order in time, but even then managing to grab a waiter's attention was one hell of a feat.
But I digress.
My favourite Harald would be the Tampere one. IDK there's just something about how the place looks like (the Helsinki Harald we visited was a whole lot lighter and all things considered - mainly that Finland has such light summer nights that there was no natural difference - I really do prefer the soft, warm way they've lit the place). The clientele in Tampere seemed to consist of drunken metalheads who kind of further added to the atmosphere, although this one might be blamed on the time of day. I also liked the more relaxed attitude of the waiters here, although the Helsinki kind of service might suit you better if you're more used to eating in fine restaurants. They're that much more formal in behaviour there, but the Tampere staff beats them with easiness and friendliness, also at the speed of which they bring you your drinks. That might tell you something about the differences in their clientele, IDK but I would not be too surprised.
You should be prepared that in both places they will come over to ask you if the food pleases you just the moment when your mouth is too full for even sound to come out. I hope my Happy Dance managed to convey my true feelings.
Here's our entrées. OMG look at those! In front is the Village Chief's Wife's Better Feast Salad and behind Ahti's Fish Stone. We kind of ate from both plates each because everything had to be sampled.
The last time we were here the menu included both tar and cinnamon flavoured beer which went really well with the food, and so when it now no longer had those items I was a little bit sad. Luckily I asked the waiter, though, turned out you can still have those on request and not only in Tampere but Helsinki too! This to me sounded a lot like that they have some kind of flavourings that they add to some basic lager, like you can get coffee with different kinds of syrups. But seriously, do not be afraid to try.
I ended up eating most of the Ahti's Fish Stone, actually. But it's ok, meanwhile my salad and bread somehow disappeared. :D
For the main course we went kind of YOLO because if you visit a place once in two years you're entitled to treat yourself. This is the Hunting Sword of the King of the Berserkers (seriously who comes up with these names?!? :D), one of the few items on the menu that will only be cooked for two or more eaters. The other ones are called shields. The last time we were here we ordered the Shield of King Canute which is sadly no longer on the menu, so this time a sword sounded more interesting. A shield is a huge round wooden thingy so I cannot say I was that surprised to see that what they call a sword actually seems to be one too.
Here's how the menu describes that sword:
Onto a large sword, we have gathered reindeer, red deer, wild boar fillet and seasonal vegetables. Onto the serving plank we add two kinds of sauce - Power Beer and black chanterelle sauces, with Viking shield potatoes and alder smoked cheese potatoes as well as honey-roasted root-vegetables, rhubarb jam and garlic cloves with sea-buckthorn.
OMG DAT MEAT. And those potatoes! The mushroom sauce! OMG EVERYTHING SO YUMMY.
LOOK AT THAT FOOD.
LOOK AT IT.
Later on in Helsinki we decided to try out one of their Haralds, the one on Kaivokatu. This one's Partrige of the Fugitive Queen. The waiter carefully informed me I was actually ordering game, which kind of made me wonder if they've had people order this plate before and then go "WTF THIS IS NOTHING LIKE CHICKEN" or something... in any case it was delicious. The rutabaga and carrots were way too tough on both our servings though.
Here's what was being eaten on the other side of the table. I can't actually remember the name of this meal but I think it may have been Orm the Red's Venison Skewer. Once again delicious (except for the root veggies), would easily visit again! But even more happily I would visit Tampere Harald. That place has made some lasting memories for me.