I had a day off on Friday and had grabbed a nice Hotel deal a few months ago. So, we spent one night at a hotel and had an excellent dinner in Helsinki on Friday.

Klaus K Sky Studio

After hubby finished work on Friday afternoon, we headed to hotel Klaus K. Klaus K was the bellwether of boutique hotels in Helsinki when it opened in 2005. However, we had never stayed there before so I figured it was high time. There has been an inn on these premises since 1924 and the first hotel was opened in 1938 under the name Klaus Kurki. In 2005, the design hotel Klaus K was opened. In 2014, the hotel expanded by adding 30 new Sky Loft rooms and suites. I had booked a Sky Studio room, so we stayed in this expansion. The room was quite small but had extremely high ceilings, which made it feel bigger. The king bed was of high quality and its firmness was to my liking (hubby said it was a bit too firm for him). The room had plenty of lighting, which seems to be quite unusual these days, so a big plus for that. The bathroom was huge and had a nice designer lamp. The room was more than suitable for a short stay but would have felt cramped if we had stayed longer.

Dinner at Bardot

I had made a reservation for us at a new restaurant that had opened in October called Bardot. Bardot is a French bistro style restaurant with room for 80 customers. The restaurant specializes in fish, seafood and vegetables, which is more than welcomed after most other fish and seafood restaurants in Helsinki have closed their doors a few years ago. We kicked-off the evening with cocktails and a small snack (chips with smoked roe and sour cream) while studying the menu. In addition to the actual menu, the restaurant also serves specials of the day. We picked our starters from the menu, but both ended up having a special as our main. My starter was vendace roe served with waffles, browned butter, crème fraiche, and chives. Hubby had the escargots with parsley, lemon, garlic butter, and puff pastry. The starters were delicious. The only small minus for me was that the waffles were a bit sweet, which I found odd. I would have preferred them to be savory. For my main I chose king crab legs with aioli, and sourdough bread, served with a side salad. Hubby opted for steak and fries served with Bearnaise sauce and green beans with bacon. Both mains were excellent and the wines the waiter had recommended to go with the mains also worked out perfectly. With such a great meal I felt the need to have something sweet to round the whole thing off. We decided to share a dessert: a poached slightly caramelized pear with vanilla ice-cream and dark chocolate sauce. The dessert was delicious and a perfect ending to a superb dinner. We will definitely visit Bardot again and I wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant.

The hotel was okay

We slept well in our Sky Studio and its comfy bed. The only complaint was the pillows that were extremely soft and small. The room was really quiet apart from a small disturbance from the corridor when a bunch of ladies returned to their room in the early hours. Due to the COVID situation, the hotel had half an hour breakfast slots and we had picked the 8.30 slot. Breakfast was fine but nothing to write home about. We actually felt it was a tad disappointing for a so-called boutique hotel. It was more on par with any decent chain hotel in Finland. All in all, the hotel was ok, but I would not stay there again. Time has surpassed Klaus K’s glory days and Helsinki has far better boutique hotels to offer these days.

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