On our second day in Lappeenranta we decided to visit a couple of museums. The first one was the Wolkoff House Museum. The house is one of the oldest wooden houses remaining in Lappeenranta built in 1826-1905. The house was the home of the Russian Wolkoff family in 1872-1983. The interior is an authentic home formed over the years through the life of four generations. As the first museum tour started at 11 am we strolled around the town first.

Vety and Atomi – local street food

After exploring the Wolkoff house it was time for lunch. This time we opted for a local tradition from the 1960’s. Vety and Atomi are meat pies with ham and/or egg, ketchup, mustard, pickle, onion, and mayonnaise, which you can find nowhere else. We ended up at a place that was mentioned as the best by several sources called Satama-Sanni. As I’m not a big fan of ham I opted for Vety which contains either ham or egg whereas hubby chose Atomi that contains both. I must say I was more than pleasantly surprised by this local specialty; it was delicious and a perfect lunch.

The Saimaa canal museum

Our second museum of the day was the old Mälkiä lock at the Saimaa Canal. The actual Saimaa Canal Museum had closed for the season but we enjoyed a stroll along the Saimaa Canal Cultural Trail. The trail runs by the side of the canal, between the old locks of Mustola and Mälkiä. We also managed to see a ship pass through the new Mälkiä lock. There was a myriad of super-tame ducks enjoying the old canal. After the stroll, we headed back into town and partook in afternoon coffee at café Satamatie 6.

Second Lappeenranta dinner not as impressive as first

For our second night in Lappeenranta I had reserved a table at The Kitchen. As we had realized on the first night that this restaurant was part of the same Group as the first restaurant we visited, our expectations were high. The restaurant itself was inviting and the service was friendly. Once at the restaurant I ordered Burratta cheese, tomato, balsamico and basil for my starter and hubby had Shrimp skagen, vendace roe, marinated red onion and toasted rye bread. The starters were tasty and nicely presented. Unfortunately the mains did not quite follow suite. My main was the Kitchens’ country salad with grilled shrimp, roasted goat cheese, parmesan cheese, crispy salads, marinated tomatoes, red onion, pickled cucumber, aioli and crispy bread. Hubby decided to try the Grilled country chicken, with potato gnocchi roasted in lemon oil, with antiboise. The problem with the salad was that even though the individual components were delicious they did not work together that well. It would have worked far better with either shrimp or goat’s cheese, but both were too much. The chicken dish was okay but could have used a bit more clarity as well.

Next post will be about the second leg of our vacation in Savonlinna.

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