Sea Horse is a restaurant in

Ullanlinna (; sv, Ulrikasborg) is a city district of Helsinki, in Finland. The name ''Ullanlinna'' ( en, "Ulla's Castle") refers to the fortification line that was built at the southern edge of the area during the 18th century (no longer visible), as part ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, founded in 1934. Since its founding, it has paid attention to the traditional Finnish restaurant culture with both its interior and its menu. It is colloquially called Sikala (The Pigsty). It is located at Kapteeninkatu 11. The restaurant's customers have included sailors, cultural people, and everything in between. According to journalist Jouni Lompolo, pen name "Origo", you can meet everyone from

Nobel prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winners to men in the street in the restaurant. The staff has included numerous personalities. Gunnar Salenius, connected with the

Jäger Movement The Jäger Movement ( fi, Jääkäriliike sv, Jägarrörelsen) consisted of volunteers from Finland who trained in Germany as Jägers (elite light infantry) during World War I. Supported by Germany to enable the creation of a Finnish sovereign ...

, worked as the doorman in the 1930s. Pirre Pasanen, daughter of director and inventor

Spede Pasanen Pertti Olavi "Spede" Pasanen (10 April 1930 – 7 September 2001) was a Finnish film director and producer, comedian, and inventor. During his career he directed, wrote, produced or acted in about 50 movies and participated in numerous TV p ...

, was the chief restaurateur of Sea Horse for a year after her father's death. In 2003, an extensional cabinet called ''Musta hevonen'' ("the black horse") was opened. The cabinet includes Kimmo Kaivanto's painting ''Punaista ja mustaa''. On the back wall of the main restaurant hall, there is a painting of two

sea horse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

s, which has two theories relating to its birth. According to one theory, art students who had broken in the restaurant in the 1940s had painted it. According to the other theory, a broke art student had paid his restaurant bill by creating the painting. The most popular dishes on the menu include fried herrings, cabbage rolls,

pyttipanna Pyttipanna (Swedish language, Swedish), pyttipanne (Norwegian language, Norwegian), pyttipannu (Finnish language, Finnish) or biksemad (Danish language, Danish), is a culinary dish consisting of chopped meat, potatoes and onions fried in a pan, si ...

meatball A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are many type ...

s and Wiener Schnitzel à la maison. The onion steak has been a classic dish on the menu for over 40 years, even mentioned in literature.Nykänen, Harri; Sjöberg, Tom: ''Rööperi: rikoksen vuodet 1955-2005'', p. 10. Helsinki:

Johnny Kniga Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Variant ...

, 2005. . Famous regular customers of "Sikala" have included, in addition to Jouni Lompolo and Kimmo Kaivanto, quiz show host

Jyrki Otila Jyrki Ilari Otila (2 September 1941, in Helsinki – 14 April 2003, in Tampere) was a Finnish quiz show judge and a member of the European Parliament. Otila graduated as an economist. He became popular as the judge of several quiz shows on televi ...

, poet Pentti Saaritsa and traffic reporter Esko Riihelä. Other famous customers have included poet Pablo Neruda, philosopher

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musician Dizzy Gillespie.

References

External links

Official site
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