The Best Bakeries in Helsinki, Finland

Located in a former dentist’s surgery in the bohemian Kallio District, Way Bakery was opened in 2018 by four friends: two ran a Michelin-star restaurant, one a natural wine import business and the fourth had his own coffee roastery. “We don’t compromise on quality,” says co-owner Pipinen. “We only make one bread which is our sourdough and we proof it for 48 hours, which takes a lot of space, but is better for the flavour.” The bakery also serves an all-day breakfast menu, one lunch dish each day and some seasonal pastries (including delicious blueberry pies in the summer). After 5pm, it transforms into a small restaurant and natural wine bar but Pipinen says the breakfast plate is their stand-out dish. “It has our sourdough, churned butter, comté cheese and ham, which sounds simple but is really good.”

It’s worth queueing at Helsinki’s smallest artisan bakery in the Töölö District to pick up its special daily bread and a cup of freshly ground filter coffee. Co-owner Klaus Ittonen started the business selling cinnamon buns and Karelian pastries (a traditional rye pie filled with rice) off the back of his bike, before establishing the bakery with Kátia Corrêa. Open Thursday to Sunday only, it now bakes fresh baguettes, cinnamon rolls and pastries twice a day. They also bake traditional rye bread on Thursdays, “sweet-sour” baked goods on Fridays, multigrain and scones on Saturdays and rye malt archipelago bread and banana bread on Sundays. ​“Good coffee paired with a homemade korvapuusti makes the world a better place,” Ittonen says.

“They were the first bakery in Helsinki that started making proper sourdough bread,” Pipinen says. With two locations in Punavuori and Töölö, the contemporary Levain specialises in baking sourdough bread without industrial baking yeast in a stone sole oven. They bake all day, so it’s possible to buy fresh bread – no matter when you visit – alongside takeaway sandwiches, delicious coffee and pastries including croissants, a daily vegan pastry and their famous pasteis de nata (Portuguese custard tart). “They serve breakfast and lunch too,” says Pipinen. “But I would definitely get the bread there. They make several types as well as sourdough.”

Run by the same family since the 1970s, the traditional Eromanga bake shop serves coffee, home-made pastries, cinnamon buns and freshly baked bread from their bakery and small adjacent café. Its products are also sold at shops and department stores throughout Helsinki, but it’s worth visiting the bakery by the Kasarmitori Square to get your hands on the legendary lihapiirakka (meat pie). The savoury treat has been made by following the same secret recipe since 1846. “They’re very well known for their meat pies, which are good to buy and takeaway,” says Pipinen. “They have pastry on the outside, with minced meat, rice and onions inside, and it’s deep fried. People like to eat them after they go out and drink too much!”

For a real taste of tradition, Rönttösrouva is a no-fuss bakery established over a decade ago in the Tapanila District in the north of Helsinki. Now run by the original owner’s son, the bakery specialises in Finnish delicacies from Kainuu, a region in Central Finland on the border with Russia. Specialties include smoked salmon-and-reindeer pies, rye Rönttönen pies filled with lingonberries and stadin kokko, a rye and potato pastry filled with smoked vendace fish, vegetables and bacon.

If you’re craving something a little sweeter, Patisserie Teemu Aura is the trendiest place in town to satisfy your sweet tooth. Established by Michelin-star chefs Teemu Aura and Markus Hurskainen (and previously known as Patisserie Teemu & Markus), the bakery in the Hakaniemi District is now run by Aura alone. It serves an extensive breakfast menu, plus soups and salads for lunch, as well as bread, croissants, cookies and even spectacular wedding cakes. Its immaculate macarons are also hard to resist, coming in unusual flavour combinations, including peach and chilli, and liquorice and lemon. “I would get their cardamom bun with quark sour cream in the middle,” says Pipinen. “It’s very tasty.”

Finland’s oldest bakery, Ekberg has been serving bread, traditional pastries and delicate cakes in their elegant, airy city centre bakery since 1852. Open every day, it now also offers a full à la carte breakfast and lunch menu in the café. It also has takeaway sandwiches available and a daily three-course lunch buffet, which can be eaten on the terrace overlooking the bustling Boulevard in the summer. Speciality cakes include the Alexander, a pastry made with apple jam and named after Tsar Alexander, and the Thousand Leaves, a flaky pastry with a caramel filling. “It’s quite traditional and everybody knows it,” says Pipinen. “Older people like to go there for a coffee and cake with friends.”

Translated as “Once Upon A Time”, Olipa Kerran is a tiny bakery and café that specialises in vegan baking in Lauttasaari near the Gyldenintie metro. With pastel candy-striped wallpaper, vintage dining chairs and eccentric antique artwork, the café feels like a scene from a fairytale. The quaint bakery offers a range of vegan macarons, buns, quiches and cupcakes, and lavishly decorated cakes made to order. For something off-beat, try the savoury sandwich cakes packed with salmon and tzatziki, or beetroot hummus with guacamole. Save room for a hot chocolate, too, which is made with oatmeal and locally produced honey, and flavoured with peppermint, chilli or cardamom.