Thus was our reintroduction to Helsinki’s restaurant scene. While the approach at Aino was a bit too laid back for my taste, it was comforting to know they were at least nicely apologetic about it and spoke really good English. Funny how when we brought up the non-cooling thermostat at the hotel earlier, the answer was eerily similar.

“It takes an hour for it to start cooling up…”

I sense a pattern forming. We ended up grabbing dinner somewhere else at Esplanadipark, by Kappeli, which looked enticing from the outside and offered the most expensive grilled chicken sandwich in memory that it caught me off guard for a moment. I seem to remember feeling sticker shock from when we were first here five years ago and after a quick glance at the menu it didn’t take long for it all to come streaming back.

Not even an hour.