Paven

According to my Foursquare account it’s been almost 2 years since I was last at Paven. If memory serves correctly, it was on a trip back to Helsinki, late summer and a 40 something birthday lunch for me. This time around we had planned to view the Tall Ships from the sea, unfortunately the harbour basin where they are mooring in Helsinki was closed to regular traffic so we decided to kick plan B into action.
Located on the island of Pentala in the Espoo archipelago, this summer restaurant is open every year for the summer season only. The pavilion of the Espoo sailing club is 100 years old and the décor and interior has been carefully maintained to invoke that old world feeling. While it’s not the sort of décor I would enjoy to live with, the seaside theme fits the restaurant to a tee! Think white painted wood and soft blue check tablecloths, exposed boards in the newer section and all sorts of pictures and pennants on the walls. The previous time the walls had been decorated with old club memorabilia. This time round there were contemporary photographs of archipelago rocks and islands, a tribute exhibition to coincide with the 100 year anniversary.
It’s a pity I can’t rate atmosphere and location separately to food and service. The location is deserving of 4 stars at least, the veranda seating has prime view of incoming boats as well passing traffic. Looking over our shoulders back towards Helsinki we saw at least one Tall Ship on its way to Helsinki. Food and service would be three stars at a push.
The menu has typical summer selections — gazpacho soup (8,00 €), shrimp salad (10,50 €), steak tartar (12,50 €) and the archipelago plate with a combination of pickled fish and vegetables (13,00 €) and new potatoes (13,00 €). Our table wasn’t set properly when we were seated and proper cutlery for our starters arrived a mere second or two prior to the food. The tartar was large by starter standards. The soup looked great, although the flavour failed to deliver.
Main courses ranged from a seafood soup (also available as a starter) (14,00 /​21,00 €) to herbed lamb (23,50 €), smoked salmon (19,50 €), Black Angus steak from the grill (26,00 €) and the daily catch (22,00 €). Our waitress forgot to inform us of the catch, although I doubt it would have changed our mind. Two lambs and a salmon graced our table for main course, and while the salmon was quite tasty, the salad mix had a bitter aftertaste and the carrots cooked in ginger seemed to be missing ginger. The lamb was tender and full of flavour, yet the accompanying potatoes were cold and barely cooked.
Dessert is one course I usually take, even if it’s not so great for my waistline! Chocolate Pecan pie (7,50 €) looked fantastic even if the fresh berry garnish was overwhelmed by the chocolate cake. Vanilla panna-​cotta with stewed rhubarb (7,50 €) was my choice, the panna-​cotta texture was spot on, and the rhubarb was nicely cooked. The same fresh berries were used as a garnish and were again overshadowed by the rest of the dessert. Other desserts on offer were House Sorbet (7,50 €) and 2 Cheeses (9,00 €). Regular filter coffee and tea completed our meal.
The service was unfortunately very typical summer restaurant standard. It would not have surprised me to hear that the wait staff where family of club members. In one sense I do understand it; working in a restaurant on an island with limited means of escape is probably not the easiest of positions to fill. It’s really not very nice though to ask a question and receive an extremely blunt NO in response. Not even the usual ‘unfortunately not’ was offered. We weren’t offered chocolates with our final bill either unlike our neighbours who left shortly after we arrived. Maybe they got the last two…
Would I go back? Definitely. The food servings were plentiful, the service will undoubtedly improve by the end of summer, plus it’s a great view.
There is a terrace menu, and a special fixed price menu for the 100 years celebration: 4 courses + sorbet at 56,00 €.
+ Archipelago menu.
— Location, difficult to reach and limited connections.