Quick Test | In the test Kaivopiha’s student restaurant, which turns into a bar in the afternoon: “Commendably large barbeque-inspired mättö”

“French fries and two Jallu shots!” the order comes off the counter.

It sounds like a provincial festival, but we are in a student dome open to everyone and even trendy in the heart of Helsinki. Möhä is a restaurant owned by students of the University of Helsinki and opened in December in Ylva Kaivopiha.

Instead of hitting shots, the place is characterized by being alert and responding to the spirit of the times. Non-alcoholic drinks are emphasized in the offer, and wines are counted from tap packs.

According to the release, Möhä is the “raunchy little sister” of the Unicafe restaurants and the chain’s first and, as far as we know, Helsinki’s only completely plant-based student cup. A student restaurant focused on vegan food has been found on the longer side of Espoo, on the campus of Aalto University.

In Möhä’s case, the media has caught on to drinking that starts after lunch, where beer and wine are sold for five euros by flashing a student card. This is Unicafe’s handout to students. After three, the place serves adults only.

Popularity appears as full tables. Although the vast majority of customers seem to be students in their twenties, Möhä sells lunches to others too for the basic price of just under nine euros. You can get a waste dose with three.

The lunch, which is scooped from the hot plates, is brought from the neighbor’s kitchen, i.e. Kaivopiha’s Unicafe, so the hot food is sometimes the same in both restaurants.

During the test visit, there is an alternative option of Härkis sauce with rice, organic tofu coconut soup and härkis baguettes hanging in the display case. The bowls, which are convenient to grab on the go, have run out of around one.

To Unicafe In recent years, the offer has not tasted as high-quality as in other student canteens in the inner city, for example at Sodexo in the university’s main building. Here, too, the portion of sauce and the narrow salad table with boring iceberg lettuce, grated carrot and beans are mostly avoidable: the stomach fills cheaply, but there is no taste pleasure to speak of.

Side dishes are scarce. Bread is served with hummus and vegan margarine. The spiciness of the main course can be sharpened with the chain’s traditional chili sauce.

In the evening, self-service karaoke starts in Möhä. Picture: Aleksi Kinnunen

Lunch time after that comes the transition of an hour, after which the lights dim and the beer and song taps open.

The evening menu includes, for example, veggie burgers and vegan sausage fries. Using pea protein-chorizo ​​and garnished with cucumber salad, the sausage potatoes are a commendably large grill-inspired stew.

“Eight and a half euros! Now there’s a slump,” a friend goes wild over a mojito topped with raspberry purée, in which no mint has been spared.

Don’t Stop Believin’ is the first to come out of the self-service karaoke, which spreads to the tables. “A smell of wine and cheap perfume”, sings the young beret heads and overalls folk in perfect harmony.

An indication of liberality seems to be the fact that the karaoke list features a praise song, Popeda’s Lihaa ja perunaa, that oscillates between the irony and questionability of meat eating and traditional values.