Quick Test | The rice pies of the small summer cafe made an impression: “The ratio between the crust and the filling smacks of perfection”

Sparsely you can walk to the cafe through an idyll filled with magnolia trees and peach-colored tulips. This year, the summer cafe of Vallila’s plantation garden is under the care of Hermann’s pie bakery.

The bakery, which opened a store just on Vaasankatu, is especially known for its rice pies and seed cakes. Geographically, the company from Stadion swears by the Eastern Finnish baking tradition.

It is a cloudy and chilly day in Vallila. Still, a few more poppoos have found their way to the small terrace. “Wednesdays are usually quiet. People start working towards the end of the week,” says the person who keeps the kiosk open Tiina Nurmi.

A small one candy and crisps are the first things that pop out of the blue and white cottage’s offerings. However, the actual reason for our visit can be found in the showcase. There are Karelian pies filled with rice, carrot and potato. More special products are a small muikkukkukkonen folded into a half-moon shape and a round potato-forest mushroom pie. We take the classic, rice pie with egg butter, as well as muikkukkukko, which is rare in these regions.

We are still thinking about the choice of dessert. “I’ll heat up these pies in the meantime.” There are two different buns, one of which is vegan. But which one would we take? “The normal cinnamon stick, if you can eat it,” Tiina Nurmi answers lightning fast.

In a rice pie, the relationship between the crust and the filling captures something that has never been known from a pie before. The rye crust is thin but not dry. The moist rice porridge filling is tasty and stays in its shell. Egg butter is suitable.

In a rice pie, the ratio of crust and filling is perfect. Picture: Juha Salminen / HS

Muikkukukkonen is also a great salty piece. The smoky muikku is thick and the crust is thin. If you are used to cock, which has fat, rice or other moisture in addition to fish, Hermann’s version may seem dry. But thanks to its small size, Kukkonen works as a light snack.

Kanelipuusti has a large and close-knit school. It is a bit reminiscent of the trees in the Kannisto bakery. However, this one has a lot of cinnamon filling, which makes the whole thing moist.

The thin-shelled muikkukukkonen is a mini version of its predecessor from Savoia, filled with smoke. Picture: Juha Salminen / HS

Thermal coffee is Swedish and the taste reveals that it was brewed with a clean coffee machine. In relation to water, the coffee is comfortably lighter than normal to my taste. As a “guardian of Finnish food culture”, one would have expected a pie bakery to offer coffee from a domestic roaster.

It’s rare to feel so welcome in an allotment garden without a cottage. A special treat has happened to the cottagers in the area, because one of the tastiest pies in Helsinki is now available in the backyard of their summer cottage.

The summer cafe gives even those without a cabin a reason to dive into the beauty of the beautiful farm garden. Picture: Juha Salminen / HS