Street food

Rovaniemi to Helsinki, December 17, 2015—

ROVANIEMI IS A CITY of many charms, and we're leaving it too soon. One of the charms is this fine restaurant, with simple, beautifully prepared food, an interesting clientele to watch, and — that word again — charming service. So for a last meal in this northern capital — of Lapland — we returned, and for the first time thought about one of the components of its name: Streetfood. Since we were having lunch, not dinner, that seemed appropriate.

I ordered what you might call pulled reindeer: the meat sliced and cut into bits, then sautéed, and made into a sandwich with delicious cole slaw, shredded lettuce, lingonberry jam, "red sauce" and Dijon-mayonnaise, all on a nice soft bun, and so generous it had to be eaten with knife and fork.

The meat was quite gamy. It was farmed, of course: I'm told there hasn't been an undomesticated reindeer in Lapland for a century or so. But it was wild in taste, very gamy; and the lingonberry jam made a lot of sense, taming the flavors. The whole thing was really a success, and those French fries!

Red, of course, but I've forgotten what… I write this two days later…

•Ravintola Roka Street Bistro, Lh2, Ainonkatu 3, Rovaniemi, Finland; 050 3116411

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DINNER WAS SIMPLY a salad and a sandwich on the overnight train south to Helsinki. It was surprisingly good, with mâche, of all things, in the salad…
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants