Hel Yes

Finnish Pop-Up Restaurant


If there's one thing that's fascinated me since I first learnt of them, it's the pop-up restaurant/tea room/bar culture that has been emerging in London. 


Hel Yes opened for 14 days in September 2010. This pop-up was particularly unique because it was the first Finnish-themed pop-up I'd encountered and having spent my Birthday in Stockholm and Swedish Lapland a few months beforehand, I was keen to revisit Nordic cuisine.

Entrance to the secret Shoreditch location

The Menu

Bread and salted butter

Sea Bass Tartare with Archipelago Bread (the black cubes)

Lamb Neck Stew with Dill

As with many of the pop-ups, if it's not in some random stranger's house, it's in a disused, often-dilapidated warehouse. Usually in Shoreditch. This one was no different but that was no bad thing - it had character, customised with swedish alpine-themed displays consisting of raw tree branches, antlers and reindeer fur.

The chefs at work in the open plan kitchen area, surrounded by locally foraged vegetables and herbs such as wood sorrel, chickweed, polypody root and Finnish lingonberries 

Hel Yes, Londonewcastle Depot, 1-3 Wenlock Road, N1 7SL