May Day brunch at restaurant Penny

This weekend Finland celebrated “Vappu”, which is one of the four biggest holidays along with Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Midsummer. The celebrations begin on the evening of April 30^th and continue on May 1^st. The celebration marks the beginning of summer (which weatherwise is rarely the case in Finland) but May 1^st is also the International Workers Day. So, the day is filled with happy picnicking people, celebrating students and “communist” marches.

New York style bistro

This year we sent May Day eve at home and on May Day I had made a brunch reservation at restaurant Penny for 2 pm. Penny was opened in 2016 but this was my first visit to this tiny 25 customer restaurant. The restaurant offers weekday and Saturday lunch, Sunday brunch, and an a ’la carte menu in the evenings.

For May Day, the restaurant offered two brunch menus. The lighter version started with yogurt and berries accompanied with avocado gazpacho, the main was Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, and to top it all off there was a pancake with ice cream and strawberries. The heavier menu kicked off with lobster sliders, then came Rueben-style Eggs Benedict served with fried potatoes, followed by mac and cheese, and polished off with the same pancake as the lighter version. Brunch also included a mimosa.

We decided that hubby would order the lighter version and I the heavier menu. We tasted each other’s menus and shared the mac and cheese. In addition to the menus and complimentary mimosas, we also had a second glass of mimosa. The food was terrific and did bring back memories of New York. The restaurant clearly uses top-quality ingredients, and the price was reasonable (lighter menu EUR 45 and heavier EUR 55). Based on this experience I am keen to try the lunch or evening menu in the future.