This past Friday J. and I attempted to grab some lunch at Gastropub Praha — a Czech oriented beer bar here in Tampere — and failed miserably having not checked the hours of operation before getting there. Feeling a bit disheartened, but slightly hopeful for other options (and even hungrier still) we hopped a bus across the river and downtown to see what was open on that side. Sadly, but logically, Gastropub Tuulensuu was fermé aussi. This one’s more of a Belgian-French-Dutch beer bar, with plenty bottles from some top notch Scandinavian brewers as well. We finally ended up settling on some fancy ordeal with small servings and nigh-inoperative heating. But the food was tasty nonetheless and afterwards we headed across the street for a mug of joe and dessert. Dessert happened to be a cherry crumble thing and was well deserved after waiting patiently behind a caravan of gypsy-like folk with a not-so-good understanding of personal space. I was afraid of the Curses and said nothing. The not-speaking-Finnish-thing might have had something to do with it also. Anyway, the beer, yes…back to that.
In a stroke of astoundingly good timing, one of the very active Finnish Ratebeerians (sadly I’ve added this word to my browser’s automatic spell-checker) emails me that he and at least one other person will be at Gastropub Tuulensuu Saturday afternoon. Score. J. and I ran a little late getting there, but this was okay because 1) we had some delicious and fairly authentic Americanised Mexican food just prior and 2) no right minded craft beer enthusiast travels to a different city and only drinks for an hour. (Even the décor of the Mexican joint was surprisingly genuine to my stringent taste of exactly what a cheesy cantina ought to look like.) The two gents we were meeting were indeed easy to spot; vigorously taking notes, multiple bottles, multiple beer glasses, water glasses…the calling card of a beer geek.
Ah, so, the pub. In a few words: comfortable, well stocked and slightly more organised than the French. Overall the pub has an open feel with few walls, high ceilings and large windows. Yet, there’s a distinct sense of cosiness emanating from the dark wooden furniture and hand-scrawled chalkboards with menu and draught beer choices. Space can be a little cramped around the bar itself — more than a few times I was right in the way of the bartender, though I suspect they’re quite used to this — but nothing to worry anyone with even the most fierce case of claustrophobia. Even with other patrons chatting away the noise levels seem quite low and it’s relatively easy to hear everyone in your party. I will say that it was somewhat annoying how easily food aromas permeated the entire bar, but that’s one of my very few knocks on the place. At least they dissipated quickly.
And the beer? Quite a lot of it. Quite a lot indeed. Mostly Belgian with some French and Dutch offerings as well. There was also the odd German and American offering to be had. Mikkeller, Nøgne Ø, Haandbryggeriet and Ølfabrikken were also well represented. Oh and they had Cantillon. On draught. I would return for that and that alone. Much of the bottled beer was split between two patron-accessible coolers, but there were other coolers behind the bar and more, different beers stocked in the back. The distinct lack of a beer list made this set-up somewhat frustrating, but there seems to be at least one place online where notable additions to the line-up can be reviewed; I’ve added that as link on the right, oluttampere.net. Easy enough to navigate, even for a dolt like me who doesn’t speak a lick of Finnish. I didn’t try any of their food, though J. had a dessert something-or-other. Ok, I had a bite of that…tasty. The staff seemed professional enough and didn’t mind our insane number of request for additional glassware or all of the bottle splitting that we did. I don’t know if this is the norm over here, but I’ve been to a number of places in the States where they get quite fussy about such things. Oh, and there was a large cigar humidor, if that happens to be your sort of thing.
All in all, a really nice place and I’m already dying to visit again. Next time in the sole company of J. and to manage some food as well. The prices were… Well, alright, I’m still quite accustomed to the American manner of seeing prices before tax and tip so the prices looked scary…but considering that Finns don’t tip and the tax was already included (and that it’s common to tip a bartender 30%+ in the States) prices were about where I’d expect them to be. Perhaps even, dare I say, good? Especially as most of those beers aren’t to be found at any Alko. An afternoon well spent.
