In one of his less diplomatic moments French president Jacques Chirac once remarked that, except for the Finns, no-one eats worse than the Brits.

He couldn’t have been more wrong – and not just about the Brits. Like other Scandinavian capitals, Helsinki has a fast-developing restaurant scene that is increasingly making the most of exceptional local ingredients. In Europe’s northernmost country this might mean cloudberries (a tart, orange berry) and a profusion of wild mushrooms, Baltic herring and poro (the Finnish word for wild reindeer). Rye, wheat or spelt bread is often handmade on restaurant premises and even the butter is carefully sourced.

A walk around the covered brick market on the harbour leaves no doubt that Finland has a food tradition worth exploring. Several stalls display great slabs of smoked fish (salmon, herring and the more unusual whitefish) and giant glass bowls of glistening fish roe. Little open-faced sandwiches invite nibbling, as do crimped-edged Carelian pies, paper-thin rye pastry filled with rice porridge or potato.

For heartier appetites there are Finnish meat pies called lihapiirakka, which look like jelly doughnuts but contain a savoury meat filling. Reindeer, recently rebranded poro so as not to shock Rudolph fans, comes fresh, smoked, dried or in a pâté. Given the quality of the raw fish in Finland, it’s no surprise to see a long sushi stand such as you might find outside the Tokyo fish market.

Finnish cuisine has come a long way in recent years, with chefs growing considerably more confident (the Finns long saw themselves as underdogs) and diners more sophisticated. Before seeking out Helsinki’s best contemporary Finnish restaurants, however, be sure to make a pilgrimage to a beloved institution such as Kolme Kruunua. Here, it’s hard not to be charmed by the crowded, noisy, 1950s-diner-like atmosphere and heaping plates of fried herring and slow-simmered Finnish meatballs. The experience wouldn’t be complete without a shot (or three) of Jaloviina liquor, a cut brandy (made with brandy, hard grain liquor and no sugar) that you probably have to be Finnish to truly appreciate.

At the other end of the scale is Nokka, an elegant, high-ceilinged restaurant in a former warehouse overlooking the water. Red brick walls give the space warmth while chef Matti Lempinen can’t hide his enthusiasm for the ingredients he personally sources in northern Finland, including refreshing berry wines, wild fish, a broad selection of cheeses and salted butter so good that the restaurant’s crusty home-baked bread almost seems superfluous. His latest discovery is snow poro — a kind of cured meat made whose texture lies somewhere between raw and dried — which he serves with lingonberry and red onion relish. Lempinen holds high-energy cookery classes in an impressive Ferrari-red kitchen upstairs from the restaurant.

Nokka’s former chef, Markus Maulavirta, now runs the restaurants at Helsinki’s recently opened design hotel Klaus K. In the futuristic main restaurant, Ilmatar, the gap-toothed chef can often be seen dancing and beating away with an antler at a little drum – not just for show but as a real reflection of his joie de vivre. Maulavirta started promoting Finnish produce 25 years ago, long before other chefs, and still makes regular trips to Lapland where he has won the honour of becoming a reindeer herder (the right is usually passed down through families). At Ilmatar he favours game, freshwater fish, berries and other mainly organic Finnish products – even the breakfast buffet has smoked salmon from a small producer, local berries and porridge made with a different grain every day.

Two other new restaurants show how quickly Helsinki’s dining scene is changing. On the Eteläesplanadi (Esplanade), the main drag leading from the city centre to the harbour, two former chefs from the two-Michelin-star Chez Dominique and an award-winning maître d’hôtel opened a French-style bistro last May. In a deep-pink-and-cream setting with printed fabrics, modern light fixtures and striped curtains, Postres delivers contemporary bistro fare such as crab raviole with a foamy lobster sauce, veal cheek in deeply flavoured meat jus with tiny diced autumn vegetables, and plate-sized individual tarte Tatins (the pastry chef won Joël Robuchon's chef competition in 2005). Open only since August but packed to the gills in September, Olo Restaurant & Bar has more of a modern Nordic style, as seen in dishes such poached lavaret (a freshwater fish) with chanterelle mushrooms and allspice sauce, and roast venison with fried pumpkin.

A mark of Finland’s newfound pride in its own resources is that even international restaurants are starting to introduce a Finnish slant. At the very good Tuscan restaurant Sasso facing the harbour, local flavours work their way into the menu in dishes such as fried scallops with beetroot panna cotta and balsamic zabaglione. The same thing happens at La Cocina, where the young chef is not afraid to combine northern Spanish and Finnish flavours, as in lavaret with saffron salt and lemon alioli.

If poro is almost ubiquitous, bear remains something of a novelty so it’s well worth venturing out to the Helsinki suburb of Espoo by train or car to sample the bear burger at Paul’s Bistro in the stylish Hotel Sello. The chef, Mika Heiskanen, works directly with local hunters to obtain the meat, which is formed into compact patties and served in North African flatbread with Korean mayonnaise and little pots of homemade ketchup and mustard. Biting into this hearty and bold burger, it’s hard to believe that Finland ever felt meek about its cuisine.

NEED TO KNOW

Kolme Kruunua, Liisankatu 5. Tel. +358 9 1354172.

Nokka, Kanavaranta 7. Tel. +358 9 6877330.

Ilmatar, Bulevardi 2. Tel. +358 20 7704714.

Postres, Eteläesplanadi 8. Tel. +358 9 663300.

Olo, Kasarmikatu 44. Tel. +358 9 665565.

Sasso, Pohjoisesplanadi 17. Tel. +358 9 13456240.

La Cocina, Eteläranta 10. Tel. +358 9 13456749.

Paul’s Bistro, Leppävaarankatu 1, Espoo. Tel. +358 10 344 4212.

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