Tiiliholvi is a famous restaurant in Tampere, been here for decades. It’s in the basement of the building, with brick walls and arched ceiling and candles in the tables. It can be quite atmospheric, a warm breath on cold winter evenings
We’ve been here a...couple of times, this time for a late lunch on a Friday. We were the ONLY customers in the large restaurant. The waiter told us that there had been others earlier, but business was quiet because we were later than others, and because it was the fall break week at schools (and consequently for many parents as well). This obviously had an effect on the atmosphere.
We chose the set lunch menu. The starter was tomato soup with a broad bean croquette. The waiter warned that the soup is hotter than normal, and indeed it was. Not overly so, but as we prefer milder food, not the best start for the lunch.
For the main course we chose overripe neck of veal with funnel chanterelle risotto. The veal and the risotto were very tasty. We had some super well done necks in Spain in the summer, this was not quite on par, but good nevertheless.
The dessert was chocolate and vanilla. Hard to get those wrong. Good ending.
At 27 euros, this was a good lunch in a restaurant of this caliber, the competitors would charge more.
Service was a bit disappointing. It was fast enough, as one would expect since we were the only customers, and two waiters + the cook there just for us. But the waiter who served the first two dishes had no interest in what we thought of the food, she just said “thank you” when she collected the plates. I tried to ask something when she brought the main course, but she did not pay attention. And the chatting of the two waiters was pretty audible. Things got better when there probably was a change of shifts, and the waiter from the dessert on was friendly and attending.More