Tucked into Helsinki’s Design District, Boreal is a 117-square-metre restaurant that feels like stepping into Finland’s northern wilderness—minus the mosquitoes.

Designed by Treivas Architecture Bureau, it’s the studio’s third project with restaurateurs Artur and Zara Bersirov, now joined by chef Pavel Demin, who cut his teeth at Copenhagen’s Noma.

The layout centres on an open kitchen wrapped in a timber frame. Guests can pull up a seat in the communal hall to watch the cooking action unfold, or duck into a quieter corner for private dinners. It’s theatre and intimacy rolled into one.

The design walks a fine line here—capturing what feels distinctly Baltic while nodding to design traditions from elsewhere. Timber, ceramics and woven textiles do the heavy lifting, but it’s the small details that make them feel specific to this place. The studio calls it “nomadic openness”: familiar materials made personal through craft.

Finnish practicality shows up in clever ways. A central column doubles as a waiter’s station, hugged by an ergonomic ring with textile straps. Dark glossy floor tiles catch amber lighting designed to echo the Northern Lights—a nod to the outdoors that suits a restaurant changing its menu four times a year with the Finnish seasons.

The art and objects steal the show. Works by Scandinavian artists Jaakko Mattila, Sasha Huber, Janna Syvänoja, Carlo Raymann and Yukari Hotta hang alongside unexpected finds like Brazilian ex-voto wooden hearts. And those pendant lights above one dining table are made from kombucha by the restaurant team themselves, glowing warm against broderie anglaise cloth.

What ties this eclectic mix together is simple but brilliant: a red line running along the walls, picked up again in column straps, wardrobe handles and stitching on textile screens. It threads through the whole space like a quiet guide.

Already tipped by local food critics as a Michelin Guide contender since opening late last year, Boreal champions organic farming, wild foraging and responsibly sourced game. The interior matches that ethos—craft-driven, seasonally aware, and genuinely considered without taking itself too seriously.

[Images courtesy of Treivas Architecture Bureau. Photography by Sofia Kulianu.]