An Experience from today - Finnish Honesty

Over many years I have been hearing about the Honesty of Finns. In a recent study Helsinki was reported as being the top of the list based on wallets being dropped in different parts of the city and the rate of return.

Over the years, I have seen all sorts of  objects dropped  by someone being left at a nearby safe place for it to be found by the loser.

But today was different as it concerned me!

Every Friday, Annikki and I go to the Royal Garden Chinese restaurant to eat the Chicken Vindaloo which is part of the buffet feast. My regular taxi driver, Hassan Ahmed from Somalia (and known to us as Lee as he used to work the Chinese restaurant) takes us there.

He came at 12:30 and dropped us at the restaurant by 12:45. I took out my wallet and paid him and then walked into the restaurant . Before I sat down I realised my wallet was not in my pocket.

It was not anywhere where we had been dropped. I rang Lee who had gone for a cup of coffee at the nearby R-Kioski. He rushed back and we checked the taxi, but it was not there. 

I went back to the restaurant and had our lunch, but my appetite had vanished.

I rang my bank and cancelled my credit card. This took just a couple of minutes.

Lee came and took us back home by 14:00 hours.

I was making arrangements on how to live without a credit card when my phone rang. It was a lady who comes to look after us regularly - a home helper/nurse.

She told me that my wallet was at the Cheezburger Factory, a restaurant on Asemakatu in the city centre. I rang Lee and informed him and then rang Cheezburger Factory that Lee would pick it up. 

We followed the standard identification process.

Lee picked up and he delivered the wallet to me by 17:00 hours.

Here we are, in a city of a population of 180000 people,  and everyone in this process acted quickly and efficiently, with utmost honesty and best interest of their fellow man, so I faced no trouble.

People wonder why Finland is the happiest country in the world for the 6th year running.

This is why!

Mika's 50th birthday in Oulu

Today, 29th September 2023, is the 50th birthday of our youngest son, Mika, who lives in Linnanmaa in Oulu. (Mika's full name is Michael as he was born of St. Michael's Day.)

Mika after his 50th birthday

We decided to lunch together at the Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant where Michelle produced an outstanding meal including her special Friday Chicken Vindaloo.

The meal in Royal Garden is a feast. They have a great salad table. The  hors d'oeuvre section with vegetarian dumplings, spring rolls and samosas, onion rings, fried noodles, egg fried rice, a great fish soup, Chinese vegetables, chicken fritters, Chinese fish and vegetables, papadam  and Chinese prawn crackers. The main meal serving is of chicken wings, rice, a beef, pork and a vegetable dish and the outstanding chicken vindaloo. Additionally they have a well stocked sushi table with the appropriate sauces. For deserts they offer peaches and pineapple and cream, and to top off the meal there is fresh coffee, tea and jasmine tea with biscuits. Eat as much as you want for just €13:90 and they even provide a free fizzy drink.

I do not think there is an equivalent buffet in Oulu. 

The buffet is there during lunch hours on weekdays. 

For value for money it is great.

Annikki and I lunch there every Thursday, when they have an outstanding mushroom soup, fried fish and a beef curry instead of the chicken vindaloo.

Mika enjoyed his birthday meal after which we adjourned to the neighbouring Hair Club Barber shop run by our Turkish friend, Kasim. He is the nephew of Hasim, Matin and Mehmet, Hasim is the partner with Kasim of the two Goreme restaurants, one in Ranta Kastelli and the other in Höyhtyä shopping conplex. Hasim’s younger brother, Mehmet, runs one of the finest pizzerias in Haukipudas, Oulu called Adalar 

The old man with a beard

The Dumb Man with a beard!

I had a haircut and beard trim, making me look a like a bald 80 year old.

Mika - Before 50th birthday

Mika had his beard shaved off and his long flowing hair washed and trimmed.

Both of these institutions are our 6 STAR reccomendations for visitors to and residents of Oulu. 

What was this?

A few weeks ago I wrote about my experience of ordering a biriyani in one of the three Indian restaurants in Oulu. I regretted that day.

Last week I was tempted to have a biriyani in another of Oulu's Indian restaurants. This was what was served up:

From New Album 16/05/2010 06:40

What does it look like? (I won't answer that question as I dislike public use of foul language!) Where else in the world does one get a biriyani served up in this fashion? Where was the rush of colours from white to golden red? Where was the red tinge of Kashmiri saffron?

The only thing to be said about this biriyani was it had plenty of cashewnuts and well-cooked large mutton chunks, but with no smell or taste anywhere near what I consider "a biriyani"!

Look at what a typical serving, of what I think is a biriyani, should appear on a table (as I had posted on my last entry on this subject):

From Jacob's Blog

The fragrant smell of saffron, the beautiful colour layering of the rice, the burnt onions, are all a must in a biriyani - not a mish mash of a curry sauce and rice, in which are thrown large chunks of cashewnuts and meat.

Yes, I do yearn for a good biriyani in Oulu! Maybe I will have to cook it myself!

Why this joy at eating masala dosais?

My blog readers in India must think me crazy by talking so incessantly when I get a masala dosai to eat here in Finland.

Any corner shop in Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh or Kerala (or for that matter anywhere in India), will offer a masala dosai and all these vegetarian dishes as common fare on their daily menu, so why this excitement when I am served a masala dosai here in Oulu?

The sad part is that we cannot walk into a corner shop in our town or in a radius of 600 km (or even 1000 km) to get hold of a dosai.

Some kind heart, like my wife, has to take the trouble to make it. That means, unlike in India, the heart and the stomach, and especially the taste buds, yearn to eat what is not so freely available.

I certainly had my fill of masala dosais,



vadas,



idlis,



gulab jamuns,



sweet curd, and other Indian delicacies, when I was in India for 2 months last year.

Almost two months have passed and the taste buds are yearning for all of them one more time.

My suggestion on our local O-India Google Group, which caters as a discussion forum for the 100+ Indians in Oulu, certainly got buzzing when I suggested I was intending to start a South Indian Vegetarian Restaurant in Oulu.

The local Indian Restaurant owner was quick to come back to say that he would start one if I could find him a suitable spot for a Take Away counter. He promised to bring a great Chef from India.

My suggestion to have the restaurant on wheels to take this nearby to where the Indians are working, also got a very favourable reception. They work in about four locations around the city of Oulu.

Now it is time to strike while the iron is hot.

Anyone interested to join me in this venture as a financial / working partner, is most welcome as, like me, all the Indians (and many Finns and Findians), who love Indian cuisine would be crazy over this idea.

(Why not make it a joint effort as a public limited company with the lovers of South Indian vegetarian food as the shareholders?)

I intend keep the prices within reason and serve up fresh food with freshly made spices and with fresh vegetable, as otherwise this would be doomed!

Yes, I yearn for a dosai, a vada, an idli, a gulab jamun,... as well as a K. C. Das sweet curd, a Gujarati Thali with sweet chapati, an Andhra Thali served with spicey gun powder, ..... yum yum! :-)

Bombay Mix in Oulu

Posted on Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Best Buy Blog and the Oulu CHAFF Blog.

Last Sunday, after our CHAFF get.together at the Coffee House, I dropped in to see Indu, Ashesh and little Karthik. Indu served me two varieties of Bombay Mix, one that she had brought from India and the other that Ashesh had picked up from London.

I have a great love for Bombay Mix and I had located that the Secondhand Shop on Isokatu (next to the Hai Long Chinese Restaurant) has a wide selection of nuts and other delicacies, including Bombay Mix at € 7.50 per kg, Pecan Nuts at € 25 per kg and Brazil Nuts at € 20 per kg. Annikki loves all the three, while I confine myself to the Bombay Mix.

Another shop which also has this great selection of nuts is Herkku Rosa next to the Oriental Shop on Rautatienkatu (the road on which the Oulu Railway Station is located). However, prices here are higher here. They have two types of Bombay Mix, spiced and normal, both at € 9,90 per kg, Pecan Nuts is € 29.90 per kg and Brazil Nuts at € 19.90 per kg.

Do remember that at the Secondhand Shop that whenever you buy € 15 at one time, you can get a stamp on the Customer Card so that on the 10th time you get € 15 back, an effective 10% discount on every € 150 of purchase.

As this is also being posted on the Oulu Best Buy Blog, the best buys of today are at the Tokmanni shop, one of which is at Kaijonharju Shopping Centre (near the University) and at Jukkolankuja on the south side of Oulu. Oranges are €0.89 per kg, Bravo ice cream is just € 0,50 per litre when you buy 2 packets, and Beef Mince is € 1.99 for 400 gm which works out at less than € 5 per kg.

On a sad note I have to inform CHAFF participants that the Pailin Restaurant where we used to meet with the wonderful cooking of authentic Thai food by Pornpailin Weber, has finally closed its doors on the 25th of October. We will all miss the wonderful friendship of Pornpailin and also her superb cooking.

The next CHAFF meeting will be on Sunday at 13:00 hours at the Coffee House with entrances on both Isokatu and also the Rotuari Square. Last week the bulk of the meeting was about "Arctic Syndrome" which I had written about on the blog.