Pop Up Your Own Dream Restaurant

On a sunny Saturday last May the streets of Helsinki were filled with wandering, curious and smiling people. Their eyes were turned upward towards windows, into corridors and they seemed engaged in vibrant chatter.

All of a sudden a basket filled with sandwiches was lowered from a window to eagerly awaiting patrons hanging out on the sidewalk. A corner office served as a mimosa bar.

On Restaurant Day anyone can create their own one-day pop-up restaurant. The event started in Helsinki, Finland, and the first ever Restaurant Day on 21 May 2011 saw close to 40 pop-up restaurants surge in people's homes, offices, streets, parks, beaches and even on carpet washing docks. As far as we know it is unique – we haven't heard of any similar events in the world.

Restaurant Day is a culinary carnival that celebrates restaurant and food culture. The concept has been designed and all arrangements made by a group of people from Helsinki who wanted to encourage everybody to have fun trying out crazy ideas for pop-up restaurants. The entire event is organized with the help of Facebook inspiring anyone and everyone in making their restaurant dreams come true – at least for a day.

The Restaurant Day in May 2011 expanded to ten cities and towns in Finland. The popularity of the first Restaurant Day took by surprise both the organizers and the restaurant keepers. The locales were filled with friends of pop-up food and extraordinary dining experiences. Many of the restaurants even ran out of food and had to close their doors earlier than planned. The northernmost restaurant popped up in Inari some 200 km from the Arctic Sea.

The next Restaurant Day is on Sunday, 21 August 2011, and more than 200 one-day restaurant keepers have already enrolled for it. This time at least 150 restaurants in twenty one different cities are participating and the first pop-up restaurants are seen outside of Finland in Bulgaria, England and Slovenia.

Their creations include Raw Food Yösnägäri (“raw food night bite”) that focuses on vegan organic raw food, Tryffelitehdas (“chocolate factory”) that serves chocolates and pastries from a doorway, and Sydän & Veri (“heart and blood”) that concentrates on intestines.

Restaurants pop-up also in new, exiting locations. Ravintola Kääntöpöytä (“the turning plate restaurant) is located at a train depot and offers food made from vegetables grown in nearby guerilla gardens. Kahvila Ratas (“the wheel café”) urges customers to make music selections by placing their own favorites on a Spotify play list, and Ravintola Heittiökeittiö (“outcast kitchen”) offers books to take with you. You can also enjoy a viking menu prepared by a tattoo shop, and a champagne tasting with El Bulli style molecular snacks on a hot-air balloon ride.

The essential idea of The Restaurant Day is openness. Anyone can come up with their own restaurant idea and get peer support in setting up a restaurant for a day. Restaurant Day volunteers produce listings and a map that helps customers find their way to the participating restaurants, cafés and bars. The map with the restaurant listings is published on Facebook before the event.

Bon appetit!