Mei Lin

Warning, read this! I ordered a costly starter + main course and expected to get decent customer service but I was extremely disappointed: the waitress asked whether I wanted dessert. She never gave me a menu but instead listed a few of their desserts. I ordered and after a few minutes she brought me a wrong dessert. I politely informed the waitress but she said: «sorry, but you ordered this one.» I kindly told her that there has been a mistake and I wanted my dessert. She kept claiming that she couldn’t do anything about it because the dish was already on my table!!! She also went to the kitchen «to ask» whether something can be done. I was SHOCKED when she returned and said: «sorry, there’s nothing I can do. Would you like to order an additional dessert? Very sorry about this but hopefully next time you will get the right dish.» I didn’t want to make a scene of this so I finally paid and left. As I was leaving I checked their menu and realized that my wrong dish was the most expensive dessert in the restaurant. Never have I had such bad customer service, I’m truly disappointed.

This cosy place serves authentic, home-​style sichuan food. One of the best Chinese food in Helsinki I’might say. The food was full of taste and you could really taste the spices. We ate Sliced Squid in the Chili pot that has just the right amount of hotness and sweetness. Next meal was Roasted Peking Duck where the duck was crispy and moist. Excellent food I say! Definitely going again.

I’m VERY picky about restaurants as I consider myself to be a good at home chef. I took my mom to Mei Lin when she was visiting me in Helsinki and we could not stop talking about how delicious our food was. I had the Kung Pao chicken and she had the prawns with broccoli. Both extremely flavorful and fresh… you know they don’t use a microwave like many other local Chinese restaurants because they didn’t bring our order in 5 min. I especially loved the fresh ginger in my dish. It also is on a very nice street with some cool contemporary art galleries.

Don’t know if this is the most authentic of Chinese restaurants in Helsinki but having eaten at the Mei Lin it was not bad. I had a standard boiled dumplings and hot/​sour soup. The dumpling fillings was ok, the wrapper was not; I suspect it’s not home made dumplings. There was no need for sesame seeds in the dumpling soup but plenty of it. The home made hot sauce was quite good. The hot and sour soup was the right balance of spicy and sour. The chef and or owner are definitely northern or Sichuan people. I would return to try something else.