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Birthday dinner at restaurant Muusa, Tampere

I had my birthday on Thursday, which was a great reason to try out a new restaurant in Tampere, Finland. I haven’t lived in the city for some years and there are heaps of new restaurants for me to test. Because it was my birthday, I wanted to be sure that there won’t be any disappointments. So I contacted my fellow travel bloggers for recommendations. The only criteria were to have a cozy atmosphere, nice drinks, and some tasty food.  Most of them said only good things about a fairly new restaurant called Muusa (muse). After browsing their menu, I sent them an email to make a reservation.

The building, Olympic quarters

Muusa is located in an old building that hosts both the restaurant and a concert hall. The hall itself is a unique part of Tampere’s cultural heritage. The building was built for the use of the Outdoor Workers’ Union, and it it was used as a cinema between 1917 – 1986. I am too young to ever having visited the building for movies or anything else, so I didn’t know where it was located. When I stepped in, I was a bit skeptical of the place, to be honest. The hall’s decor dated back to the 1980’s, to say the least, and it seemed to be a bit dusty and worn-out. However, when I took the stairs to the second floor and saw the beautifully painted walls of Muusa’s terrace,  all my doubts faded away.

Food and drinks

Me and my friend were still waiting for my sisters to arrive so we started with some drinks (8,50 €). Like in many places in Finland, there is no table service on the terrace. We headed up to the counter to make the order. There was a bit queue there, but we got drinks relatively quickly. I really liked my cocktail with cucumber, white wine, and some flowery taste. The menu itself contains a lot of options for both vegans and non-vegans, all with a Middle Eastern twist. This type of food is really much to my personal taste and I could have picked any dish on the menu. I ended up taking a vegetarian meze platter (19€).

The terrace was really nicely decorated with paintings on the walls, colorful pillows, and little details. Instead of a table number, we got a toy horse to take to our table. The majority of the customers were urban millennials between 20 – 35 years old so I fit right in.

We had to wait a bit long for the food, but after some 45 minutes, it finally arrived. My meze board included focaccia, kimchi, pickled and marinated vegetables, halloumi, falafel, chimichurri vegan mayonnaise and lentil-carrot hummus. The meze board was originally a starter for 2 – 4 persons but it was enough for a main for one. My favorites were soft falafels and pickled carrots. The only thing that was not to my liking was a salad with jalapenos. That was so spicy that it overpowered all other dishes so I left that almost untouched.

Final conclusion

Muusa’s terrace is like a hidden urban living room where you can enjoy excellent cocktails and tasty food with an interesting twist. The only thing I was missing, was background music to create an even better atmosphere. Service was knowledgeable, casual and friendly enough. All this with a great company guaranteed a successful evening so I can definitely recommend Muusa. I am already planning to visit Muusa again to test their well-received brunch.

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