Chef and restaurateur Arto Rastas is involved in a bewildering number of restaurants across Finland. According to his own calculations, Rastas is Finland’s largest private restaurateur, who has also had the chance to cook for football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia.
Arto Rastas was born in Rovaniemi in 1979, next door to Santa’s workshop. Due to their neighbor, Christmas was eternal in the Rastas family. You could hear Christmas carols day and night, year-round. At least that’s how it felt to little Arto. Fortunately, Rovaniemi was home to an inventive grandmother, whose house smelled of fried onions and where they ate salad with Saturday sausage. That’s where Arto felt at home.
Young Arto became interested in cooking. When it was time to apply somewhere after elementary school, culinary training at the local vocational school was a natural choice. Then came military service, and Arto enjoyed his time at the field kitchen and on forest camps.
At the turn of the millennium, Arto packed his belongings into a moving truck and moved to conquer Helsinki. It didn’t go quite according to plan, even though Arto had summer work experience from the Arctic Circle Shell gas station.
Helsinki Calls
Arto worked kitchen jobs through a temp agency in various places from Finlandia Hall to Hotel Marski. Meanwhile, his experience grew. Then luck struck. Arto got a position at Espoo Master Golf’s restaurant, the then number one among golf clubs.
At Espoo Master Golf, Arto encountered a decent clientele. Those contacts helped him get into Finland’s then top restaurant Palace, admittedly to the grill station but still! The journey continued under Markus Aremo’s guidance at restaurant George, which received a Michelin star in 2004.
“I also shifted gears at the same time. I moved near Tampere to Lempäälä to run Villa Hakkari. There I stood in the yard of a dilapidated manor and wondered how to make it work. Villa Hakkari was then a year-round restaurant under the care of head chef Gero Hottinger,” Rastas recalls.
Road to the Top
One day, the then chairman of Pirkanmaa Rotisseur association, Ilkka Säteri, was dining at Villa Hakkari and suggested Arto participate in the young chefs’ competition in Pirkanmaa. Arto took the hint, won the competition, then the Finnish Championship, and finally the world championship for young chefs in Bermuda. Three competitions, three victories.
This opened Arto’s path to the top. He bought restaurant Hella and Huone, which belonged to Tampere’s top venues, and changed its style from country French to more Nordic fine dining. At Hella and Huone, Arto could seriously showcase his cooking skills.
In 2016, Arto founded the Mediterranean Dining 26 in downtown Tampere, and a couple of years later, the world-cuisine-inspired panoramic restaurant Periscope on the upper floors of Ratina Shopping Center. Both are still thriving. Periscope has grown into a true entertainment center, whose terrace season with numerous events Tampere residents eagerly await.
Joining Forces with Chef Välimäki
In 2018, Arto returned to Helsinki, now with head chef Hans Välimäki, who was born in Tampere and built a strong career in Helsinki. The experiential restaurant was called Penélope and became a big step in Arto’s career.
“The mentality in a restaurant is completely different when you open your own wallet,” Arto explains.
Since then, the collaboration with Välimäki has spawned five restaurants in Helsinki: Bardot, Gina, The Rook, Bouchon Carême, and Brasserie Lionne. They all cook French style, except Gina’s concept draws from Italy. Arto has his hands full elsewhere in Finland, so the daily operation of Helsinki restaurants is Välimäki’s responsibility.
“I work well with Hans because for me, the restaurant experience is always holistic. Food, drinks, interior, and service must be good, the atmosphere must work, the price level reasonable – and in Hans’s restaurants, it works. I don’t dream of Michelin stars. As long as the customer leaves satisfied, everything is fine,” Arto says.
New openings aren’t planned unless some concept is taken to another city, perhaps Tampere or Turku.
“You don’t always have to reinvent everything,” Arto explains.
From Lapland to Ronaldo´s Kitchen Saudi Arabia
Lapland is also called Arto. He has a catering company operating in Lapland, North Pole Catering, together with Lappish head chef Teemu Korkalainen. In his old hometown Rovaniemi, Arto took responsibility with Korkalainen for three restaurants at Apukka Resort tourism center in 2023. Additionally, they handle private chef services for Levi Spirit villas.
There have been results – at least publicly: football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and his family spent Christmas 2024 in Levi. Rastas and his team took care of the Ronaldos’ food.
“Cristiano liked our Lappish flavors so much that in spring 2025 we were negotiating in Saudi Arabia with the Ronaldos about private chef services,” Arto reveals.
The football star eats according to a strict routine, very healthy and simple. A chef’s tools – butter, cream, and sugar – aren’t part of his diet.
“We don’t need to present miracles, but something exciting must be cooked for him every day. I must say that in Saudi Arabia, the quality and wonderful taste of vegetables and fruits was surprising,” Arto explains.
Finnish Ingredients Ignite Passion
Arto has been in the industry for three decades and built his empire piece by piece. He has very different venues across Finland in his business cluster. A total of 350 people work in them, with a turnover of 35 million euros. The unifying factor in the business cluster is Arto Rastas himself.
“I like to get my hands dirty and still do cooking shifts across Finland. The hours in a day have been sufficient for everything,” Arto explains.
The Helsinki Culinary Institute was originally founded by Gero Hottinger and Eero Mäkelä, who secured Finland’s first Michelin star for Palace in 1987. Now the institute is entirely owned by Arto and Gero’s daughter Katja. It organizes cooking courses in downtown Helsinki for both professional and amateur groups. Additionally, Arto finds time to speak about Finnish food around the world.
“I wouldn’t take Finnish traditional dishes to the world, but Finnish ingredients, especially perch, chanterelles, and blueberries, always ignite my passion. Through embassies, I’ve been able to train and meet different chefs. These are remarkable channels for promoting Finnish food culture,” Arto reminds.
Rastas is a partner in:
Helsinki Culinary Institute
Villa Hakkari in Lempäälä
PX Restaurants in Helsinki (restaurant Penélope, staff restaurants Xavierit, cocktail bar Bardem, Cafe Ranta)
Le Fou in Helsinki with Hans Välimäki (Bardot, Gina, The Rook, Bouchon Carême, Brasserie Lionne)
Periscope Group in Tampere (Periscope, Dining 26)
North Pole Catering in Lapland (Apukka Resort, Levi Spirit)
Arto Rastas Catering
Sauna restaurant Flou
Arto Rastas TOP 5 Tips for Finland
Restaurant Sky in Rovaniemi serves Lapland on a plate at the highest level.
Pyynikki donut café in Tampere serves Finland’s best donut coffee – with beautiful city views as a bonus.
Restaurant Ragu in Helsinki always provides consistent and high-quality food.
Restaurant Smör in Turku cooks ambitiously and innovatively – a Michelin star wouldn’t be a surprise.
The Barö in Inkoo is a functioning archipelago hotel on all levels, and its restaurant The Berg always serves good food.
Text: Mika Remes
Photos: Arto Rastas home album
