Renovation of a Finnish Culinary Institution: Palace Restaurant Helsinki by Note Design Studio.

The Palace Restaurant is a culinary icon layered with history and a good helping of national pride. The venue first opened in 1952, and was created for the Helsinki summer Olympics of the same year by Finnish architects Viljo Revell and Keijo Petäjä. Over the decades that followed, the Palace earned Finland’s very first Michelin Star and became a celebrated signpost of Finnish gastronomy, grandeur, and restaurant culture.

Bringing the national diamond into the 21st century is Stockholm-based Note Design Studio. After the Palace Hotel building was renovated, the restaurant was relocated to the 10th floor, and Note Design was brought in to imagine a new Palace Restaurant.

Note Design Studio worked to freshen up the restaurant’s original interior and update its historic modernist aesthetic. “When [the restaurant] approached us, they didn’t ask for a modern and trendy interior. On the contrary, they asked for something that will withstand the time and honour the history and tradition of Palace,” said the designers.

To carry on its modernist bones, plush peach pink furnishings have been matched to teal-panelled walls, brass accents, thick teal carpet, white tablecloths, and custom designed drink carts.

Local Helsinki studio Agency Leroy was responsible for new branding for the restaurant—they sifted through years of photos, menus, and logo drafts to find a direction for the Palace of the future.

Palace Restaurant is located at Eteläranta 10, 00130 Helsinki, Finland.

[Images courtesy of Note Design Studio. Photography by Romain Laprade.]