A traditional bakery right in the heart of the history and the city of Helsinki.

In 1946 a baker named Virjo founded a bakery right in the heart of Helsinki, right by Kasarmitori. The bakery needed a name, and baker Virjo decided to just spin the globe, and point his finger wherever it might land. His finger landed in a small exotic island in the Pacific. The bakery was named Eromanga.

Around the same time a couple called Sirkka and Åke Snellman ran a small market place cafe in Kauppatori, that served coffee and pastries to townies. They had a small helper; their daughter Anja. The market place cafe ran in their blood: Åke’s grandmother had sold coffee in Kauppatori already in the 1800-century. The pastries the Snellman family bought from baker Virjo, and carried to the market place.

Åke owned a printing house but wanted to buy the bakery to himself. The two men bargained for years, but finally in 1975 the Snellman family bought the bakery.
Anja Snellman continued her family’s tradition with the small market place cafe, and the cafe as well as Anja has grown to be very familiar among the people of Helsinki. The small orange tent in the market place has hosted guests all over the world such as Nelson Mandela and Margaret Thatcher, who changed her high heels to more comfortable ones sitting in the cafe chairs.

These days Eromanga cafe in Makasiinikatu is a meeting spot for all kinds of townies, and the doors are opened every weekday at dawn, 7.00 am. The market place cafe, Hakaniemi market hall and Old Market hall cafe have moved on to the next generation entrepreneurs, but Eromanga is still in the firm hands of the Snellman family.

A heartfelt welcome to our cafe!