Listed on GoogleMaps as a vegetarian Chinese place, this is NOT a vegetarian Chinese place. But it does have a separate vegetarian/vegan section of the menu, with about 15 or so items. Main dishes come with rice, so I got the chili tofu pot (€18.90), which comes with rice. It took about 20 mins for the dish to come out. The dish was definitely spicy but super flavourful, cooked with fermented bean paste, Szechuan peppercorns, red chilis, celery, a few small slices of red and green bell peppers, and more, served with a very generous portion of rice. Wonderfully flavoured dish. Coming from Vancouver, we're spoiled for top-notch authentic Chinese, and this really holds up. Highly recommended. read more

Mei Lin - Chili Tofu Pot (vegan) - Chinese Near Me - Helsinki, 18

Date of visit: 9/3/2024 Not good. We ordered 4 dishes, all terrible. - dan dan noodle: noodle was over cooked. Sauce didn't taste right - wonton in spicy oil: not sure if our order was taken correctly but we got spicy wonton soup. - twice-cooked pork: tasted weird. Pork didn't taste fresh - fried cabbage: another weird tasted dish. I think they put vinegar in the dish. It tasted sourish! Will not recommend! read more

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I couldn't believe I found a place to get xiao long bao in Helsinki! A friend and I ate at mei Lin for our first meal in Helsinki and it was really tasty! We had a bunch of types of dumplings and noodles and it was all good. We were really happy with the food and would definitely recommend them. read more

This was a surprising discovery in Helsinki. Mei Lin is just across the street from the nearby food hall, and definitely worth a stop for dinner. Mei Lin is absolutely an authentic dining experience of Sichuan cuisine. I highly recommend picking the spicy pork dumplings (dumplings swimming in chili oil). The service of the food was quick, and my server was attentive. When ready, to pay, walk up to the counter. read more

I would say this is the best Chinese restaurant in Helsinki. The chef is from China, proving that food is very authentic. Most of foods here are spicy but super appetizing and taste great. Good service. Unforgettable experience and surely I will come again! read more

Mei Lin - Stir-fried Seafood and vegetable in hot chili sauce - Chinese Near Me - Helsinki, 18

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Authentic Chinese! This is a wonderful, small family owned Chinese restaurant, right in the heart of the Kamppi Design District of Helsinki. They have an extensive menu of authentic Chinese food. They have the weird stuff that you don't usually get at a run-of-the-mill Chinese place- things like pig ears, or ox tail. We got the meat filled dumplings, garlic shrimp, and a seaweed salad. The seaweed salad was fresh seaweed, with a sesame oil sauce. It was crisp and flavorful. The meat dumplings had a hefty amount of meat in them, were seasoned perfectly, and served in a light fluffy bun. The garlic shrimp was very intensely flavorful with lots of bell peppers and garlic in a delicious sauce. The menu has English descriptions, and the waitress was proficient in English. Our waitress also brought out a trainee who didn't speak English to hear how we pronounced the dishes' names. When we went to pay, we had some difficulty with the credit card reader here, their card machine seemed to be down when we were trying to close our tab, but the owner was very gracious about the whole thing. The restaurant was clean, and warm inside. They had a little heater to keep things warm. It is frequented by the Chinese community here in Helsinki. They seem to be known as a tapas-style restaurant, where everyone in a group gets different small dishes and everybody shares. read more

Really bad food and customer service was rude and definitely not customer friendly service and staff. I wouldnt recommend this place there is way better Chinese and Asian food in other places. I ordered the, Szechuan Dan Dan noodles and the sauce was more like a soup then a sauce. The noddles was swimming in tasteless "peanut sauce". Like I was having water noodles and the pork buns are frozen not fresh. Highly not recommended. Waste of money. read more

Finally, a good dim sum restaurant in Helsinki! We were also impressed by the homemade egg noodles, the seafood fried noodles were particularly tasty. My Chinese friends loved it, we'll come again soon! read more

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. read more

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. read more

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. read more

This restaurant serves great authentic Chinese food, for a taste more suitable for westerners, order the guotie or fried dumplings, they are awesome! read more

I was visiting Helsinki from Chicago with a group of classmates from Roosevelt University, and while we stayed at the Glo Art Hotel down this same street we came across Mei Lin's amazing Chinese restaurant. Our favorite dishes were the Sweet Chicken dish and the Tofu dish (for vegetarians)! The Sweet Chicken literally melts away in your mouth. It has been by far the best sweet chicken I've ever had. Not to mention that the service we got there was absolutely amazing! Mei is a wonderful, young Chinese-Finnish woman who re-opened the restaurant. She offered us extra white rice and gave us a completmentary round of tea because we visited her restaurant about 3 days in a row. She also has beer (for those interested)! We actually miss Mei more than her food, but her food is missed as well! VISIT THIS PLACE! You won't regret it. I forgot to mention, its 100% affordable. Kiitos, Mei, from Chicago, IL, USA! read more

Best Chinese food!! I don't even have such good Chinese food in usa. For Chinese people, if you miss Chinese food in Helsinki, especially Chuan food, please please come to Meilin!! You won't regret!! read more

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. read more