Ability creates ambience The Bellevue in Katajanokka is Helsinki's oldest Russian restaurant and Ragni Rissanen wanted to keep it as it was, with nostalgic respect for its old style. Right next door to the Rivoli is the Rivoletto, an Italian-style lunch restaurant, a very successful step into a newer age. The Rivoletto is popular with a clientele that spans the full age spectrum from baby to granddad. The Rivoli is the up-market side, a place with a special concentration on the quality of both the food and the service. This and the skilled staff together create the distinctive Rivoli atmosphere, in which a dash of the sumptuous leavens the homely.
Patrons go there to eat well, but less expensively than in the city-centre gourmet restaurants.
The menu is interesting and varied and still features a good choice of seafood. The restaurant deserves special mention for its outstanding selection of Finnish freshwater fish. The menu also has a section dedicated to some of the restaurant's classics, which have remained firm favourites through all the years and trends. When she finds interesting dishes in foreign places, she often photographs them and, with the aid of her taste buds, tries to find out what ingredients have been used. Then back home in the Rivoli kitchen, the team develop the recipe together until they are satisfied that they have got it right.