There are so many restaurants to choose from in Oulu. Edward Dutton, once again, helps you to narrow it down.

Matala  * * * * *
Rantakatu 6
Sex on a plate! No, really . . . there are no other words for it. Without doubt, the best restaurant I have been to in Oulu so far and absolutely the perfect place to go to on a date or on an anniversary. The decoration was simple and tasteful, nothing too ostentatious . . . mainly black and white and all of the tables were candle-lit. The waiters were extraordinarily friendly and courteous . . . taking your coats, showing you to your table.

I realised that I was in an entirely different league from other Oulu restaurants when my waiter disputed my choice of 'House Red' wine and told me that he thought another similarly priced red would go far better with my main course. My wife had a different main course, so she got a different red. When it came to wine this waiter - whose English was faultless - knew what he was talking about. The food was preceded by various gratis orderves and the menu wasn’t too cluttered, the emphasis being on doing a few things well. However, there was enough choice to cater for everyone’s tastes. But the food . . . it was breath-taking. My beef was a work of art. Indeed, I watched as the waiter took my plate from the chef and the chef took it back off him and turned it round so that it looked right on the table! And the food itself was exquisite. Perfect. Everything that somebody like Gordon Ramsey would demand on Restaurant Nightmares. Not too many flavours but not bland. Cooked just right. Flavours balanced. Wonderful. Sex on a plate. Of course, you get what you pay for and Matala is pricier than most Oulu restaurants I’ve been to. Perhaps the one criticism is that it was slightly too expensive. But, the quality is such that you almost feel unreasonable criticising the prices. Go there! Go there now!  
9/10

Troika * * * *
Pakkohuoneenkatu
Of course, there’s no comparison between this and Matala. But, as Oulu has a variety of kebab restaurants, some of which are terrible, it’s worth remembering that if it is a Friday evening and you are very drunk you could do a lot worse than stumble in here at one o’clock in the morning. For not that much money, you will be treated to an extraordinary quantity of kebab meat and chips. It will be pretty salty, but this won’t matter if you’re bleary-eyed enough to want a kebab. The important thing is that you will get a lot of food and by kebab standards, it will be quite nice and won’t cost you that much. I won’t bother reviewing the decoration or standard of service - which is at least fast - because, if you want this kind of food, I doubt these things matter to you.  
8/10   

Pikku Thai - A Non-Review
Pakkohuoneenkatu 8
It’s difficult to know what to say about this restaurant. I’ve never come across such service in my life. When I arrived, the restaurant was completely empty which I couldn’t understand considering the time of night it was. The middle-aged Thai lady who was probably the manageress just stood there behind a desk. She did not greet me, she did not welcome me, she did not smile. She just stood there. I was absolutely amazed that I was not immediately attended to, especially considering that the restaurant was completely devoid of customers. I explained to her about 65DN and explained that I review restaurants. She glared at my card and said nothing. Nothing at all. I then said, ’So would you like us to review your restaurant for the newspaper?’ to which she answered, charmlessly, ’I’m sorry, I cannot help you’ and walked away. Confronted with such poor service and such rudeness, I concluded that I wasn’t even going to bother trying the food which has been rated, elsewhere, as ’good’ but ’horribly expensive.’ So, basically, if you want a friendly restaurant  . . . then don’t go to Pikku Thai. But then for some, this Fawlty Towers quality seems to make the restaurant bizarrely attractive.

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Oskarin Kellari  *  *  *
Asemakatu, (50 metres from the station)
This is at least a very interesting restaurant. As the name implies, it is in a cellar . . . and has a strange kind of old world charm about it. It looks like it hasn’t been redecorated for years, the pictures on the wall are rather strange . . . and yet it tries to be appear to be quite a ‘classy’ establishment . . . a kind of eccentric aristocrat fallen on hard times. The food appears to be quite tasteful, with a broad selection of French-sounding dishes, there is a detailed wine list and even recommendations for which wine should go with which meal. However, there are also many things that don’t quite fit with this image, such as a very prominently placed assortment of ‘dirty spoon’ café condiments - Ketchup, Brown sauce etc – and a heater that must be about forty years old clunking and banging in the corner. The waiting staff were friendly and the service was quick but the experience was somewhat marred by a large group of drunken, late-middle-aged women cackling for the whole time. Despite the obvious annoyance of most of the other customers, the staff did nothing about this and nor did they apologise for it. In fact, the restaurant seems to attract all sorts – from drunks to business people to a large group of Lestadians sitting quietly at the back. The standard of the food varied. In general, it seemed to be quite good with the exception of their own ‘Oskarin Kellari steak’, which I had, which was a horrible mix of steak and bacon and was far too salty . . . like something a bar might serve. It was presented, however, as if this was a gourmet restaurant. I think the restaurant has an identity crisis – but this, at least, makes it a fascinating place to be. And I would recommend it for this reason.
6/10.