Peterzens Boathouse - Kustavi

The veggie bowl was the worst. It made me come down here to make sure you don’t do the same mistake. Great surroundings.

At the age of 16 (48 years ago) I was hosted by the Lions Club in Finland. My host family took me to Kustavi on a day trip and I have a memory of small car ferry boats. I wanted to go back and on a recent visit to Finland we booked for lunch at Peterzens. No car ferries this time but we arrived at a sweet little resort cum marina with a restaurant. I hadn't known that a buffet was being served but was SO pleased to see this laid out when we arrived. It was the best of Finnish produce and cuisine with more dishes than you could imagine.It was heavily fish orientated with salmon , and different sort of herrings , prawns,meats and I'm sure other things which I have forgotten. There were many salads and potatoes and bread. It was my absolute favourite sort of meal! I couldn't manage pudding . The weather was so hot we had luckily booked a table under an awning or otherwise I think we would have had to have sat inside. Location was gorgeous and staff were well informed and helpful. The best lunch I have had all year!

Be aware that the restaurant is not always open. Have a back up plan. We did try and check the website but could not see anything to indicate it was not open.

We enjoyed the Archipelago bike tour and stayed overnight at Peterzens. We were warmly welcomed and instructed how the services are available. The food was fresh, especially the toast skagen on dark local bread was great. Some improvement is needed for the white fish main course, perhaps forget the sauce and add some nice buttered onions for the potatoes. Service was definitely the most considerate during our trip. The young staff knew what they were doing and some senior managers were also on site., the same kind on atmosphere as at the Italian farmhouse restaurants. The location is beautiful, very well kept. Good selection of services, little stores, even groceries. The cabin was tidy and nicely decorated. Showers available in an separate building anytime. A beautiful surprise was a concert on the pier! Opera singer Essi Luttinen was singing after dinner in the beautiful warm summer night. We loved it! Compliments to the owners!

The place is in a beautiful location, port and boats, all the wooden piers and decks. Terrace is full with tables and we were expecting food to be great as well. We had Toast skagen and Fish and chips. Toasts, although bread is very sweet (most likely as it should be), were quite good, but would not recommend Fish and chips as fish was clearly frozen and was pre-fabricated, was grayish inside and there were just a couple of fries with it. Perhaps we should have chosen some of the bowls from the menu, but we didn’t and got a bit disappointed since all the surroundings were amazing and very romantic.