Teurastamo – Helsinki residents’ kitchen and living room
Teurastamo (literally ‘abattoir’) is a quaint centre of urban and culinary culture in Kalasatama, Helsinki. This former abattoir currently houses a wide variety of fascinating restaurants and unique small-scale production facilities: an ice cream factory, a bakery, a distillery, a coffee roastery, an art gallery and shops. The heart of the area is its atmospheric and inviting urban yard that is open to all people in Helsinki!
Event yard
Teurastamo’s courtyard and premises provide a stage for a wide variety of events where the combination of good food and drinks, music, dance and people creates a genuine atmosphere and unforgettable moments.
The spacious yard features a red brick grill, which everyone is free to use. You can easily find something to grill or otherwise enjoy on a picnic in the many shops in the area. In the summer, you can rest leisurely in the hammocks hung above the lawn after a meal. Activities and things to do are also available for the youngest family members.
The courtyard also features a sauna available for rent, which was originally used by the abattoir’s workers. The charming cellar sauna can fit eight bathers at any one time.
Piece of Helsinki’s culinary history
The red brick buildings in the Teurastamo area were originally built in 1933 to serve the City of Helsinki’s abattoir. The buildings were designed by Bertel Liljequist.
Building 1, which previously housed the City of Helsinki’s abattoir for large and small animals, a meat processing plant and a wholesale market, became the heart of the area. The wholesale hub that developed around Teurastamo was named Tukkutori (Wholesale Market), and many vegetable, fish and flower industry operators also gathered there, diversifying the range of products available.
Abattoir operations were permanently discontinued in the area in 1992. However, a meat processing plant still operates in the area today, serving numerous restaurants and specialist stores in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
Innovative entrepreneurship
The new age of Teurastamo began when the area was opened to residents, tourists and businesses in September 2012. Today, the area is a fascinating combination of industrial history, innovative entrepreneurship and Helsinki residents’ independent community activities in the middle of the growing Kalasatama area.
Food remains at the heart of Teurastamo, and people gather around it for cooking classes, cocktail courses, tasting sessions, launch events for new products, guided tours, seminars, workshops and, of course, simply to enjoy food.
In autumn 2023, the nightclub DTM was opened in the area, also paving the way for Teurastamo to become the new centre of nightlife in Helsinki.
The Teurastamo area is developed and its premises are leased out by Helsinki City Premises Ltd, a company owned entirely by the City of Helsinki.
