The Secret Capital of EGS:
5. Pizza Tres Letras
location: putte’s bar & pizza, kalevankatu 6
The melting pot has been transformed into an oven, and this time it’s baking a pizza and a peek into the cuisine of the capital. In a vibrant city, flavours and sounds mix and create something new every day.
Kalevankatu street is built on a gentle hill, and in the summer it is full of aromas. The air of the capital is permeated with the roasted notes of coffee, the fierceness of fermented kimchi, the dizzying sharpness of spray paint and marker pens, the seductive sweetness of corncob pipes, a splash of beer, and the sweat of the dance floor.
However, right now one of the aromas is more alluring than the others. This is the national food of the capital of EGS: Pizza Tres Letras.
Pizza Tres Letras is legendary. It has been being made since time immemorial, and it disappears before always reappearing again, at random and without being sought. The recipe is secret, but never fixed. A slice is a map of the flavours of the capital of EGS, created by the shaman of the Republic of EGS, Acid Bear, who has been sampling and seasoning the cuisines of different cultures for thousands of years.
This pizza is not just food. It is a declaration that borders are works of imagination and the ability to taste is free.
A slice is a map of the flavours of the capital of EGS, created by the shaman of the Republic of EGS, Acid Bear.
The national pizza is being made for a limited time now in the ordinary world too, in the cultural-melting-pot-slash-pizza-oven of a local pizzeria, where languages, accents and memories intertwine. Step inside and be part of the work of art and social ritual.
When you eat, make sure to taste and recall: do you find something familiar in the food, or something brand new? Spices from far away, a new take on Helsinki, the sea, or something else entirely? Will you rinse it down with fresh water from the River Vantaanjoki or sparkling wine?
In the capital of EGS, each restaurant is an artist restaurant. In honour of this, the pizzeria’s walls are now decorated with art from different parts of the Republic of EGS, from EGS’s friends and acquaintances. While in here you can admire art on the walls indoors, in the republic itself it is a given that the most valuable art is that on the outside walls of buildings, offered for free to everyone. One such piece can be seen just around the corner on Yrjönkatu.
On the wall of a building is a relief of an esteemed food courier and their horse. In the Republic of EGS, these kinds of food couriers and their steeds are highly valued and well-paid members of the community. In the republic, this piece is called Icon to a pizza steed.
In the republic it is a given that the most valuable art is that on the outside walls of buildings, offered for free to everyone.
On the other side of the road, an EGS observation tower looms. It was long the home of the Supervisory Commission, which listened to the sounds of Helsinki and its residents, and the whole building was feared. Slightly later, intense deals with the east took place in the cafeteria, while according to legend, the most prominent traders gave at least part of each swig of vodka to the hotel’s thick carpet.
Before our journey continues, let’s stop for a moment to listen to the capital. There is plenty of life on the hill, from the hurried strides of the morning to the fumbling steps at the end of the night.
The screeching of the tram cuts through the air, seagulls soar in the direction of the port, and a faint pulsating bass sounds from below the ground. The familiar calls of ice cream sellers carry from Esplanadi park, and the hissing of electric scooters braking suddenly on the asphalt. The voice of DJ Njassa echoes from an open window onto the street.
In the Republic of EGS, you can still see how punks wander towards Lepakko, vintage-inspired young people with their septum piercings head towards the skate parks, and the graffiti tribes go to plan works of art over cheap pints around Erottaja. And above everything hangs the overpowering scent of cooperation and mixing.
No natives, no originals
The capital of EGS has always been a melting pot of cultures. The idea of a native population or original culture is a fallacy. Ports have brought languages and beliefs, spices and music, rhythms and customs to these shores. Each wave has left its trace and each newcomer has changed the city.
Continue your journey exploring a few more blocks of the meandering Yrjönkatu. The last stage is waiting.
Shadow of a Story, 2025, blown glass.