Despite the simple recipe, this traditional lamb dish takes roughly nine hours to prepare. Our särä is always served generously – eat till your heart’s content!
Särä, butter, mixed fruit soup, flatbread, low-alcohol beer, and water
36€
18€ 9-12-year-olds
14€ 4-8-year-olds
Children under 4 years eat free
The traditional särä meal, cranberry cheesecake, coffee or tea, and mixed juice for children. The cheesecake can be replaced with a traditional cream cake upon request (min. 10 persons).
42€
21€ 9-12-year-olds
17€ 4-8-year-olds
Children under 4 years eat free
Please order the celebration package when making the table reservation.
Please select a time within the standard serving times. Särä can be prepared for groups of over ten persons at other times also, by prior arrangement.
Hot takeaway meals are available directly from the oven, subject to advance reservation.
A small portion costs €59, a standard portion €99, double portion €158, and a whole lamb roast without side dishes costs €89.
Products in the online store can also be purchased at the delicatessen counter when the restaurant is open.
The Finnish Tourism Association, the Finnish Local Heritage Federation, and Finnair held a competition in 1972 to discover new tourist attractions. The name of the competition was The Seven Wonders of Finland and its Provinces. Särä, from the Lemi region, is the only food that made it onto the list, which was compiled from among 700 entries.
The oldest dish in Finland, särä dates back a thousand years.
Originally, särä was an ancient method of preserving meat for the winter. When the autumn came, villagers slaughtered the jointly owned sheep, after which the meat was salted and cooked in birch troughs in wood-fired ovens. Some of the särä was eaten straight from the troughs after cooking, but most of it was stored in sheds over the winter. The dried meat was taken from the sheds as needed and used in soups, on bread, and in other cooking. Särä became a traditional dish in the 19th century when the potato established its place as a side dish served with lamb. In the olden days, särä was most commonly eaten with turnip.
Särä is made from roast lamb, potatoes, and salt. Preparing särä takes at least nine hours, including heating of the baking oven.
The dish is named after the birch trough in which it is cooked. The trough is carved from an uncut birch log. When in the oven, fresh pieces of alder are placed underneath the trough. These smoke slightly during cooking, giving the roast a unique taste and a pleasing colour.
Lea and Tauno Hietaranta extended their selection of bakery products with särä in 1978. At the time, the couple ran their business in an old school building in which they also lived. Following completion of their new premises a decade later and with the change of generation, Kippurasarvi became established as the best-known restaurant in the region.
The Säräpirtti online store opened in May 2010.
Every year, the company uses roughly a hundred cubic metres of birch logs for heating the baking oven, 30 000 kg of lamb, thousands of kilos of potatoes, and plenty of salt.
Our slogan (Särä from Lemi - one of the seven wonders of Finland), logo, recipe, and products are all copyright-protected.
