Review: Le Coq – taistelu ravintolasta
A delicious battle for a Michelin star takes place on the Arena stage – featuring legendary Kummelin and Fakta homma comedy stars
The Helsinki City Theatre is currently screening the restaurant comedy Le Coq – the battle for the restaurant by Timo Kahilainen and Heikki Vihinen, known from the Kummeli comedy series. The duo has worked with enthusiasm, as the script, direction, compositions and, to some extent, the set design are their handiwork.
At the heart of the play is the small but sophisticated fine dining-type restaurant Le Coq, which is run by Maximilian von Salmi (Jouko Klemettilä) and his stepmother Kerstin (Eija Vilpas). The restaurant has been in trouble for a few years now after losing its Michelin star due to a negative review by the Estonian critic Pirke Öökpalu (Riitta Havukainen).
The bills have already gone to the collection agency, the kitchen is empty of ingredients, and the chefs won’t be able to keep up with their job for long. Either they get fired or they leave themselves when they don’t get their salary.
Maximilian “Max” brings a chef candidate he found at Kela, a young man named Esa Kynsi (Jarkko Niemi), to the restaurant for an interview and hires him immediately. Esa even gets a room in the restaurant in the cold room, which is no longer cold.
Pirke will once again give the restaurant a “last chance”. The ingredients on the menu are no longer available in the restaurant, and Pirke is no longer satisfied with a pigeon dish made from pigeons, so Max goes to the nearby Lidl and brings ingredients from there, which Pirke uses to get an adapted meal.
The plate includes onion soup made from Knorr’s bag, foie gras made from liver sausage and tartar steak made from discounted pork-beef minced meat. What does Pirke think about them?
The makers of Kummeli strike a vein with humour
This play is crazy funny and the height of good humor. This is surely the funniest comedy of the spring season!
I enjoyed the play from beginning to end. The creators of Kummel, Kahilainen and Vihinen, have struck a sense of humour. The play has all the ingredients for success and is spiced up with fiercely professional actors.
The play contains unintentional and intentional comedy and funny twists. The actors are absolutely wonderful in French, Estonian and Russian. There is also music and a touch of romance at the end.
Oh, I liked the cheerfully relaxed singing and playing scenes. I could have danced to Kalinka myself, because it sounded so great.
The cast is great. Jouko Klemettilä plays Max, the unfortunate restaurateur, so devotedly that he couldn’t help but laugh at him. What a charming gravel of the French language he has! Klemettilä is a genuine fine dining restaurateur, right down to his red shoes.
How wonderfully the play ends: a rosy future seems to open up for the restaurant and even for Max himself.
Fittings bring a cheerful breeze
Riitta Havukainen as a strict Estonian critic Pirke Öökpaluna speaks such enjoyable Estonian that it’s a pleasure to listen to, even if you didn’t always quite understand every word. I don’t know if it’s real Estonian, but the accent is gorgeous and so authentic that I liked it perfectly.
Jarkko Niemi plays the slightly different fine dining chef Esa Kynne deliciously. The name tag attached to the door of the refrigerator and the “no ads” sticker are amusing, and the ukulele songs sound great. All in all, Jarkko’s role as a chef is made for him. He sits in it like a cast.
The couple Heikki and Kaisa Hela play Max’s Russian brother Misha and his lawyer. They are like a breath of fresh air from Russia. The couple speaks Russian credibly and spins to the rhythm of Kalinka. Heikki and Kaisa both give great performances.
However, the loudest song of the evening is played by rat man Pertti Koivula. When the volumes only increase, the cold shivers go down my spine. Wonderful, more of this! The role of the rat man is small in itself, but decisive in many ways.
If there is a play that can be called delicious, then this one can!