Grilli 21

We are are Saara, Kiia V, Ilona and Kiia O. , freshman students from JAMK and we are going to tell you about Grilli 21. We are going to talk about our experience, the history of Grilli 21, main things about Grilli 21 locations, prices etc. We are also going to tell you some opinions we found on the Internet and what our friends think about the food and how popular it is here in Jyväskylä.

About Grilli 21

Grilli 21 is a grill located in Jyväskylä, Puistokatu. It is a common place for people to get fast grill food during night and late night. Grilli 21 offers to its customers for example hamburgers, chicken baskets, meat pies, fries and salads with their delicious spices and mayonnaises.

Grilli 21 was founded in 1977 in Jyväskylä. They are known for their meat patties that they put in their hamburgers. They offer food for vegetarians too, for example falafels and vegetarian hamburgers with veggie patty.

The prices in Grilli 21 are reasonable and affordable. For example, most of the hamburgers and kebabs are under eight euros. The cheapest option; sausages, are all under two euros. Possible drink options are soda, milk, juice and coffee and all of these drinks are under three euros.

History

Päivi Mäkinen founded her first grill over 40 years ago. The grill 21 was founded after the previous Mini grill went out of business. Päivi and her mother in-law set the grill up. And that’s how the famous Grilli 21 in Jyväskylä was born.

There used to be multiple grills across the town back then. The nighttime also used to be a little different compared to now. They used to start to get ready in the bars around 4-5pm, because it got so busy so fast. And because of the busy nightlife schedule, grills decided to change their opening time from around 5 pm to 9 pm.

The menu has also changed a bit during the years. People used to love to have blue cheese with everything. When times were a bit different, people didn’t really think about the fact how they could pack their grill food on the go so it would be nature friendly. Now they are trying to be more aware of the environmental issues, and they pack their foods in easily recyclable and compostable materials.

Experiences

Our friend used these exact words “Grilli 21 is a legendary place here in Jyväskylä” and other friends agreed with it. That tells us a lot about how popular it is. But one friend told us that he is a little disappointed because when he used to go there and asked for a blue cheese-bacon portion, they immediately knew what it was back then but nowadays they automatically don’t know what it is. People like it especially after clubbing because Grilli 21 is open till 5 am on Fridays and Saturdays. Other days it’s open until 12 am and 1 am.

Text and photos: Saara Riissanen, Kiia Ojala, Kiia Vasara & Ilona Takkinen (from Course Food Culture)