In the summer, my parents and I enjoyed a wonderful tasting menu at Ambiance, just outside of Malmö, and one of the best French restaurants outside of France. It has one Michelin star which is a big deal in that area but I love that the restaurant scene here is improving.

Our tasting menu started with a trio of small plates; cured venison with trout roe and pickled wild garlic (right); chicken hearts and crispy skin on top of a chicken mousseline  (left) and chicken liver creme brulee (bottom). We had pink champagne to drink. Dad kindly volunteered to drive so mum and I could enjoy the wine menu (tack pappa!).

I thought these dishes were nice, but not much more than that. And mum thought the creme brulee was too sweet which I agree with but it bothered me less than it did her.

The next dish was  Normandy lobster, vinegar poached quail’s egg, peas, elderflower jelly, bleak roe and parsley oil with Sauvignon Blanc to drink. This dish was nice but not wow, and I must say I was a bit disappointed so far with the meal. I really hoped the coming dishes would blow me away. And luckily they did.

The baked char in nori with fennel, carrot purée, beets and browned butter sabayonne was absolutely delicious and I finally got that wow-feeling! Everything in this dish was perfectly cooked and lovely, but it was the SAUCE (no surprise there) that made it all come together. The wine pairing was a rather sweet Chenin Blanc but it worked perfectly with the dish.

The meat course was lamb loin with parsley crust, swede, pickled black radish, pickled girolles, baked pointy cabbage, charred spring onions, jus and grated black truffle (that was grated at the table). Again we had a fabulous dish that we all loved.

Then it was time for the cheese trolley and we were served seven wonderful cheeses, but the only ones I could name were the Brilliant Savarin and the Fourme d’Ambert. They were all delicious though! My favourite was the very soft one at the bottom of the plate.

The champagne sorbet with grapefruit and oxalic was both nice and a perfect palate cleanser after all the strong cheeses.

And the pudding with raspberry sorbet, raspberries, blackberries and pansies was really nice and quite light which we appreciated. But at the same time the dish felt rather simple after all the elaborate ones. But there was more to come…

A whole tray (!) filled with petit fours! On the platter they were, left to right: mini Madeleines; plain macarons with chocolate ganache; mini tarte au citron; violet macarons with ganache and chocolate mousse.

The tree behind the platter held two types of truffles; white chocolate with pistachio and dark chocolate with hazelnut. And the wooden stand behind that was filled with almond tuilles. It was all really nice and I like bite size sweets like these, that way one can try them all.

We were so full and pleased with our meal (and wines). But it was good size portions; we all managed to eat almost everything, and I like that. I don’t want to have to leave lovely food because the portions are too big. I also really enjoyed the service here; it was proper and  efficient but also warm and personal.

So worth a visit!

Ambiance, Vindåkravägen 3, 218 75 Tygelsjö, Sweden