Category: RESTAURANT FILE

Scandinavian Kitchen

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Since I moved to London I miss Swedish groceries less and less. Not because I like it less, but I have become a lot better at finding substitutes and I know which supermarkets to look in for Swedish stuff too.

But a few times a year, close to the holidays of course, I really crave Swedish food. And then I make sure I pay Scandinavian Kitchen a visit. The shop and café is situated a short walk from Oxford Circus and is open during the day.

My friend Jenny treated me to lunch here last week, and the first thing I saw after entering the shop was the Christmas beverage Julmust, a dark malty soft drink, so I gave off a little happy sound which Jenny found very amusing.

But back to the lunch, they serve open sandwiches with traditional Scandinavian toppings as well as a few different salads. They have two lunch offers on where you can mix what sandwiches and salads you like. Either three or five. We went for the large plate for £8.95 and that was great value for money. Tasty too.

Above is my choice of salami sandwich, roast beef sandwich with remoulade (Danish piccalilli and crispy fried onions, egg and prawn sandwich, salmon and dill wrap and potato salad.

Jenny chose the same salmon wrap, carrot salad, beetroot salad, meatball and beatroot sandwich and a salmon sandwich.

Here is the lovely Christmas drink! I had to buy one to take away as well, so I can enjoy it with gingerbread. Yum, yum!

It was a great lunch, thanks Jenny! And in my opinion it beats an English sandwich every day. These look prettier too!

Gaucho, Piccadilly

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A little while ago now, we managed to meet up with Ian and Anna for dinner at Gaucho, this meat-centered restaurant serving Argentinian steaks.

There are a few Gaucho’s to choose from in London, and we settled for the Piccadilly branch in between Piccadilly and Regent Street. The decor is typical for the chain of restaurants and consists of a lot of cow skin, dark wood and dimmed lights.

Anna and I had been shopping during the day so we took the opportunity to sit down with a drink and relax before the boys arrived. I had a glass of sparkling wine and Anna fresh cranberry juice. When the boys arrived we were directed upstairs to the dining room. We thought it would be quite empty on a Sunday night, as we haven’t seen many prople arriving when we were in the bar, but the dining room was almost full.

The menu at Gaucho’s was a bit disappointing with regards to starters and desserts, but the steaks (the reason we were here) did not disappoint. A waitress also walks around the restaurant with a big wooden board displaying the different cuts of meat and explains to the tables what cuts they are and how they are best cooked.

The menu was a bit disappointing with regards to starters and desserts, but the steaks (the reason we were here) did not disappoint. A waitress also walks around the restaurant with a big wooden board displaying the different cuts of meat and explains to the tables what cuts they are and how they are best cooked.

We went straight to the maincourse. Anna decided on their burger which she found really food and especially the dressing with mayonnaise, mustard and red wine was superb.

Both Ian and I chose the fillet medallion. I asked for mine blue and Ian had his rare. We also ordered fries and sauce. Bearnaise (always) for me and peppercorn for Ian.

Christopher wanted a large steak and settled for 400g sirloin and the same trimmings as me. Christopher was the only one out of which was slightly disappointed, as he thought the steak was as good as the ones we eat at home. We normally I have sirloin, from Aberdeen Angus, just like these, so I could see his point. Because I ordered a cut I don’t eat as often, I was very happy with mine. It was cooked perfectly, had lots of flavour and was so tender I compared to to cutting butter. And this was with a normal knife I might add, no steak knives needed at Gaucho.

I really like Gaucho, and my meat was spectacular. The fries were just regular fries and to be honest a little on the soggy side. The bearnaise wasn’t thick enough and tasted a bit too much of tarragon, so there is room for improvement on other areas.

Salt Yard

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The London food scene is ever changing and expanding, but last week I decided to visit a restaurant that has been around longer than I have lived in London. Salt Yard opened in 2005 already, and is still going strong. The restaurant has one several awards, is mentioned in the Michelin guide and Time Out and it was definitely about time I paid the tapas restaurant a visit.

Last week I had dinner here with my fellow Swede Kristin. We like to meet up and chat over some nice food and wine. I have been to the Salt Yard Group’s newest edition, Opera Tavern a few times and I really like it, so I wanted to try the original thing as well.

Compared to Opera Tavern Salt Yard offers more traditional tapas like jamon croquetas and goat’s cheese stuffed courgette flowers with honey, where as Opera Tavern is mostly known for their scrumptious pork mini burgers with foie gras. There was nothing as exciting on Salt Yard’s menu to excite us, but we still had a lovely meal.

Some dishes were better balanced than others, and we both really enjoyed the gorgeous Jerusalem artichoke purée with buttered girolle and poached egg. Divine.

Also the traditional tapas dishes, we had both the croquetas and stuffed courgette flowers, were well prepared and delicious.

Deepfried squid with chorizo and broad beans was a great combination and cod cheeks with beans, bacon and carrots was equally palatable.

We also had some cheese; a truffle pecorino, which was rather disappointing actually. But all in all it was a great meal. Together with a bottle of £35 Gavi our bill ended on £~85 which feels reasonable (including service charge).

Ambiance wise I think I prefer the more spacious Opera Tavern, but they have done what they can to open up the dining room at Salt Yard with white chairs. Also more space around the bar upstairs would be good, but the reason to go here is actually the food, although I see it as less adventurous than Opera Tavern, and that is a shame. There are enough dishes on the menu for the kitchen to change it up a little.

Please note: the photos are blurry because I used my iPhone camera that doesn’t work well in the dark.

Ducksoup, Soho

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This little restaurant, on Dean Street in bustling Soho has been around for a few months, but I only heard of it recently. So had Caroline at work, so we decided to go there for lunch together.

The place is quite small and there are only a few tables (of which all were booked when we arrived) but there were available places around the big bar, and considering the amount of food we ordered we were better off sitting at the large counter top at the bar than the small tables behind us.

The menu came on a hand written note and consisted of a few sections; bar food, small plates, large plates and dessert.

We ordered a little bit of everything, and it arrived when it was ready – tapas style.

The first dish that appeared was the grilled pepper with some grilled tomato wedges and capers. Simple and lovely.

Then came the bread, which was great together with the cod roe, which was a bit too salty on its own.

The rest all appeared at once, but we started off eating the mussles and clams in a traditional white wine sauce, but with the clever addition of small spaghetti strands to soak up the juices. This was lovely and the portion very generous!

Next we tucked in to the grilled octopus with its gremolata looking topping. It was really nice and the fresh herbs made all the difference.

The finale was a whole grilled mackerel, almost blackened on the skin and absolutely delicious. It was seasoned with sumac and came with a burnt lemon which goes so well with seafood.

We loved this, and for me, this was the best part of the meal. The fish was so lovely in its flavour, and the skin really crisp, so we ended up eating that too.

We also had a glass of wine each, which the waitress had to recommend as neither of us knew anything about the wines on the black board.

The bill came to a little above £50 for the two of us, which was very reasonable. The food is simple, but has that little extra something a meal out for me requires. There is nothing worse than feeling that you could cook it better yourself. I certainly didn’t feel like that in Ducksoup and we will definitely go back for more.

Ducksoup, 41 Dean Street, London W1D 4PY

http://www.ducksoupsoho.co.uk/Ducksoup.html

The Square

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When it was by birthday back in July, my colleague Caroline treated me to lunch at the lovely L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, so I felt the pressure when it was her birthday this month. I took her to the Square, a restaurant equally decorated with Michelin stars (two) for a fabulous lunch.

The Square is located in Mayfair not far from Berkeley Square and fully booked for this Monday lunch it seemed. The dining room is understatedly elegant and the waiting staff very professional.

We started the meal with nice bread and amazing, almost yellow in colour, salted butter. Unfortunately I could not hear exactly what the amuse bouche was, from our whispering waiter, but it was utterly delicious. A salty jelly at the bottom with a sweeter velouté on top in a little bowl, it was a lovely start to the meal, and made promises about was whas coming.

We opted for the set menu, and Caroline started off with a mackerel velouté with buttermilk muffins and crab on the side. It looked divine, and Caroline confirmed that is sure was.

I had the veal salad with thin slices of fabulous pink veal, runner beans, celeriac and a lovely dressing.

We chose the same maincourse; pollock with chestnut and chanterelle ravioi, amazing puré and pickled walnuts. Absolutely lovely, although with this dish the pollock was not the main character – the ravioli was.

The portions were bigger than at some other restaurants with type of cuisine, and that is of course good in a way, but we were too full after our maincourse to contemplate dessert, but we still received something sweet after lunch, a plate of luscious nougat, with a perfect balanced honey – nut ratio.

Of course we would rather had stayed out in the sunshine than go back to the office, but still a very  good start to the week. 🙂

The Square
6-10 Bruton Street
Mayfair
London
W1J 6PU
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7495 7100

Footnote: I try to take pictures when I eat out, but some places just don’t feel right, and this restaurant is one of them. I would feel silly and rude for bringing out my camera, so that is why the write-up is all text, no photos.

The Blue Bicycle, York

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York is a small town and that means a smaller selection of restaurants than larger towns, naturally, but because we are used to all the restaurants London has to offer, we decided to cook ourselves for most day. One evening however we visited the Blue Bicycle which was mentioned on Via Michelin’s website.

The restaurant was charming in its interior design with red walls, blue glasses and colourful china. The menu was both intriguing and rather boring.

There was no ordinary bread basket instead we got a little clay pot each with a bread baked in it. A nice touch. And so wash the baked garlic to have on it. The bread was nice and crusty on the top, but a bit too doughy in the bottom.

Christopher chose French onion soup for his starter, which was nice but not fantastic. The bread on the side was really nice though and would have been better than the bread in clay pots to start the meal.

I chose a crayfish, spring onion and gruyére bonbon, which turned out to be a large croquette with these three ingredients. It was crispy on the outside and had lovely melted cheese on the inside. Unfortunately the rest was mainly mashed potatoes and it only contained one crayfish. A great idea that lacked in execution.

Less potato and more crayfish and spring onion would be the way forward. And a vinaigrette instead of just oil with the salsa and salad would have been a lot fresher.

Chritopher chose the steak for his maincourse which looked lovely. It came with new potatoes, fried cauliflower and a mustard hollandaise. Till varmrätt beställde Christopher biff med nypotatis, friterad blomkål och senapshollandaise. Biffen var lite för välstekt för att vara blue-rare men var ändå god.

I chose seabass and got two large fillets on my plate together with a giant fondant potato that was very nice. The sauce was roasted garlic and quite nice and the fried ball was some kind of olive mash that to be honest was a bit weird in taste. I would have prefered some fresh vegetables instead.

We were way too full to have dessert (I had to leave quite a lot of my maincourse) so we decided on a walk to digest the food.

I don’t think the restaurant was all bad, even though I am quite critical in my review. This seem to be one of the better restaurants in York and it was very popular. Around 15 people was turned away while we were there and we got the only walk-in table for the evening. I do think the restaurant has potential. It was nice inside and they certainly can cook, it is more when it comes to creating daring dishes were it doesn’t really work. I think a more traditional approach with English and French well-cooked food would work better.

The Blue Bicycle Restaurant
34 Fossgate
York, YO1 9TA
Tel: 01904 673990

Brunch at Soho Village, Gothenburg

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After all the cocktails on Saturday we decided a brunch was the perfect day to recover the next day. Linus suggested a cosy place called Soho Village and we walked there in the rain. The café was really big with a few different rooms to sit in, and although we arrived soon after they opened for the day it was really full up. Always a good sign.

The buffet was really big, so we took a few things at the time, instead of trying to cram it all onto one plate. I started with bread that was still warm from the oven, creamy butter, cheese and salami.

I then moved onto smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, pizza slice and a croissant. (I definitely had my carbs for the day…)

And finished it off with a pancake (they were quite big), maple syrup, whipped cream and raspberries.

I love going for brunch, especially if it is a varied buffet like here so you have plenty of things to choose from.

Linus went here three weeks ago with his brother, and thought it was actually better then, and although I really enjoyed it, there are always room for improvement.

They could perhaps have a larger selection of cold meats, and all the cakes seem to come from the same sponge batter. Maybe mix it up a little and offer cookies or something as well.

And the eggs, only one variety? I know I’m not in the UK, but please. Or if there only is one variety, make it extra good. These scambled eggs where too dry and not seasoned enough.

With that said, it was still a nice brunch and everything was nice and fresh, and it offered a good balance between healthy (cottage cheese, wholegrain bread, fruit and vegetables) and indulgence (croissants, cakes with custard, pancakes with whipped cream and cheeses)

 

Familjen restaurant, Gothenburg

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When reading Charlotta’s Gothenburg guide, Emma and I liked the sounds of the Familjen (the Family) restaurant and booked a table for Saturday. We arrived already at 6pm, when the first session started, it was either that or 8.30pm onwards.

The restaurant had a cosy feel about it, and was decorated with both sofas and tables, red lights and very nice and familiar staff.

As soon as we sat down the tray above appeared with crisp bread, sourdough, butter and a mackerel spread. The bread was lovely and Linus adored the mackerel, I did not try it myself.

We all chose the same starter; forest mushroom soup with beef tartar and cheesy croûtons. The soup was nice, although a bit thin, and it desperately lacked salt. There were no salt or pepper mills on the table so I had to ask for salt at the bar. With added salt the flavour was really nice, but it could still have been a bit thicker.

The mains lacked no seasoning and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Emma and I chose hake loin with fennel, crab and tomato confit. I always think that fish needs a nice sauce, and that was lacking here, but I realised that it was not necessary for the dish. The lovely tomatoes burst and worked as the sauce and the flavours of this dish were suble but lovely. Linus chose the manliest maincourse;  valde en manligare varmrätt; veal entrecôte, red wine jus, roasted new potatoes and bread with bonemarrow. He really enjoyed it.

After two courses we were too full for dessert and decided to go home and make cocktails instead.

I thought this restaurant was good, but that it had potential to be even better. What I liked the most was the cosy athmosphere and the nice staff, but it should be more focus on the food really.

Corner Room

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In Bethnal Green (zone 2), only one stop from Liverpool Street station, the chef Nuno Mendes has built his empire. He has taken over an old town hall, converted it into a hotel with his main restaurant Viajante, and the much smaller Corner Room.

The hotel is magnificant from the outside with the old, authentic decor. This is the entrance to Viajante, the entrance to the hotel and Corner Room is around the corner to your left.

I haven’t eaten at Viajante yet, but I definitely want to, and hearing about the Corner Room, I thought that was a good place to start.

As the name suggest, the smaller restaurant is in one single, small corner room with different industrial lamps hanging from the ceiling and wooden cupboards on the walls. The foos is gorgeous, gourmet food but to very reasonable prices. Or how does starters for around £7, mains around £12 and desserts for £5, sound?!

You cannot book ahead, the restaurant operates a first come, first served policy which works well in such a small restaurant.

I expected the restaurant to be more popular than it was, so we arrived at twenty past six and were the only guests. Half an hour later most tables were full. Once you’ve sat down, the waiter tells you that you have a 90 minute slot, which is a good amount of time considering the waiting staff and kitchen being very efficient. Another nice tough is that you can have as much water as you like (still or sparkling for £1 per person.

As soon as we sat down the rustic bread basket arrived and two olives filles with sardines. I really liked it, but Nick pulled a face as he doesn’t like fish that much. That made it hard for him to chose a starter, as most of them contained fish or seafood.

He settled for the green beans in the end, as there was no fish to that dish on the menu. There was however, on the plate. But Nick is a polite guy and ate it anyway and really liked it, apart from the fish.

I, very fond of everything fish or seafood, opted for the dressed Devon crab with salad and an apple and cucumber jelly. Very tasty, in a demure kind of way.

The maincourse I chose was duck confit with girolles, shredded bread, green beans and a lovely soft egg. My stomach can’t really handle green beans, and I wasn’t aware it came with this dish, but I made an exception and ate it anyway. I suffered a little, but it was worth it. Again, suble flavours that really came together. As I said to Nick: “I don’t want this dish to end”.


Nick – the carnevore – chose skirt steak with a tomato salad and chimichurri  served on a slice of bread to soak up the meat juices. He was very pleased and I can confirm it was delicious. More full on flavours than my duck, but that suits a steak better.

Although being quite full I had to try one of the intriguing desserts and went for the goat’s cheese caramel with blueberries, brioche and shiso granita (shiso is an Asian herb, similar to mint, Google tells me).

This was a great supper, which we both enjoyed very much. I will definitely be back! It was also great value for money. Including all the food, 2 glasses of wine and the service charge the bill came to £65. Not bad at all, when eating this well.

Corner Room
Town Hall Hotel & Apartments
Patriot Square
London E2 9NF
Tel: 020 7871 0460

Salt & Brygga in Malmö, Sweden

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The last night in Sweden Daniel and Maria treated us to dinner at a cosy organic restaurant in the West Harbour in Malmö.

Although I used to live in Malmö before I moved to London I have actually never been to Salt & Brygga before. A shame, because I really liked the place! But it is still going strong after 10 (!) years, so I think it will be around for a while longer so I can come back.

The menu is based on local seasonal produce and they are, we later learned, quite fond of garnishing the food with edible flowers.

They offer an a’la carte menu but also three set menus, with the dishes from the a’la carte but a bit cheaper, so if you know you are having three courses, I highly recommend one of the set menus.

Out of those, all four of us chose the same one, the meaty option. It would be nice to see a set menu with bort fish/seafood and meat, but it was either or here. We were still happy though, meat lovers as we are.

The starter was spickeskinka, basically locally cured ham that is quite salty. It came with a smoked cheese creme, red and yellow beetroots, an egg yolk creme, caviar and fresh horseradish. It was very nice, but trying a bit too hard. The smoked cheese didn’t taste enough I thought, and the salty caviar was not needed with the already salty ham. The beets were perfectly cooked and went nicely with the dish and I really liked the egg yolk creme as well. All in all a good dish, but keeping it simpler could have been even better.

The main course on the other hand was pure perfection. Three types of meat (cutlet, leg and sausage) and perfectly cooked. The sausage had a nice earthy taste of cumin and almost a bit spicy. I say almost, the other three agreed that it actually was spicy… Nice, anyhow. Served with all the meat was a carrot purée (will have to try this at home), girolles and pointy cabbage, a jus and the most wonderful deepfried goat’s cheese (beautifully soft and creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

The dessert was a homage to crispy rhubarb with buttermilk sorbet, a lovely vanilla-flavoured creme, petit strawberry meringues and cardamom jelly. The latter was redundant as it didn’t taste much of anything, but a nice idea though.

All four of use really enjoyed the lovely meal in the relaxed restaurant. A Monday night in Malmö is always quiet, but still the restaurant was half full – definitely a good sign.

I would dare to say this is one of the best restaurant in Malmö, and it is well worth a visit! Thank you Daniel and Maria for a lovely evening with excellent food and wonderful company!

The last picture is of the Turning Torso, the landmark of Malmö.