Stockholm: dinner at Hillenberg

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Saturday night in a sunny Stockholm. After a long day walking around the beautiful city we had a little breather in my friend’s flat before we got ready for a night on the town. It was actually a relief for my tired feet to swap my flats to heels, and taking a taxi to the restaurant obviously helped too.

Hillenberg, the restaurant I had booked, is the more relaxed one of Niklas Ekstedt’s (quite the frequent guest on Saturday Kitchen in the UK) two restaurants and I was super excited to try his cooking.

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On arrival we were shown to our table (with a sofa each to sit on) and started to study the menu. The service was a little slow at times, but that meant I had enough time to translate the menu and plenty of time to ponder it too.

Although I would have liked to try many things, I couldn’t resist the classic Toast Skagen, which I expected would come with a little twist. And indeed it did, as it was a deconstructed version. It was really lovely and I especially liked the dill dust on the side. Amazing mayonnaise too. Yum!

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My dinner companion had the nettle soup with äggost (a type of curdled cheese) and trout roe. Delicious!

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I was really indecisive when it came to my main course and so let our waiter influence me to try the monkfish bourguignon. It was really delicious and the “meaty” fish worked well with the powerful flavours. But the highlight was almost the velvety potato puré that was served alongside it. So rich, but beautiful!

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My dinner date had the lamb and was presented a very generous portion with lamb rack, artichokes and aubergine. Really lovely as well!

Unsurprisingly, we were too full to even be tempted by pudding. Instead we sat back (loved those sofas!) and finished our bottle of wine and just enjoyed life. Very content we weren’t completely finished with our night out and so walked around the corner to Riche for another glass of wine and lots of people watching.

Hillenberg, Humlegårdsgatan 14, 114 46 Stockholm, Sweden

Visby: dinner at Donners Brasserie

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We arrived Visby in the afternoon, having been up since 5am, so we were quite happy just walking around the town for a bit (taking some photos) and then have an early no-fuss dinner.

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We ended up at Donners Brasserie and sat outside people-watching (so much fun when most people were dressed in medieval attire). You could tell it was the end of the season as none of the restaurants were full up but at least we were not alone dining here.

The menu was quite simple and although the smoked prawns for a starter appealed we were all hungry starving and went straight for the main course.

Mother had arctic char with potatoes baked in tin foil and served with a coriander mayo. Not ground-breaking but it was cooked well.

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I had the steak with bearnaise sauce and fries. The meat was slightly over-cooked but still nice.

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Father had the largest portion (so generous!) of lamb racks I’ve ever seen, with sautéed vegetables and a potato salad.

The food was nice, and not very elaborate but I can see it appealing to the crowds in the summer. It was all fresh and cooked well just lacking a bit of oomph.

Donners Brasserie, Donners plats 3, 621 57 Visby, Sweden 

London: Black Roe

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After the summer my friend Gaby gathered her closest friends to belatedly celebrate her 30th birthday with a dinner at Black Roe in Mayfair.

There were seven of us and as the food here is for sharing we divided ourselves into smaller groups, to make it easier to order.

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There were three of us in my group; Laura, Ro and me, and we shared all the dishes, except these oysters au gratin that only Laura and I had. If you like oysters, I highly recommend them – they were so nice we were scraping the sauce off the shell.

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Black Roe is mainly a poke restaurant (the trending Hawaiian fish dish) so we had their classic ahi poke (Hawaiian tuna with sesame soy marinade. So nice!

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Then we shared the sashimi salad which was also really nice but had a little too much dressing for my liking.

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Next up were the giant tempura prawns, served with coriander salsa and truffle aioli. I loved these!

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Then it was time for the pièce de résistance; whole lobster mac ‘n cheese and it was HEAVENLY. You have to have this if you go. Promise!

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Lastly we had the smoky lamb racks which were amazing as well!

I really enjoyed our dinner here and will definitely be back for more of that lobster mac ‘n cheese (and oysters, poke and lamb racks…). It’s not a cheap place but the portions are large so when you share it works out really reasonably. This amount of food was enough for three hungry girls, if that’s of any help.

Black Roe, 4 Mill St, Mayfair, London W1S 2AX