restaurants – Scandelights

Stockholm: dinner at Hillenberg

Published on June 27, 2018June 27, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

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.

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!

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

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!

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

Stockholm highlights

Published on June 21, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

Unless you’ve been to Scandinavia in the summer, I don’t think you could understand how magical the summer is there.

Of course, summer in Britain is gorgeous too, but in Scandinavia summer is what everybody lives for. The dark and cold (and frankly, rather miserable) winter months are so depressing that summer is the goal; the light at the end of the tunnel.

It may sound dramatic, but it’s true. So to experience the gorgeousness of Swedish summer already in the beginning of May was such a treat, I don’t think I can explain the elevation I felt.

Stockholm is a pretty city all year round, but in summer it really comes to life and is more beautiful than ever.

So the highlights I am about to share with you, are in majority linked to this beautiful summer weather. We didn’t see the point of being indoors in a museum when the sun was shining. Alas, there are many many more great things to do in Stockholm, especially in other seasons, this is just a selection.

Brunch with friends

On the Saturday dear friends of mine invited us over for a delicious brunch in their home, and afterwards we sat in the sun on their balcony, sipping rosé and eating a crumble with strawberries and ice cream. Such a wonderful start to our weekend!

Exploring Gamla Stan (Old Town)

I’ve been to Stockholm many times before but as it’s my capital I have not explored it the way I have London. Therefore it was great fun seeing the city through a non-Swede’s eyes. We found beautiful churches and statues I had never heard of, and obviously checked out the palace and Storkyrkan as well.

Fika!

We do eat a lot of fika in Sweden and it’s so easy to walk to a bakery, order something yummy and sit in the sun to enjoy it. We had amazing cinnamon buns at Fabrique, who also have a café in London.

Exploring the city by foot

Stockholm is perfect for walking or cycling and it’s by far the best way to explore the city. When we felt we “knew” the way pretty well we went on detours to explore some more.

Visiting friends in the suburbs

An old friend of mine has recently moved to Täby with his family, so we went to visit them and it was so cosy and serene outside of the city. I would recommend visiting Zetas Trädgård (a beautiful nursery with a café) for a similar experience.

Djurgården

This beautiful island is easy to get to by tram or boat and is Stockholm’s equivalent to Richmond Park. The nature is beautiful and you can go for amazing walks here. There is a beautiful nursery with a café/restaurant; Rosendals Trädgård, as well as the fairground Gröna Lund and several museums.

Good restaurants

We had lunch at Rolfs Kök and nibbles and wine at Tranan.

I have a few more great places to tell you about, in more detail, so stay tuned!

London: burgers at The Fire Station, Waterloo

Published on June 1, 2018June 1, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

I admit, I am sometimes a food snob. Not all the time, but when I go out to a restaurant, cheap or not, I want nice food.

So I am really against bad tourist trap style restaurants which London is littered with in the central areas. To be honest I thought that The Fire Station, a popular watering hole near Waterloo, was a bit like that. A central spot near one of the busiest stations in the country will be busy so long as the drinks are fine, so why would they bother about the food?!

But, I may have to eat my hat, as I recently visited this restaurant and bar and found their burgers really good. I mean REALLY good.

The patty was nice and juicy, the bun soft but sturdy, the sauce nice and the fries too. Plus they have a great menu for children (even a three course meal including dough balls, a small burger and ice cream – I’d happily order that for myself!) and decent service even though they were rammed with customers. Thanks for proving me wrong! And thanks to my colleague for convincing me to go there with my friends.

The Fire Station, 150 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8SB

Almost spring (?) and visitors from home!

Published on February 19, 2018February 19, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

The past week was full-on busy but in a good way! I made sure to celebrate pancake day in both a British and Swedish manner.

There were savoury pancakes (with cheddar, pancetta, chives and avocado for example) and sweet ones (with nutella, whipped cream and raspberries) and of course a Swedish cream bun (fastlagsbulle) from Swedish bakery Bageriet.

On Thursday my dear friends Maria and Daniel and their two children arrived in London so I met up with them in the evening for a quick burger at Fire Station and a catch up.

On Friday after work we met up again for a longer dinner at Tredwells, which was as child friendly as I had hoped. In fact all places we ate at were very child friendly.

On Saturday Maria and I left Daniel to look after the kids while we went to the V&A and the fabulous Balenciaga exhibition. I’ve wanted to see it since it came on ages ago, and am so happy I managed to see it just before it ended.

Afterwards we treated ourselves to some cupcakes at Hummingbird bakery, a little tradition of ours.

In the evening it got cold (compared to 10C and sunshine during the day) so it was perfect with dinner in the cosiest of pubs, complete with dogs (and dog treats), a fire place and comfort food.

Yesterday we had a nice relaxed lunch at Whyte & Brown in Kingly Court before we hit the shops on Regent Street and Carnaby Street and even ventured into Hamleys (phew).

It was so lovely to spend so much time with my lovely friends! It’s far more relaxed when my friends come here than when I go home and try to make time for everyone. Such a treat!

A very foodie week…

Published on February 13, 2018February 13, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

This week I’ve eaten very well. On Tuesday I had takeaway pizza with parma ham and rocket and the next day nibbles and wine with colleagues at the old favourite Terroirs.

On Thursday I had a nice catch up with a friend in Soho at this lovely Mexican place I will do a write up on later. And on Friday I got treated to a lunch out (a very rare occurrence) at lovely Dishoom.

Saturday I had lunch at a lovely fish restaurant with my friend Helen while her fiancé (the head chef) cooked for us (the scallops on the picture amongst other things)! So delicious! In the evening I saw a very moving and thoroughly amazing play in Dalston. It was only one performance, but it was so good I hope it gets put on again and then you all have to go and see it.

Sunday was nice and quiet and spent in a nice pub with Sunday roast, a glass of wine and the rugby. Now it’s a new week and I have friends coming to visit from Sweden – yay!

London: New York Italian at Hai Cenato?

Published on July 5, 2017July 5, 2017 by HannaLeave a comment

Jason Atherton’s empire continues to grow and the latest restaurant to open was this New York-y Italian restaurant in the new Nova development by Victoria. It’s in goof company with Rail House Café, Aster, Franco Manca etc. nearby.

The first time I came was early one Sunday evening with my friends Helen and Pete and their son Eddie. We’d had a lovely Sunday afternoon exploring the Natural History Museum, had eclairs and coffee at wonderful Maitre Choux and a walk to Buckingham Palacea and were happy to sit down and tuck into some food just as the skies opened.

Hai Cenato? (means ‘Have you had dinner?’ in Italian) certainly feels New York-y with it’s high ceilings, long bar counter, sketched portraits and cosy feel. It’s nice but relaxes and the menu echoes that with pasta dishes, rosso and bianca pizzas and meats from the grill. and modern yet cosy interior.

They also have a kids menu and children eat free on Sundays, which is a nice touch.

Eddie chose a pasta with tomato sauce and plenty of grated parmesan from the kids menu and was very pleased with his choice.

Helen and I both chose the corzetti pasta with bolognese sauce sage, browned butter and grated Berkswell cheese. It was absolutely delicious and felt very indulgent. The sauce was really rich and could have done with a bit more pasta because of the richness but it was a nice size portion. We also shared a side of amazing crushed potatoes that soaked up the last of my bolognese.

Pete chose a lovely vibrant green risotto with oeas, broad beans and crab that was just perfectly executed.

We were certainly full after our main courses but still fancied pudding and after a quick browse on the (excellent) dessert menu I chose the brioche with salted caramel ice cream. I just love salted caramel and expected a dainty dessert, perfect to finish off my meal but instead I got a large (burger size) brioche bun and THREE scoops of salted caramel ice cream (insert surprised emoji here). The flavour combination was spot on of course but the portion size ridiculous, especially after such starchy food as pasta or pizza.

Helen’s chocolate and coffee fondant with creme fraiche, puffed rice and caramel was more the size we had expected and absolutely delicious!

We had a lovely dinner here, but also experienced some (I hope they are) teething problems like slow service and I got poured a flat glass of prosecco which just shouldn’t have left the bar and it took ages to get a new one. It’s not the end of the world of course, but I expect an overall smooth and lovely experience when I go to a restaurant, especially when it’s a quiet evening.

I went back last week with my friend Nick for pizza and a glass of wine and the service was a lot better (i.e. smooth) and the place buzzing with people. Oh, and the pizza? DIVINE!

Hai Cenato?, 2 Sir Simon Milton Square, London SW1E 5DJ

Taste of London 2016

Published on June 27, 2016June 27, 2016 by HannaLeave a comment

The week before last, Taste of London, the restaurant festival I visit every year, was on in Regents Park. It was nice like always, but I was still a bit disappointed. Some of the restaurants were not as exciting as previous years and didn’t deliver amazing dishes. Previous years it’s been a higher standard on the whole, so I hope it gets better again last year. With that said, I still tried some great dishes, but also a few disappointments. Reviews below.

Parmesan and polenta croquetas with truffle dip from Duck & Waffle: crispy, seriously cheesy, far too rich and not enough truffle flavour. Pretty dull actually.

Fettuccine with broad beans, Grana Padana and black truffle from Sartoria: nice pasta and generously ~~sprinkled~~ covered with black truffle it still didn’t impress.

Barbecued lamm cutlet from Roka: really nice!

Grilled pork belly with miso marinade, also from Roka: very nice!

Soft shell crab taco from Champor Champor: not very nice, but like the idea.

Baked scallop with mustard, chilli and cheese, covered with puff pastry from Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen: nice and different! But very filling.

Raw red prawns with black curry and coconut crème from Restaurant M: nice flavours but the curry slightly overpowered the lovely sweet prawns.

Bao with duck from Chai Wu: alright but now wow.

Hotdog with truffled mac ‘n cheese bites from Bubbledogs: nice hotdog but couldn’t really taste the truffle (oil).

Lamm meatballs with sheep’s curd from Seacontainers: OK, but nothing spectacular.

Fried chicken burger with Asian slaw from Chicks ‘n Sours: nice!

48 hr short rib with lovely trimmings from Restaurant M: absolutely lovely and in a class of its own!

Bacon and cheddar burger from Shake Shack: nice enough but it doesn’t beat their Shackburger.

SASA roll from Sushisamba: really nice! I’ve had it lots of times already, but it’s still great!

Restaurant M was a nice acquaintance, and having had the (two) SASA rolls I can’t wait to go back to Sushisamba soon, but some of the other restaurants were a bit disappointing. Hope it gets better again next year.

Taste of London, Regent’s Park – annual restaurant festival

Dinner at Magdalen, London Bridge

Published on January 31, 2015January 29, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

There are definitely holes in my London knowledge of restaurants and I really appreciate when friends introduce me to new places. I had never heard of Magdalen near London before a friend took me there, as it’s not an area I usually frequent but Magdalen was a good find; a really cosy neighbourhood bistro.

We started with potted crab with toasted sourdough. Simple and very nice!

For my mains I chose the pan-fried cod with leek, little beans and clams in a creamy delicious sauce. Very satisfying with subtle flavours.

The pork belly with seriously crispy crackling, lentils and green beans was equally nice. I can honestly say that London Bridge is not one of my favourite areas in London, but having this restaurant in your neighbourhood is a little bit tempting.

Magdalen, 152 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TU

Two favourites in Palma revisited

Published on October 21, 2014 by Hanna1 Comment

During the last few years I have come to love Spanish cuisine. In London there are plenty of authentic and nice tapas around, at Barrafina, Barrica and the Saltyard group for example.

Palma has plenty of nice restaurants and it was especially two I couldn’t wait to go back to; Tast and Puro Chef.

On Saturday we had lunch at Tast in the middle of the town centre. There are cold pinxtos at the bar to pick yourself and warm pinxtos and tapas on the menu to order. Further in there is a proper restaurant serving more filling maincourses but I prefer the all day bar menu. We ordered some pan con tomato because the neighbouring table had some and it looked amazing. And it was. Of the cold pinxtos we had crab mayonnaise with smoked salmon, white fish with pickled pepper and fried quail’s egg and beef with tomato and mayonnaise. The marinated camembert (looks like a fish tartar) was the only one we didn’t like – the others were amazing! From the menu we ordered a crab and gulas (mini eels) gratin each (so so good!), a kebab with monkfish, king prawn and peppers and a mini toastie with the local sombrassada sausage and cheese. All great!

I like the fact that Tast is unpretentious, nice but not fancy and that the food is consistently good. Everything is well-cooked but simple and you can pop in for a proper dinner or just a glass of wine and nibbles. The wines, by the way, are very good and very reasonably priced!

Tast, C/ Unión, 2, 07001 Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Another afvourite is Puro Chef in Santa Catalina. Here they take pinxtos to gourmet level, serve nice tapas, proper maincourses and puddings. I never seem to be able to order anything other than the amazing gourmet pinxtos and a few tapas to share.

The jamon iberico croquetas were the best I have ever had (and I have sampled my fair share). They came out piping hot, were incredibly delicate and creamy and of course the flavour was spot on. How they were able to deep-fry anything so soft is a mystery to me! The amuse bouche was a creamy concoction with tuna and eggs served on sourdough. Of the gourmet pinxtos we both had the scallops with paprika purée which was delicious. Laura had the anchovies and lime toast full of salty goodness that she really liked and I couldn’t help but order the crispy suckling pig with Spanish sauce that I fell in love with last time. And it was just as delicious as I remembered. But the star of the evening was a brand new pinxtos the waitress recommended to us. Octopus with potato foam. It was utterly amazing. The foam was rich and light at the same time and had the most amazing flavour and hidden underneath were pieces of wonderful octopus.

Puro Chef, c/ Sant Magí 66, Palma De Mallorca, Spain

Hvar Town, Croatia

Published on September 1, 2014 by HannaLeave a comment

The first week of my summer holidays was spent in sunny Croatia. We had one evening in Split and then stayed in Hvar town for the rest of the week. Gaby, Rowena and I had an amazing week with lots of sleep, lots of sunbathing, a bit of party and several nice meals. My ideal holiday.

We stayed jn Hvar Town the whole time and although it is small town there were plenty of restaurants to choose from so we never got bored.

Macondo

Our first evening we tried Macondo, a fish restaurant with a great reputation. We tried the local dish marinated octopus which was really nice and then shared a platter of grilled seafood and a lobster pasta. The food was alright but not amazing so we were a little disappointed. But then again, maybe we just ordered the wrong things from the menu?!

Macondo, Groda, Hvar Town, Croatia

Zlatna Skoljka (Golden Shell restaurant)

This restaurant’s speciality is slow cooking and offered lots of stews. We started with a fish tartar (not sure which particular fish) to share and then Gaby and I had the fish stew with potatoes and shelfish. It is one of their signature dishes and it was nice in a homemade kind of way. Rowena had a beef stew (shortribs?) with dumplings that was very heavy. The meat was very tender melted in the mouth and although a hearty stew isn’t summer food for me it was nice and well cooked.

Zlatna Skoljka, Petra Hektorovića 8, 21450 Hvar, Croatia

Giaxa

Gaixa had a bit more oomph than the previous two restaurants. Gaby and Ro shared the swordfish carpaccio which was lovely and so was my ravioli with truffle sauce. The beef with gnoochi and truffle was utterly delicious while my swordfish with cauliflower mash was underseasoned a little underwhelming. But overall I really liked this place.

Giaxa, Trg Tv. Petra Hektorovića 3, 21450, Hvar, Croatia

Paradies Garden

We sat outside in a cozy courtyard at Paradies Garden and could watch the boats in the harbour. The portions were huge but everything we tried was well-cooked and very nice; grilled fish, risotto, scallops and their signature dish – meat cooked on a hot stone. The table next to ours shared a huge seafood platter that looked great too!

Paradies Garden, Groda bb, Hvar, Hvar Island 21450, Croatia

Restaurant Vartal

Ro and Gaby noticed this place when out for a walk and thought the pizzas looked nice. So that’s what we had when we had dinner here the last night (and pasta). It is a no-fuss restaurant but the food was nice, the wine nice and it was very good value for money. Definitely the cheapest place we had dinner.

Restaurant Vartal, Fulgencija Careva 1, Hvar, Hvar Island, Croatia