steak tartare

Copenhagen: four course dinner at Uformel

Published on February 7, 2017February 7, 2017 by HannaLeave a comment

The highlight of our day in Copenhagen was definitely the four course meal with matching wines at Uformel. It was my first time visiting the restaurant and we thoroughly enjoyed everyhing from the relaxed atmosphere to the quirky details (black cutlery!) and of course the delicious food.

We started our meal with a glass of bubbly each and some snacks; pork scratchings with sourcream dip. Pork scratchings are actually more popular in Denmark than in the UK and they’re sold in every supermarket. The supermarket varieties are nice but these were amazing, especially together with the dip.

Then we started our four course meal with lovely sourdough bread and delicious butter and this first course consisting of scallops, pickled green strawberries and olive oil. It was a nice fresh start to the meal, but didn’t blow me away.

But the next course certainly did! This was how it was presented, and the thinly sliced mushrooms made me think of woods and earthy flacours.

But hidden underneath was the most amazing steak tartare with mayonnaise and crispy bread. Loved this!

Next up was this duck with grilled pointy cabbage (but in my case grilled little gem instead) and the most amazing sauce. it was proper minimalism on a plate but it really worked.

The pudding with apples, crumble, custard and a frozen lid with apple was a nice finish to the meal and very refreshing. We also got some petit fours with our coffees but we were too full to appreciate them.

But the fullness didn’t last that long as we didn’t have many carbs, and we’d been walking around Copenhagen all day. This is not a criticism however, if we hadn’t been walking around all day this meal would have been enough, but after some bar hopping especially Emma and I got hangry and we had to eat something more. Unfortunately all the pølse trucks were closed at this point so we had to go to Burger King (it was an emergency!).

And the wines? They were all nice and expertly paired with the dishes, but I couldn’t tell you much more than that. Both the food menu and with wine flight were very reasonably prised though, and the ambience in the restaurant nice and relaxed. Highly recommend a dinner here!

Uformel, Studiestræde 69, 1554 København V, Denmark

London: Restaurant Ours

Published on November 29, 2016November 29, 2016 by HannaLeave a comment

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One Friday night before it got cold out, I met up with Rowena after work for a drink at the bar at Restaurant Ours. We found some nice comfy bar chairs and just as we had ordered a glass of champagne each (to celebrate we survived the week!), the bartender asked if we wanted to eat and if so, he could find us a table. Sure, we thought, why not?!

We didn’t actually get a table, but the last two seats at the bar in the restaurant (not to be confused with the bar upstairs where we had drinks). We quickly decided we both wanted the lobster spaghetti (yum!) but to have starters as well.

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Ro had the excellent crab and apple starter, served IN an apple. It was a bit tricky to eat from but it’s a nice idea.

I had the steak tartare and enjoyed every single bite. It was almost as good as the one at Social Eating House, which is very high praise.

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After the starters we had a plate each of the creamy and delicious lobster spaghetti. Very enjoyable but I would have liked to see a bit more lobster meat.

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To finish off the meal we shared a bag of these light and fluffy salted caramel doughnuts. So good!

I really liked this place. The food is nice, the ambiance is great and so is the people watching. The service was good on the whole, although a little confused at times. Definitely a place to go on a buzzing Friday.

Restaurant Ours, 264 Brompton Rd, London SW3 2AS

Oaxen Krog & Slip pop-up

Published on March 7, 2016March 7, 2016 by HannaLeave a comment

One of the best restaurants in Stockholm had a two week pop-up here in London a few weeks ago. I made sure to book tickets for me and my no 1. foodie friend Caroline.

The venue, Carousel, was a fairly small space with three long communal tables and every seat was taken. Our table neighbours were an American couple around the same age as us and an older Georgian couple who were regulars. The six of us got to share the food served on big platters.

But we started with a little snack. I have already forgotten what the deicious cream was but at least I can remember it was served on puffed rye.

The food was more or less what I had expected from Oaxen Krog & Slip; delicious (!) and relaxed, gourmet but not molecular gastronomy.

The first two dishes were served at the same time. Above is the amazing steak tartare of topside with mustard mayonnaise, soured cream and sourdough croutons. The cured herring with fried pickled shallots and a potato and leek purée was just as beautifully plated, I just forgot to take a picture of it. It was a little on the sharp side so not everyone at the table loved it, but it was a great dish even if the tartare was my favourite.

Next up was grilled celeriac baked in cheese whey with bleak roe and chives – just stunning!

An optional dish on the menu (i.e. not included in the set menu), was this smoked eel with broad bean tops, samphire and lemon butter, it was a nice combination of flavours and the eel was perfectly (not too much) smoked.

The main course was definitely the evening’s piece de resistance: knuckle of veal confit with roasted vegetables, purée and oxtail jus. So incredibly delicious!!

After all the heavy food a light pudding of salt fudge ice cream with cream of lingonberries and nut caramel was just what we wanted. This time we shared it two and two and it was a lovely end to our meal.

Oaxen Krog och Slip gästspel på Carousel London, 71 Blandford St, London W1U 8AB

Dinner at Social Eating House, Soho

Published on February 11, 2015 by HannaLeave a comment

Jason Atherton has been busy opening restaurants the last few years with the additions of City Social, Little Social and Social Eating House to his earlier established Pollen Street Social.

Out of the new editions I have only been to Little Social, but a few weeks ago I went to Social Eating House in Soho for dinner with a friend from home I haven’t seen in ages. It was so much fun and since we’re both foodies we thoroughly enjoyed the food as well!

Both starters were amazing! My smoked Angus steak tartare (above) was to die for. Lovely flavours, amazing meat and loved the toppings that added different textures. Oh and the egg cream was delicious too!

Mattias basically had a cheese fondue on a plate with warm Vacherin Mont d’Or, croutons, ham, chicory and boiled new potatoes. Utterly delicious!

The main courses were also really nice. This slowcooked venison with date jam, kale, brazil nuts and goat’s cheese was delicious but the lamb was even better. V

The lamb loin from Kent with neck confit, miso caramel, aubergine and mint yoghurt was pure perfection! Especially the confit was to die for and the whole combination of flavours was spot on!

We were too full for a proper pudding (the portions here were certainly substantial) but we couldn’t resist some sorbets and icecreams. Mattias had the coconut (which tasted a bit like Malibu) and mixed berry, which was really nice. The mango sorbet I had was really good and the yoghurt icecream was nice too.

I’m a big fan of chef Atherton and his restaurants. Both I’ve been too have a very high standard of both food, wine and service. The ambiance is nice and relaxed too which is a plus. It’s just very well done. All of it.

Social Eating House, 58 Poland Street, Soho, London W1F 7NR

Published on November 16, 2011 by Hanna1 Comment

For the first time ever I made steak tartare. As an adult I have thoroughly started to appreciate rare meat, and it was about time I made my first steak tartare. But there are sooo many recipes to chose from, I asked for help on Twitter. Maybe someone had the ultimate recipe at hand. It certainly paid off and the lovely Hanna at Swedish Meatball Eats London shared a link.

The recipe is courtesy of Anthony Bourdain, so it was bound to be good. I did chicken out regarding the anchovies though. I lika anchovies, don’t get me wrong. and in patées for example they are an essential, but I didn’t want my steak tartare to taste fishy. Next time I will try it with them though.

Only problem I had with the recipe was the size of the steak tartares. They certainly ended up bigger then the ones you get in restaurants so I think a smaller portion would be better.

Steak tartare, serves 2

adapted from Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook via Hanna

>300 g Sirloin steak

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 chopped anchovies – which I omitted

1 tsp ketchup – omitted as well

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Tabasco (about 6-8 dashes)

black pepper

2 tbsp mild oil

1 tbsp Cognac

1/2 chopped onion (or 1 shallots)

parsley

small capers

cornichons, chopped

Chop and chop the meat. If you find that difficult like me, use a food processor, but be careful not to disintegrate it.

Mix the other ingredients apart from onion, capers and cornichons in a bowl. Mix in the chopped steak and then add onions, capers and cornichons. Shape to patties by hand or using a cooking ring. Serve with an egg yolk each, blackpepper and crusty bread or chips.