A random blessing in our stay in Gdansk has been our new found friends (and fellow far flung couple) K & G, who are currently living in Gdynia for a year. At least once a month we find ourselves heading up to the sea side for another evening of good food along with a smattering of beer, wine and the occasional spirit.

So it was that we ended up spending a long, warm August afternoon in paper party hats chowing down on a tray of lobster at a ‘crayfish party’ (or kräftskiva) from G’s native Sweden.

Traditionally marking the start of the Swedish crayfish harvesting season, kräftskiva are held in August – but it seems that whatever stocks they had in the southern Baltic were long gone, as despite searching the whole Tricity, not a single crayfish could be found… But fear not, a quick and tasty substitution for lobster from the far side of the Atlantic saved the day.

Aside from the small matter of no crayfish at a crayfish party, everything else was in place for the authentic Swedish experience – the garden was decked in suitably fishy decorations and the table laid with paper plates and napkins printed with the elusive shellfish.

To accompany the lobster, K served a sublime traditional cheese pie – lovingly adorned with a crayfish insignia etched in raspberry. The pie was pure cream, eggs and rich Vasterbotten cheese – stick that in a buttery homemade pastry case and you have pure pie perfection.

If that isn’t enough cheese for you, the rest of the huge Vasterbrotten wedge was served up with crackers on which to spread the moist mushy parts of the lobster – bits that I would never dared eat had our hosts not given me assurance they were safe. In fact these were the best bits – I just need more experience eating lobster…

Another essential element at a crayfish party is booze and Swedish party songs – although we were slow to pick up some of the more lyrically complicated chants, we did manage a brief Finnish shout of ‘nu!’ (’now’) before each shot of sweet schnapps.

Beer and wine followed and by the time we got the train back to Gdansk we were fuller, tipsier, happier and tired out – another memorable weekend thanks to K&G, thanks!

For those of you unfamiliar with Oaxen, this world class restaurant is found in a somewhat random location, around 80km from Stockholm on a tiny island somewhere in the Swedish archipelago. Now in its fifteenth season of plating locally sourced and inspired dishes, head chef Magnus Ek has become one of the highest regarded chefs in Sweden and the restaurant has spent the last few years edging its way up Pellegrino’s contentious ‘50 best’ list.

Unlike Heston’s eternal tasting menu at the Fat Duck, Oaxen has a seasonally transient menu. Not only does it change on an annual basis (I’m sure being closed for six months of the year helps – El Bulli style), but it also changes with the seasons and even weekly to keep regular diners and the local population on the island happy. This means that your meal and ours might well be different experiences – as such it seems pointless to analyse each dish in turn.

Being a Sunday night, barely into Spring and only the first weekend of the 2009 Oaxen season, the restaurant was very quiet the evening we visited – in fact there were only two other guests in the otherwise silent room. At first this was a little awkward, but as time (and the wine pairings) progressed, we relaxed and it made the experience feel all the more unique and cosy. We were sat at a table by the window, overlooking our floating accommodation for the night and the waterways and islands beyond.

My first advice is to bring a good appetite to Oaxen because the urge to fill up on bread is irresistable. Not only does the bread flow endlessly from the kitchen (in tiny individually fresh baked pans), but four radically distinct varieties were delivered. Our favourites were the crumpet-like pancake bread and the obscenely sweet and crunchy pigs blood bread. Mmmmm pigs blood bread. You really had to be there. Spectacular.

Barely nudging ahead of the other dishes was the final main of kid, or to give it it’s full title seared herb spiced roast of kid with deep-fried brisket of veal and molasses bread, cauliflower and loan lichen with sweetbread fried in garlic ash and red wine jus. Phew. Kid had been the star dish in our trip to El Celler De Can Roca (probably still our all time favourite restaurant… just) so we were looking forward to this one, and Oaxen did not disappoint. Strong sweet meat flavours, well balanced with the buttery cauliflower and sweetbread textures.

To say that this was the best course is really a disservice to the rest, as more so than any other meal we had had, all seven main courses, the handful of amuses and even the petit fours really felt like they flowed into one another – building from subtle raw shelfish, through beautifully cooked fresh cod into the rich kid dish before culminating in a light and fresh series of sweets.

Sadly we didn’t didn’t do our best work with the camera on this one – the quiet restaurant made us feel a little self concious and the plentiful wine definitely affected the focussing… Oh and the food was so appealing that the occasional dish was gone before I even remembered the camera.

In fact the wine and champagne also contributed to a very embarassing (and thus all the more amusing) situation that left us giggling uncontrollably when we both misheard ‘trotters’ as ‘tortoise’. Childish hilarity ensued… well you can never be too sure at these modern restaurants can you? We really have to apologise to the waiter and the other couple in the restaurant for the poorly concealed giggles…

Whilst on the subject of the wine – the selection was beyond superb and well worth the indulgence. Unlike the rather tame pairings of the Fat Duck, here each course brought something that not only matched the food, but also provided an interesting experience in itself – for example one wine had the unmistakable odour of blue cheese, and yet when combined with the food, tasted exquisite.

At the end of the meal it was great to get a chance to speak to the manager and somellier Angete Green about the ethos of the restaurant – a case in point: the food is so fresh and local that she had been out in the garden with a torch to collect fresh mint and herbs for the pot of tea we had ordered to conclude our meal. We were then priveldged to meet Magnus Ek himself who showed us his nifty smoking device and then around the kitchen – a series of rooms that allowed the cooking staff to expand as the season got busier and busier.

After an almost flawless meal we were so stuffed that we wrapped up our petit fours along with a few other fun souvenirs and retired to our cabin to be sent to sleep by the gentle waves rocking the boat. And the wine. Mostly the wine.

Food
Service
Decor
Value

Oaxen
Tasting menu around £200 per person including wine pairings
SE-153 93 Mörkö
Sweden

It’s been a busy month since our weekend in Stockholm and the blog posts have slipped a little – how we managed to churn the Matbaren post out so fast, I don’t know. So adopting the ‘better late than never’ approach of unread blogs everywhere, here is a quick look at our itinerary for our long weekend in Stockholm.

Because of our planned side trip to the island of Oaxen, we decided to hire a car for our three nights in Sweden. At £45 for the duration of our stay, it worked out cheaper than the combination of buses and trains that would see us from the distant Skavsta airport to Stockholm.

We had looked at putting the car in an overnight garage, but having reviewed the cost and received assurances that on street parking on Sodermalm was a safe option, we ditched the car on the roadside and lugged our cases through the streets to the optimistically named ‘Best Hostel’ in the Gamla Stan. There is something oddly satisfying about getting glammed up in a bare room with bunk beds and a shared bathroom before heading out to a Michelin starred restaurant…

We spent the first afternoon strolling around town and tried in vain to find the Ostermalm Saluhall and instead slummed it for lunch at a popular (and undeniably delicious) American chain restaurant. Sometimes you just need a fix of ribs and wings. A few hours of wandering later we ended our day with a late evening meal at Mathias Dahlgren’s Matbaren restaurant (you can read about that here).

Saturday was our only full day in Stockholm and we awoke to beautiful sunshine. Making the most of this, we walked along the water side towards Kungsholmen to the Petit France bakery. The walk from the City Hall was lined with old boats with their interesting stories told on little plaques beside each mooring.

Coffee, baguette and macarons in hand, we sat out on cute little benches suspended over the water and dreamt about spending every weekend morning like this.

Hopping on the Metro (’longest art installation in the world’) we shuttled over to the east of the city and onto the island of Djurgarden. We were here to see the Vasa museum, but the weather was so good we decided to head straight for the open air Skansen museum for a wander around the beautifully restored Swedish heritage homesteads that have been lifted from across the length of the country.

The animal enclosures were a surprising treat too – whoever thought it would be fun to link the buffalo and boar enclosures was a genius. A buffalo charging into a group of pigs innocently snuffling through the mud certainly seemed to keep them on their toes.

Hungry after walking around the hilly park, we hopped on the easy to use bus service and finally located the Ostermalm Saluhall. A traditional food market selling local produce and meals, the food on display was very impressive – especially some dramatic looking aged beef. We decided to play up the traditional aspect and sat down at Tysta Mari for some Swedish meatballs and gravad lax (smoked salmon). Both were excellent and good value.

It was then back on the bus to Djurgarden and at 3pm we finally made it to the Vasa museum. Wow, the Vasa ship has to be one of the finest historic relics in the world. Nothing can do justice to the beauty of this early 17th century Swedish flagship. We easily filled the two hours before the museum closed – spending time looking through the (literal) treasure trove of artifacts recovered from the wreck. The history of the ship and its recovery from the depths of the bay is well worth a read.

After than it was back to the hostel to prep for dinner before making our way to Thai restaurant Koh Phangan on Sodermalm. This place has a good reputation, but having eaten there it seems to be more for the experience than the food – which was also crazy expensive for a Thai restaurant (even in Sweden, surely?!). The twist of Koh Phangan is that as you go deeper into the cavernous restaurant, you walk into an eerily effective reconstruction of a Thai beach. Beach huts, tuk tuks, wildlife and even simulated thunderstorms make for a bizarre but enjoyable eating environment. Worth a look.

The next day we once again went up to the Ostermalm district to try and find a nice coffee shop. Not much seemed to be open on Sunday morning, but we got lucky with a nice spot on either Nybrogatan or Grev Turegatan (ooops, details…) where we took a leisurely coffee and cakes of varying quality (if you can identify the place… avoid the cheesecake).

With that it was back to the car (thankfully still where we left it) and on the open road to Oaxen. An easy drive through beautiful countryside and a short ferry onto the island, we checked in aboard the SS Prince Van Orangien, moored right next to the Oaxen restaurant.

An elegantly restored 1940s boat (something like a steamer… I really have no idea), this definitely added to our Oaxen experience – and at £100 (off peak) a night in the small Officer’s Cabin, it was fairly reasonably priced. Anyone who baulks at shared bathrooms would surely be impressed by the facilities – a large private wet room with twin showers and period fittings. Because it was a Sunday night and early in the season, the boat only had four ‘passengers’ and hence we had the gorgeous lounge to ourselves – the perfect place to spend an afternoon relaxing, reading and drinking tea.

Breakfast the next morning consisted of a continental style spread of muesli, croissant, breads, ham and cheeses. I never thought I would publicly comment on how nice a tea set was, but here it is – the tea set was lovely.

With breakfast finished it was time to drive on to Skavsta for the flight home. If you are planning a trip to Oaxen (and you should), driving is definitely the way to go – the one hour drive probably being both cheaper and easier than the three hour train/bus combo that faces non drivers.

So for a just few days, we did a lot and really fell in love with Sweden and Stockholm. The capital is a truly beautiful city, with much to do and see – in our opinion easily surpassing Prague and well on it’s way to rival Barcelona as our favourite European destination (although we have many more to sample!).

One word of warning, bring a healthy credit card as it sure ain’t cheap.

In a nutshell, we stayed at:

• Best Hostel Old Town
• SS Prince Van Orangien (Oaxen)

We went to see:

• Gamla Stan (Old Town)
• Skansen Open Air Heritage Museum
• Vasa museum

We ate at:

• Mathias Dahlgren Matbaren, Grand Hotel, Stockholm
• Petite France, John Ericssonsg. 6, Stockholm
• Ostermalm Saluhall, Humlegårdsgatan 3, Stockholm
• Koh Phangan, Skånegatan 57, Stockholm
• Oaxen

Matbaren is Mathias Dahlgren’s ‘casual’ alternative to his world renowned ‘Matsalen’ fine dining restaurant, both located beside the Grand Hotel right in the heart of Stockholm. Arriving in Sweden that afternoon after a few hours of travel, we decided a full fine dining experience would be wasted on us and welcomed the chance to try the food of Sweden’s most famous chef in a more relaxed atmosphere and at a somewhat lower price.

While the restaurant has a few traditional seated tables for larger groups, the relaxed ethos of the restaurant is evidenced by the long steel food bar around the kitchen and the high tables and stools that line the sides of the restaurant.

Perched on one of the high tables, we sat down to little wooden trays and a bag of home baked crackers and before long were greeted by the waitress who explained the slightly unusual ordering system. Matbaren eschews the set courses of its fine dining sibling next door and offers ‘Tapas style’ ordering – your tray is lined with a menu containing around fifteen dishes and you order one, eat it and then decide what you fancy next. As we were not exactly starving, this approach was perfect – allowing us to sample the menu without overestimating our appetites.

Unlike tapas, however, the portions are fairly big and the menu is not particularly extensive – so four courses will probably be the limit for most people, as well as allowing you to try most things on the menu.

The first course we shared was a cocotte of ling – a cod like fish in a beautiful creamy sauce, served with sweet prawns and potatoes. The dish was full of flavour and Swedish character and is definitely recommended.

The other ‘first course’ we went for was the Cream of Nettle – surprisingly named as the nettle cream was probably one of the milder flavours on the plate. The cream was served in a bowl with white asparagus, morels, a poached egg and some caramelised onions. Simple, rustic and with good flavours.

With our first two courses we opted to add a bowl of new potatoes – a special menu item to celebrate the first harvest of the year. Perfectly cooked and served with lashings of butter.

At this point tapas ordering proved its worth – with me being able to take a second savoury course while L. held out for dessert. I opted for the chicken dish – it has been years since I had chicken in a restaurant, but I was interested to see how it would be prepared in a high end restaurant. The chicken itself was definitely the nicest I have had with a great texture. But the truffle sauce was very overpowering, to the point that it made us both a little queasy – but maybe we just don’t appreciate truffles… after that we won’t be rushing to try them again.

Another downer with this dish was the recurrence of the caramelized onions – they didn’t seem to sit perfectly with either dish they accompanied. And despite the tapas style sentiment, the menu is not particularly huge, so to see such a strongly flavoured element repeated was a bit disappointing.

The first dessert was a citrus sorbet – fresh, light, zesty flavours, a refreshing way to end a meal or to take a breather before another course. The second could not have been more different – heavy, creamy and best eaten immediately before heading home to bed. The chocolate brownie (bursting with melted chocolate) and toffee icecream was absolutely superb – sweet, smooth, crunchy, hot, cold and with a helping of sour cream to cut through the rich sweetness.

So if you are in Stockholm and looking for something that represents modern Sweden cuisine and provides a casual, yet elegant alternative to sit down fine dining – Matbaren is a great choice, albeit not the cheapest in town.

Food
Service
Decor
Value

Mathias Dahlgren Matbaren
We ordered three courses and two desserts plus five glasses of wine for around £150 – in retrospect not bad value for Sweden
Grand Hotel Stockholm
S. Blaiseholmshamnen 6
Stockholm, Sweden