Scandinavian cuisine beyond the classic meatball
Print Edition
WHEN asked about Scandinavian cuisine, especially Swedish food, the first answer people come up with would probably be meatballs.
But the cuisine has more to offer, and one newly opened eatery in Shanghai is expanding people’s knowledge of Swedish food beyond the Ikea menu.
Stockholm on the Bund Restaurant and Lounge is one more upscale restaurant added to the Bund skyline.
The restaurant is led by Swedish chef Tobias Olsson, who was the head chef of the Sweden Pavilion during the Expo 2010 in Shanghai and has specialized on royal events in Sweden. He even prepared the wedding dinner of Sweden’s Prince Carl Phillip and his wife Sofia in June 2015.
Flipping through the text-only menu, the dishes are easy to picture in the head. The Stockholm selections feature the classic meatballs, toast Skagen and fish gratin, but the following pages are more common dishes cooked in the Swedish way.
For a starter, a group of three to four people can share the seafood platter (688 yuan, US$105), which serves six oysters, half lobster and two king crab legs on ice and ready to eat. The chilled lobster and crab leg were very fresh, so be sure to try them without any sauces to get the fresh, salty taste of the sea.
The scallops, onion puree and tomato starter (138 yuan) was a well seasoned dish, but the white asparagus with hollandaise and crab meat (118 yuan) was a more interesting to eat and chef Olsson has done a great job to cook the tender asparagus and preserve the juice inside.
For a main, if you are a fish person, the cod with brandade, sprout and lobster sauce (258 yuan) was the best dish of the evening. The chunky fish was cooked just right and the seasoning wasn’t overwhelming. I enjoyed the fish on its own, even if the lobster sauce added additional sea tastes to the dish.
The wagyu striploin with fried onion in red wine sauce and potato mash (398 yuan) was a quality beef dish, I especially enjoyed the fried onion on top, which tasted a bit like sauerkraut.
For dessert, the menu offers a few classic all-time favorites, but the brownie with berries, dulce de leche and vanilla ice cream (68 yuan) was everything one could wish for in a dessert: sweet, chocolaty and chilled. Instead of serving a chunky of brownie, chef Olsson chills the brownie in the fridge and then slices them in thin strips, which made them taste like chocolate truffles.
The cocktails were another highlight of the dinner. When the drinks were served, they looked very plain under the dim light without any garnish, but when we turned on the flashlight on the phone, the cocktails revealed their secrets — the glittery beverages looked like potions from another galaxy. The Stockholm syndrome cocktail was a purple, lychee flavored drink with a certain sweetness.
As the restaurant opened only recently, there’s still room for improvement. While the food and beverage part was great and the ambience was relaxing and fun, the lighting became a bit of a problem as it was too dim to see the food, and one needed to hold a flashlight for others to snap a few pictures of the beautifull dishes.
On weekends, Stockholm on the Bund features guest DJs and the bar and lounge area is quite nice to hang out for a nice cocktail.
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