For fine dining, you may not think of a BBQ. However, in the centre of Stockholm, this is exactly what you can do: Fine dining whereby the meat and fish are cooked over a charcoal fire. Where this is? Ekstedt.
After being greeted by a host(ess) at the door, your coat is taken and you are invited to take a seat in a lounge. The lounge is an excellent place for an aperitif and pre-dinner snacks. When visiting in wintertimes, no need to worry about cold air cooling you down as they close a curtain for this. As an aperitif, I had a local sparkling wine. Somehow this tasted more than usual, a little like citrus. If you like Krug, you may want to try this when visiting and spend considerably less than you pay for Krug.
When the time is right, I am escorted to my table, which in this case is a sort of bar with the best view possible. The escort has one stop for some more snacks, and what better place for a stop than the kitchen. Just one meter in front of me, one of the chefs cooks the snacks over the glowing charcoal while I watch, explaining what she is doing (making it look deceptively simple). When seated, the view is equally good as right in front of me, the chefs are assembling the dishes for all guests. Ne downside of this nice view is that I really have no clue what the rest of the restaurant looks like.
Not long after being seated the sommelier passes by to see if I would like a drink. For this dinner, I have chosen the non-alcoholic drinks pairing. When the menu starts, step by step I am taken on a parade of interesting flavours. All dishes have a pleasant level of smokiness. The menu feels very different from other Michelin starred restaurants that I have visited. Until this evening, I never noticed what smokiness/a bbq does to different ingredients: in some dishes, the smokiness emphasises the sweetness much more than in others. The menu was varied, yet balanced, visually appealing and flavour wise very well-chosen due to the right combination of ingredients.
Ekstedt is a restaurant I will definitely visit again, even though it isn’t exactly next door. The downside of it being located in Stockholm is that Scandinavia isn’t known for being cheap. No worries, you won’t have to file for bankruptcy after visiting Ekstedt, but reality of Sweden is that it will cost a little more than in other European countries. In this case, I would recommend that you forget you are innocent Sweden and just enjoy the moment/dinner. I promise that what you remember will be the dishes not the amount you see on the bill…
