Totally Stockholm 1
BITESIZE Pelle Tamleht GASTRO Words: Pelle Tamleh
t Asian South American fusion When I enter through the door to restaurant legend Erik Videgård’s latest venture, named after the restaurateur himself, it’s not without a hint of nerves. With me I have a large party of fairly picky people, and the last time I was here with another band of guinea pigs just before the official opening, the delivery was poor. Have the staff found their feet, and has Erik been able to put things right when it comes to flavouring? It remains to be seen. We lead off with a round of drinks from their own cocktail list, and seven Yuzu & Tonics with Japanese gin later, we are shown to our table. The menu consists of two separate sections: you either choose one of the three predetermined menus or you set your sights on a la carte dishes from the raw bar and the kitchen. We decide on the former. The Chifa culinary tradition was created when Cantonese cuisine met South American food traditions. But here, in Videgård’s version, inspiration is drawn more from the district of Videgård Humlegårdsgatan 17 videgard.se 18 Sichuan so well-known to Videgård. That Nikkei is the name of Japanese-Peruvian cuisine shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been out dining in Stockholm over the last couple of years. We order a couple of Chifa, as well as Nikkei menus (545 and 525 kronor respectively) and soon the dishes begin rolling in. First up are the cold dishes, such as ceviche with halibut and duck liver dressed tuna. I’m sure you all gather that this is something very different from your average street corner lunch joint, but the second dish especially melts in the mouth in an almost erotic manner, and if it wasn’t for the bright lights we would have permitted ourselves to blush a little. The Nikkei menu also offers a ceviche, this one with scallops, red prawns and sea bass, followed by maki rolls and quinoa with kohlrabbi and capers. Here too, the taste is as good as you could possibly expect, even if any erotic experience from the tuna foie gras is absent. We hurry on to our next serving, where we have pig from both menus in the shape of short ribs and red braised pork. Here more than anywhere else we recognise Videgård’s trademarks as the Sichuan heat makes an appearance, without taking centre stage. The same goes for the silk tofu in red oil. This is good, so good that one of our party is convinced that it’s amongst the best Asian food he has ever had in Stockholm. It’s good, we all agree, but we suspect the bottles of Clos du Tue Boeuf (675 kronor), Casimir Balthazar (1,125 kronor) and Kabinett Kuntzen (1,150 kronor) are contributing to the enthusiasm. The desserts, Pisco ice cream with coffee jelly and banana with Nutella ice cream among other things, do not receive the same rave reviews. But by the time we get that far we have already decided that Videgård’s breaking-in period is over, and it’s now developed into a restaurant of a level you could expect from something bearing his name.