Totally Stockholm 1
GASTRO Nordic minimalism and sinful sandwiches Th
e former home of Pet Sounds Bar has gone and become not only one, but two restaurants. In the near-legendary basement a Latin American restaurant named Tacy is housed, while Symbios on the ground floor is surprisingly Nordic, both when it comes to the interiors and the menu. It’s the latter we visit with relatively high expectations, due to the knowledge that the team behind the venture have restaurants like Ichi and Barabao on their CVs. Upon arrival, the Nordic minimalist interiors makes us think of restaurants in Copenhagen. We sit down at a corner table and soon have a glass of filtered sparkling water and a menu in our hands. The restaurant was quick to make it clear that mid-sized dishes, a nuisance of our time, will not be found here. Instead Symbios wants to reinstate the classic menu with starters, mains and desserts. While we peruse said menu, we are served sourdough bread as well as buckwheat flatbread, together with a dollop of butter. Our decision immediately falls on a rooster liver paté with honey and grilled bread for less than 100 kronor, plus cod croquettes with aioli. Both dishes are from the snacks menu and arrive almost before we’ve put the menus down. The paté is wonderfully creamy and the dish of generous size. The croquettes on the other are ok, but a tad tasteless. We continue with tartare with ramson, celery and egg yolk for 180 kronor. Four small sinful sandwiches arrive on the plate with a lot of taste, umami in particular. It’s really very good, though perhaps with a bit too much butter on the crispy fried bread, it almost becomes too stodgy together with the egg. We move on with a flatbread that is served with grilled pulpo, this too from the starter section of the menu, at a price of 145 kronor. Here the taste is not as memorable, and while the dish is a pleasure to look at, we’re here to eat and satisfy our taste buds. We’ve actually visited Symbios several times, and every visit is a good eating experience, and the craft is good throughout. The restaurant was recently awarded the title of ‘business restaurant of the year’ by one of the large dailies, and it’s apparent that they want to appeal to an affluent target group. This means the prices are at a level where you might expect small miracles, compared to what is actually delivered. Having said that, we happily approve of Symbios’ gastronomic delivery and service and we hope to take our relationship to another level as soon as possible. Tuesdays to Fridays 11:30-01, Saturdays 13-00. Symbios Skånegatan 80, symbiossthlm.se 18