Totally Stockholm 1
BITESIZE Words: Pelle Tamleht A launch in the mid
dle of a lockdown Only days after the Swedish government’s new directive about restaurants having to shut at 22:30, new restaurant Spesso opened their doors. Lockdowns and restrictions aside, Spesso is one of restaurant group Stureplansgruppen’s biggest launches ever. On the 16th floor of the newly renovated block of buildings by Malmskillnadsgatan, the rooftop restaurant Spesso saw the light of day at the end of November. The timing of the opening was far from ideal, but Stureplansgruppen wouldn’t let that get in the way. Spesso is a Milanese-style restaurant and bar, plus a rooftop terrace with a view over all of Stockholm. Apart from the news that Stureplansgruppen was behind the initiative, surprisingly little information trickled out into the public domain in advance. There has been a lot of secrecy around Spesso. I asked Desirée Jaks, head of kitchen and creative director, if they ever contemplated moving their opening date? “Stureplansgruppen always stick to their set opening dates, and we also wanted to maintain the high level of interest. We contemplated postponing it, but we were very keen to keep the staff we had hired and we decided to go ahead,” she says. And how has this first period been? We have had so much to do since we opened, something we are of course very happy about. Now we have also been able to get the brunch up to speed and we’re open daytime on Saturdays. The restaurant is a modern Italian eatery and Karl Ljung, who otherwise looks after one of Stureplansgruppen’s other restaurants, L’Avventura, has been a creative sounding board for the culinary direction here. The result is an ambitious restaurant that wants to cater to all. Desirée continues: “We call it a Milanese Italian. To me, it’s about playfully approaching contemporary Italian cuisine. We focus on seasonal raw produce, and we make great room for greens on the plate, naturally with everything based in Italian flavours. With Spesso, we’re launching a new 18 location and an aspect of Italian cuisine that didn’t exist in Stockholm previously.” Chefs generally have a tendency not to want anyone to tamper with their craft. Is there not a difficulty in catering for all, while also not giving anything away when it comes to your creative integrity? That will pose an extra challenge, sure, but I believe that it’s all about cooking food that isn’t too complicated, without being boring. That’s also exactly what I think a restaurant should be. The name Spesso is, of no surprise to anyone, taken from Italian and directly translates into ‘often’, which reflects their ambition to create a place that you want to return to. How are you going to achieve that ambition? It’s difficult to point at one single thing, but to be accessible and distinct are the key words. That goes for the menu as well as the opening times, which will be even more important when we also open for lunch. I mean, you don’t want anyone to get to the 16th floor for lunch or dinner and be met by a closed door. Desirée Jaks was previously voted Scandinavian champion in cooking, and has also competed with the Swedish junior national cooking team. She was recently employed at Michelin star restaurant Agrikultur, where she worked with Filip Fastén. Is there an aim of reaching for the stars with Spesso too? No, that’s not what we aim for. A more important goal is to have a full restaurant. That doesn’t mean that we lack challenges here. It can, for example, be more difficult to deliver an a la carte menu than a tasting menu. Tell me more about your thoughts around your menu. We very much focus on raw produce and the seasonality of that produce. It will be mostly Swedish produce, but obviously also some from Italy. What do you bring from your time at Agrikultur? Of course the thinking around greens, something that has always been dear to me. Otherwise, I have always based my thinking in what I like myself. It’s classic Italian mixed with Nordic cuisine, and not overcomplicated as I stated before. The same day that we speak, Desirée Jaks is one of many female chefs featured in Svenska Dagbladet’s Sunday Supplement. The reason is their protest against sexism in the restaurant business. It has without doubt been a tough year for everyone within the industry, but especially as a woman in this business. I ask her what motivates her to stay? “I have been lucky and always had good support from my employers. Disgusting old men can be found in any industry and I think it’s important to make a stand against such conditions, perhaps mostly so as not to scare away young people from the business. To many people, restaurant work is a stepping stone and it would be very sad if young people opted out from trying it.” Spesso is located at Malmskillnadsgatan 37 and is open for dinner and brunch Tuesdays through Saturdays.