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work. If you are to deliver at an elite level you
have to train, it’s gruelling work for your body. I have come to understand that your Frantzén restaurant isn’t being affected too much by the pandemic, relatively speaking. How is that? It’s probably the highest praise you can get, and something I will be proud of when I look back at my career. It’s one thing to run a restaurant when the economy is flourishing, when you can just go along for the ride. We have survived by doing lunches six days a week, and we been full the whole time. It’s easy to conclude from that that we Swedes are very good at dining out. How much of the delay in the opening of Brasserie Astoria was due to the pandemic? It did play a part of course. Even if we possibly could have opened last year, it didn’t seem a good idea considering how uncertain everything was back then. But now you’re just about there. Tell us about the concept? It’s a classic brasserie in the international sense. Just as with Frantzén, it was important to have that international feel, not least in terms of the interiors. What’s your target audience, and what sort of price level are we talking about here? Astoria is in line with the other brasseries in the city centre, and the target group is really everyone that spends time in town. That’s kind of why you start a brasserie. But it feels somewhat easier to attract regulars to a restaurant, where lunch doesn’t cost as much as a weekend holiday? We actually have an incredible amount of regulars at Frantzén today. There are those who have their table Now you’re just reading from the menu. Hey, when you have worked with the menu for three years and made the dishes so many times, it’s etched into your mind. You don’t need to read it. You’re also going to work with an open flame grill, tell us more about that. We have a large barbecue section on the menu, and for that an open flame gives a superior result. When the possibility arose with these premises to install a handmade grill, that was it. As head chef, Björn Frantzén has also recruited Mikael Einarsson, who recently came from Pontus Group, and Carolina Campos, who was recruited from Riche in the role of general manager. every two weeks, and there are some who have visited us at least 60 or 70 times. If we get anything near the amount of regulars here at Astoria that we have at Frantzén, I would be very happy. You say an “international feel”. From where have you gathered inspiration? Really from brasseries across the whole world, from Tokyo to San Francisco. The base of the menu is French but the whole idea here was to not limit ourselves, concept-wise. If we want to have a carbonara on the menu, we will. Alongside a streak frites or a damn good halibut tartare beautifully bound in salted radish, strawberries and coriander stalks . Served with a tigersmilk vinaigrette. How does it work, simultaneously running a threestar Michelin restaurant and a more accessible brasserie, what are the pros and cons? I would say it’s all pros. Not least from a staff perspective. But even when it comes to taste. Evidently, the interest in these kinds of restaurants is huge, and perhaps even more so with a three-star chef behind the initiative. But at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on Brasserie Astoria - your name sets a certain standard? Haha, I’ve only got myself to blame. Back in 2007, Daniel Lindeberg and I thought it was a good idea to use our surnames when we opened the restaurant Frantzén/ Lindeberg together, and I suppose I painted myself into a corner there. But I can live with that. I think we have higher expectations of ourselves, and hold ourselves to higher standards, than anyone else could. 13