Mathias Dahlgren is a Swedish celebrity chef who won the Swedish Chef of the Year award four times and was the winner of the culinary competition at Bocuse D'Or in 1997. He managed the restaurant Bon Lloc, earning one Michelin Star from 1996 to 2005. Then, in 2007, he opened his signature restaurant
Mathias Dahlgren, which now has two Michelin stars, only the second restaurant ever in Sweden to receive this recognition. In addition, the restaurant has recently been added to Pelegrino's list of world's 50 best restaurants.
The restaurant is located in the gorgeous Grand Hotel, located by the water, featuring spectacular views of Gamla Stan and the Royal Palace. The dining room at Mathias Dahlgren is modern and elegant and the service is excellent. Mathias Dahlgren describes his style of cuisine as follows: "With a Swedish identity on a regional platform I create my cuisine open for locals as well as global ingredients and influences, a cuisine based on natural produce and natural taste - the natural cuisine".
As we were seated at the table, we were presented with electronic menus on individual iPads which was a fun modern technological feature. We chose the main "Natural Cuisine" tasting menu.
We started our meal with several different scrumptious snacks: baked Swedish blue cheese, peanut butter crisps, and sweet & sour sultana raisins.
The next duo of appetizers were a juniper smoked haddock fried in sour draft, and a platter of beetroots and grilled spring onions. We really loved the delicious fried smoked haddock bites. The beets and the spring onions were flavorful, however some of the thicker spring onions were a little tough.
A salad of fresh vegetables and herbs with lightly smoked arctic char and raw watercress juice was delightful, with bright local summer flavors throughout the dish.
Instead of a usual bread serving in between the courses, here we were actually presented with a separate bread course on its own. A selection of several different Swedish-style breads was at the center of the table while each of us got the individual platter of some unique accompaniments to the breads. Our waiter explained that these were based on Mathias Dahlgren's childhood memories of baking bread with his grandmother. First, there was a tiny bun with an intriguing smoky flavor, served on its own. On the following breads, we then tried an herbed cheese, hand churned butter, a creamy cheese in a "toothpaste" tube, and finally whipped bacon fat, both delicate and sinful, which we liked best of all.
Our first course was Scandinavian Sashimi of salmon, cod, langoustine, oyster, lumpfish and salmon roes served with cucumber, ginger, salty herbs, horseradish emulsion and "caviar" of soy-infused tapioca pearls. The high quality fresh seafood was excellent and the combination of flavors with all the components on the plate really worked together. I especially loved the idea of soy-infused tapioca pearls.
The next course was the cold water shrimp, marinated in sea-buckthorn jelly, seasoned with black pepper, and topped with a few grains of puffed wild rice. The sweet buckthorn was a great pairing with the fresh natural flavor of the shrimp and the nutty puffed wild rice. Along with the shrimp we also had a very tasty king crab fritter.
The other part of the second course was a hot broth made with king crab shell, very comforting and delicious.
The third course was "Chicken & Pumpkin" consisting of succulent fried chicken with a crunchy and salty crispy skin, and pickled pumpkin ribbons bursting with bright juicy harvest flavors. Although we think of pumpkin being typically a fall ingredient, in this preparation, it definitely was very appropriate for the Scandinavian summer.
Next, we tried the dish of oysters, clams, and leeks with shellfish foam and onion ash. Unfortunately, all the components here were completely lacking any kind of flavor. Also, the oysters and clams were kind of gritty. This dish was quite disappointing.
The "Egg & Truffle" was an interesting contrast in textures, with a crusty outside and a creamy and cheesy middle. The shaved truffle topping added a nice earthy flavor to the dish.
When I think of the Foie Gras course, even several weeks after tasting it, I am still puzzled by it. On each individual plate, we were served artichokes, whole pieces and also pureed. Placed in a center of the table were two tiny rounds of bark bread topped with broad bean puree and sprinkled with shaved foie gras. I thought it was ridiculous to call this a "Foie Gras" course as the foie gras was almost non-existent and completely overpowered by the flavor of broad been puree. The artichokes were sadly very bland.
Our main course, on the other hand, was excellent. Under the layer of a new potato cream topped with roasted malt, there were several different surprise ingredients, including potato chunks, smoked cod, green peas, raw onions, roe, sour cream, radishes, and lemon. It was like a little "treasure hunt" bowl. The combination of earthy, smoky, natural sweet, sour and salty flavors worked really well together.
The cheese course featured the trio of local Swedish cheeses: a goat cheese, cow's milk cheese, and a blue cheese from the south of Sweden.
Our first pre-dessert was yogurt with cloudberry, green pine sorbet, blueberries, and green sprouts, serving as a nice palate cleanser.
Next, Chef Dahlgren's version "Raspberries and Milk" included a milk foam, raspberry sorbet, raspberry granita and preserves. It was a scrumptious sweet concoction.
The main dessert featured a black current sorbet, chocolate cream, whipped cream, white and chocolate meringues, spun sugar and Swedish maple syrup. It was delightful and I really appreciated that this dessert as well as the pre-desserts were very light.
With our coffee, the petit fours were chunks of wild chocolate from Bolivia, chocolate-dipped flat bread, and crispy crackers of rice pudding with cardamom and fennel seed.
Despite a few disappointing dishes, overall, we had a fun and delicious meal at Mathias Dahlgren and enjoyed experiencing his "natural cuisine" style of cooking.
