Badabing

Malling & Schmidt is fantastic - check out this review at Honest Cooking: http://honestcooking.com/2011/06/30/review-malling-schmidt-new-nordic-restaurant/

I've visited M&S a few times and Thorsten Schmidt is a lovely man, and a great talent. One of the best on the New Nordic scene. I think the tasting menu at Malling & Schmidt is one of the best in Denmark currently, and Thorsten doesn't just play around - his food is well thought through, well composed and extremely well tasting. I recall the prices at M&S are about 890 dkr for the 9 course menu - which is a really good price for the experience. But you can actually get a 3 course menu for about 350 dkr, which is a bargain.

A meal, provided you do menu + wine pairings at Relæ ends up at about 700 dkr, where Noma ends at 2.000 dkr. So I guess the price was about a third, not half?

So the Michelin stars for 2010 are in. TWO STARS - Frantzén/Lindeberg (New with two stars) - Mathias Dahlgren Matsalen ONE STAR: - Mathias Dahlgren Matbaren - Esperanto - Fredsgatan 12 - Lux Stockholm LOST STARS: - Operakällaren - Leijontornet Comment: Good to see F/L get a second - surprising - star. I haven't had the opportunity to eat there yet, but heard only good things. Mathias Dahlgen will have to wait for his third star, which was probably expected. It would have been too soon. However, with his culinary genius and financial backing of the Wallenbergs, I am sure that he will have both the dedication and means to lift the restaurant to *** within a few years. Sad to see the lost star of Operakällaren after 13 years. I was there pretty recently and had a very good experience. They were also named the best overall restaurant experience in Sweden by the White Guide just a few weeks ago, so this was quite unexpected in my book. But I'm sure they will be back for 2011 with a well deserved star again. All in all, it seems the downward spiral is continuing. Copenhagen is now clearly the frontrunner in Scandinavia with its abundance of starred restaurants (even if Sthlm is the only city with two 2-star establishments). It will be interesting to see if Stockholm can gather strength once again and come back...

Reaching out to the good people of Egullet. Having just finished my first cookbook, I am now in the process of finding a good literary agent for the US market. I have a pretty decent list of agents from the Writers Market website, but that doesn't really say much more than "we do cookbooks". So, if anyone has a good tip or a few pointers as to which agents are the best - it will be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance, Badabing

The new White Guide came out today - with the following results for Stockholm restaurants: The first number is the food points (maximum 40) and the second one is the total points (maximum 100) 1. Mathias Dahlgren - Matsalen Stockholm 37/92 Oaxen Krog Hölö 37/92 4. Esperanto Stockholm 37/89 6. Operakällaren Stockholm 36/93 (highest total score of all) 7. F12 Restaurant Stockholm 36/91 9. Lux Stockholm Stockholm 36/87 11. Frantzén / Lindeberg Stockholm 36/84 12. Mistral Stockholm 36/83 Will we see a third Michelin star for Mathias Dahlgren, or will he have to wait one more year and see Noma take the Nordic throne alone?

Kudos to Dahlgren, that was quite unexpected - not the two stars, but the one for Matbaren. Well deserved though! So the question rises about which Scandinavian city is the Capital Of Food. Copenhagen - were Noma surprisingly did NOT get their sought after third star - might claim it on basis of having 14 stars in total. However, with Stockholm being the only city with two double stellar restaurants they might now claim the throne based on a higher top level (though only 11 stars in total). Any thoughts?

Noma didn't get a third, but Copenhagen retains its status as the #1 city in Scandinavia in terms of the number of restaurants with stars. Sweden continues to be the #1 country in Scandinavia however, with 12 star-restaurants in total... So now, the tourist boards can spin it either way Copenhagen Stars Two stars: Noma ** One star: Ensemble * Era Ora * formel B * Geranium * (New) Kiin Kiin * (New) Kong Hans’ Kælder * MR * Paustian * (New) Søllerød Kro * The Paul * Comments?

Wow - that is a nuclear bomb!!! Is it due to the lack of presence of Eyvind Hellstrøm in the kitchen??

Interesting to see that Leijontornet FINALLY got their star. I expected it 1-2 years ago, but for some reason the guide didn't recognize it until now. MD - hands down the best restaurant in Sweden at the moment, and I would be VERY surprised if it doesn't have 2 stars in a year from now. Operakällaren - well, I think they are struggling quite a bit at the moment, and if they don't get their s**t together they might follow in the footsteps of Wedholms in a year or two... With the amount of financial resources they have, I doubt that they will let that happen though. Still too bad that Oaxen is not eligible due to their location....

Skina is certainly not a favourite of mine. Very high ambitions in terms of food and service, but honestly - they do not deliver. Service is VERY rough around the edges and the kitchen does not really have the talent to pull the high gastronomical ambitions they have off. I have not been very impressed in any of my three visits the last year. They are a bit too desperate to be noticed by Michelin - and they are handing out phone numbers to the spanish Michelin office to many guests... Not that confident. For me, the top Marbella restaurants right now are Messina, Mezzo, Mesana (what's with the name trend by the way?) and Calima - in that order - in terms of contemporary cooking. I was disappointed with my first visit to Calima, but two weeks ago I went there again, and was blown away completely.

On my own tab? Around 200 EUR / person seem to be the standard tasting menu rate including wine in Europe. Not on my own tab? A 6 person dinner at Babilonia/Olivia Valere in Marbella which took a wrong turn after the maincourse, when somebody ordered in a jeroboam sized Grey Goose and 3 magnum Cristal... The total tab was close to 7.000 EUR, but luckily I was not in the line of fire in terms of paying for it... Though, come to think of it, I did actually pay for it - with the greatest hangover in the history of mankind...

Had a long, four hour dinner at Calima yesterday. Huge expectations after being a fan since the Tragabuches years... First of all - a beautiful setting. Literally ON the beach, overlooking the Mediterranean. Fantastic terrace, and some nice touches to the decor. Service was not consistant, and I am personally allergic to NOT being told what is on the plate in front of me. We got the menu printed on a piece of (beautiful) paper - I would have appreciated some oral information aswell. All in all, not inspiring or confident dining room work - although attentive. Food? I had basically the same menu as Rogelio above, and although ambitious I did not like it at all. For me, I am happy to eat food which is experimental, technical, difficult and wierd - but at the end of the day, it is all about taste. And in my book, Calima did not deliver the goods in that aspect last night. In terms of being "new andalucian", well yes, it was. Most dishes are new takes on classic southern Spain cooking - but in my opinion the only dish that was really improved by Dani and his team was turning the Urta into maki rolls. Sublime. Other than that - I found most other dishes quite bland, overly salted and without deeper thought. And when one of the best in the menu is the classic Fois Gras Mille Feuille, for me that is a sign that something in wrong. Wines? The best part of the visit. We were taken on a tour of the (very interesting) new wine scene in southern Spain making some striking new acquaintances... For me, location, ambitions and sommelier work live up to Michelin standard. But unfortunantely the most important part - the food - does not. Calima was a disappointment and it really saddens me.

Mathias Dahlgren will be opening the new restaurant at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm sometime this spring. In his own words, "the goal is to create one of the best restaurants in Europe"... Bold statement...

I think the reason is that Edsbacka will not bring anything new to the table. You will definitely get excellent food - Fois Gras (one of the few in Stockholm still serving it "officially") de canard en tranches minces, framboises et brioche aux herbes. Coquilles St. Jaques légèrement grillées, porc et baies d'argousier. Magret de canard, foie gras de canard poêlé, sauce aux cerises et carottes. You get the picture... I love Edsbacka - but my curiosity would never take me there. BUT - looking for really good french food with a twist of the north: GO THERE!! Right now, Mistral and Esperanto are the "Pepsis" (the choice of a new generation) of Stockholm, and they are good. Some people might think they are too experimental and I am personally quite tired of the overly crazy, but honestly - theryre fantastic. Which should you choose? Depends on you mood. Where Esperanto is contemporary and young in both flavor and look - Mistral is nature, organic flavors and produce, nose to tail... You get it... My personal favourite at the moment is Lux... Some websites: www.edsbackakrog.se www.esperantorestaurant.se www.luxstockholm.se Mistral does not have a website - but an email rest.mistral@telia.com for reservations. Have a great time!