Luxe luncheon
In a bid to stay relevant, one of the strategies that department stores adopt is the enlisting of well-known gastronomic profiles to reinvent their all-too-often slumbering restaurant concepts. Internationally, the recipe has proven to be a success, and Sweden isn’t slow off the mark to follow. A case in point is the Mood mall, with a number of thriving eateries bringing in many customers.
While shopping emporium Åhlens City has recently signed Paulo Roberto and Sally Voltaire as their gastronomic profiles, Nordiska Kompaniet – the crown jewel among Sweden’s department stores – has managed to nab another gemstone: Björn Frantzén of two-starred Michelin restaurant Frantzén.
Admittedly, it is with quite some anticipation that my lunch companion and I enter the grand dining room on the fourth floor. For its 100th anniversary, Bobergs Matsal has gotten a bit of a facelift. Although details such as the birch-panelled walls remain, interior designers Cilla Ramnek and Martin Edvardsson of Svenskt Tenn have fitted out the space with a few updated furniture pieces here and there. For me, the result feels noble and welcoming. My companion is of a slightly different opinion, and jokingly likens the experience as eating in “a former Soviet banquet hall”.
The maître d’, a jovial and caricature-like character right out of a Disney film, and his large crew of young servers cater to our every need in a quick, polite and discreet fashion. With the sautéed scallops (165 kronor), served in a foamy onion velouté with roasted almonds and brown butter, the lunch is off to a strong start. But it is the Frantzén *smörgåstårta* (175 kronor) – which literally translates to sandwich cake, and is usually a sloppy, mayonnaise-y and hefty creation containing bread, creamy filling, egg and a large variety of cold cuts, seafood and veggies – that really shows off the restaurant’s refined touch. An exquisite little square-shaped conception, which really comes alive with a glass of chilled Grüner Veltliner by Domäne Wachau (110 kronor), is topped with the most delicate selection of lobster, salmon, shrimp, roe and quail’s egg. It instantly overturns my perception of a *smörgåstårta* being a sad, soggy and heavy affair. This is what the Swedish classic should really taste like.
Next, a veal tartar (230 kronor) with butter and truffle mayonnaise, served with French fries and a green salad, and a truffle omelette (185 kronor) are carried to our table. Although the tartar, made from meat deriving from a purveyor in close-by Mälaren Valley, shows off the kitchen’s eye for quality, it is a simple dish such as the omelette that truly reveals how great of a restaurant Bobergs Matsal really is. Organic eggs from Sanda Hönseri form the beautiful omelette’s base, which is topped with mushrooms sautéed in garlic, dry-cured ham, grated comté cheese and fresh herbs – resulting in an unprecedented symphony of flavours.
For dessert, we call in the big guns – a cart with a number of glass jars filled to the brim with homemade candy. For 45 kronor, we’re allowed a selection of three picks from the many marshmallows, chocolate truffles and miniature biscuits on the cart. Another trolley displays the cake of the day (80 kronor), a petit-choux cake filled with silky-soft, brandy-flavoured almond custard. While we’re at it, we can’t resist also ordering a *choklad á la Bobergs* (85 kronor), a chocolate cake with salted caramel, tonka bean crémeux and chocolate mousse, which comes with a scoop of summery berry sorbet. All very good.
It is when the check arrives that we first realise that we’ve just spent most of the afternoon eating. Bobergs is the type of place where time (read: lunch hour) and place (read: the frantic milieu of a department store) completely evaporate. Bobergs is, as of now, my new favourite lunch spot in town.
Bobergs Matsal
Nordiska Kompaniet, Hamngatan 18–20
08-762 81 61
