There may be plenty of eateries on offer but intimate, ambitious and reasonably-priced restaurants are still a rare sight on Kungsholmen, which is all the more reason to welcome Matkonsulatet, which has taken over Flippin’ Burger’s old premises on Kungsholms Strand. The small dining room with space for around 20 people hasn’t changed much; it’s decorated with a sort of modern Mediterranean-meets-Stockholm vibe, with checked stone floors and a black-and-white colour scheme, and the big windows frame beautiful views towards Karlbergssjön. The restaurant’s name comes with the little addition “Barcelona ℅ Stockholm”, which is a clue to the chef’s background; the pots and pans are tended to by Pablo Perez Sköldin, who has switched Spain for Sweden, and wants to serve Stockholmers genuine tastes from the north of Spain. Not quite tapas, our waiter informs us, but small dishes that he himself enjoys eating.
With that, we start studying the menu, parts of which change weekly. This Saturday it features a selection of cold cuts like duck rillette, chorizo, several kinds of dry-aged Spanish ham, olives and cheeses, salads and shellfish as well as warm dishes. The restaurant recommends ordering five or six dishes for two people.
The excellent cava might have a small role to play in the events that follow, but I still insist the food plays a bigger one. Every dish that arrives is spot on, and if our capacity for eating wasn’t so limited, we’d surely kept ordering more and more. We get pan con tomate, a fluffy, white bread soaked in olive oil and tomatoes (40 kronor), small, new potatoes with aioli and salsa brava, delicious duck rillette with pickled red onions and cornichons (90 kronor), and a simple salad with arugula, hazelnuts, grilled pear and blue cheese (65 kronor). Out of the four different hams on the menu, we choose Maldonado Iberico Paletilla (100 kronor), an aromatic, smooth ham that melts in your mouth. The Skrei cod brandade – a creamy, oven-baked dish with cod and olive oil, topped with baked red peppers and served in an adorable, tiny Le Creuset pan – is also worth a recommendation.
The dessert menu is limited – there are only three dishes, with each costing 65 kronor. The chocolate cremoso, a rich chocolate mousse with olive oil and salt, is pure and lovely in its combination of sweet and salty. The roasted pineapple has a classic taste combination; it is hidden under a coat of fluffy coconut and served in a pool of rum – a bit like a piña colada on a plate. Our dessert favourite is, however, the white chocolate with passion fruit and coffee cake, a winning combination of flavours and soft and chewy textures. For that, but not that alone, we’ll surely be coming back.
