You always begin to worry when a chef is about to create their dream restaurant. Unfortunately, we’ve seen a few too many “dream restaurants” recently, and the results have been shaky across the board. Luckily, that’s not the case at Danyel Couet’s new creation Allegrine. The restaurant is actually comprised of two separate ventures, and we begin our visit with a drink at Bar Étable before making our way across the street to the restaurant, where we get seats at the bar counter. There’s still that smell of the new inside, but despite that there’s already an atmosphere that makes you feel at home. Perhaps it’s due to the open kitchen, the wide bar counter, or the restaurateur’s firm gaze that takes in everything and everyone in the room. The first impressions only improve when our first order arrives in no time at all.
To begin with we try the grilled octopus (145 kronor), served with oysters, cucumbers and coriander. It has a perfect texture and pleasant taste. Straight thereafter our asparagus arrives (120 kronor), covered in a nano-thin layer of beef that gives it the saltiness it needs. We take a short break on the terrace, and already at this stage our whole party is in full agreement that even if we had to leave right now, Allegrine would get still a high score. But in hindsight we’re happy we stayed on. When back, the kitchen sends us a spring cabbage and a gaufrette for the one person in our party that couldn’t decide on a main course, and opted for two mid-sized dishes instead. The spring cabbage (140 kronor) comes with a creamy egg, tarragon and mushrooms and is quite the umami bomb. The potato gaufrette (180 kronor) with lumpfish roe and sour cream has a stripped down taste with perfect level of saltiness.
As the singular main, we order a grilled chicken (255 kronor) with asparagus, morel sauce and elderflower.
The chicken comes readily carved at a big tray with all the accompaniments and is large enough for two people to share, assuming that you’ve had a starter beforehand. We’re impressed by both the flavouring and texture. It’s simply delightful. Either we hit the bull’s eye with the choices we made during this visit, or Danyel Couet has been very accurate when designing his dream restaurant. Because this visit proves its dreamlike quality.
Allegrine, Kammakargatan 22
allegrine.se
Tue-Thur 17-23, Fri-Sat 17-00
Photo: Stine Landin
