Being a restaurant guest in Stockholm these days is really not such a bad deal as the slew of new restaurants opening each month keeps the chefs and concept-makers on their toes. More and more restaurants are trying to stand out from the crowd by offering something unique, and the chef’s table – a single table with a small amount of seats and a special menu – is a popular way of doing that. AG has it, GQ has it and now even Griffins’ Steak House at the Waterfront Building has it.

The idea is simple; the table in the far corner of the restaurant, just next to the kitchen, offers seating for four, with two lucky guests getting a bird’s eye view of what’s going on in the kitchen. The guests are served a ten-course tasting menu with an emphasis on meat– it is a steak house, after all – and they get to choose between two wine packages, a smaller and a larger one. For those wishing to be able to work the next day, there’s an option of ordering just a bottle of wine, too. The menu will set you back 945 kronor, while the wine packages are priced at 595 and 1,495 kronor.

So what do you get? The meal starts with three kinds of snacks. The first is a leaf of pickled onion topped with bits of chuck and three kinds of onions: roasted, fried and pickled. The second is thinly-sliced fillet of veal with Parmesan cheese, and the third comprises of deer with shredded and fried beet-root, formed like a tiny bird’s nest. It may sound pretentious but it tastes wonderful, as do the first two.

Chef Jens Bergstrand delivers each dish personally, explaining about the cuts of meat we’ll be eating during the course of the evening. We sample everything from dry-aged beef that has been hanging for 40 days to Swedish Waguy and lamb that’s been cooked for ten hours. The Waguy is served in the form of a tiny but incredibly tasty hamburger with Gotland truffle and a 36 month old, strong comté cheese. Some of the meat is served raw, such as the beef tartare with juicy levain bread croutons and smoked ox marrow, while some of it is fried, such as the two different entrecôtes that are accompanied simply by bordelaise sauce, a green salad and French fries. The meal ends with a so-called deal closer dessert, a popular concept in the US, meaning a bowl or a plate of dessert that is shared by everyone around the table. In this case it’s a minimalistically-presented frozen sea buckthorn curd covered with raspberry gel and served with fresh raspberries, lemon sorbet, licorice cream and licorice meringue.

While the food is impeccable, what really stays with you is the personal contact you get with the chef and the sommelier. On an evening like this, you pay not only for the food and drink, but also for the chance to learn more about the ingredients, the techniques and the stories behind the dishes, wines and beers. It’s not for everyone, but for those with a special interest in gastronomy or a special occasion to celebrate, it’s a great choice. Ironically, perhaps the only thing we question is the table itself – tucked away in a corner, it’s a bit dark and not too spacey either, so you do need to be comfortable with your dining partners up close.

Photos by Erik Osterlin