Kommendörsgatan 23 is an address that has housed a number of restaurants in its life to date. Among others, the upmarket GQ occupied this spot up until ten years ago. The restaurant has since then changed owner and name (Grossmans, Naturligtvis, La Bocca) a number of times, until it ended up in the hands of Jim och Jacob. The interior then got a facelift, and now consists of a dining hall, plus several chambre separées of varying sizes.
It shares a lot with its sister-restaurant in Vasastan. One of those things is the cornbread with salted butter, which we pump our fists in the air in celebration at the sight of. In general, the menu is made up of a section called simply ‘Dishes’, which accommodates starters and medium dishes. In addition to that, there’s a short selection of mains and a handful of desserts. The menu is French-orientated, as the restaurant’s name suggests, but flirts freely with other Mediterranean food cultures. We naturally begin with the aforementioned cornbread, together with a Copine Martini to get things in motion.
The warm feeling in our chests rises and we take a step deeper into the menu, and begin strongly with duck and chicken liver. For 125 kronor we get a healthy portion, accompanied by vinegar-cooked pears, sourdough bread and parfait. Parfait happens to be the French for perfect, which is a suitable description of the whole dish. In addition to that, we choose a sure thing with a Jim och Jacob steak tartare for 155 kronor, with pickled egg yolk, horseradish and capers. As with the bread, this dish is already familiar to us, and it’s one that leaves no-one disappointed.
After that we encounter a real find in the form of the ravioli – even this comes in at 155 kronor – with pecorino, ricotta, truffle and a dash of mushroom. Ravioli can, as we know, be everything from Coop’s own to something you eat cold in your tent at Roskilde Festival to homemade in a Tuscan village. A dish with many different faces, one might say. Here, it shows itself at its best. So good in fact, that half our company orders another dose instead of a main, because why not? The others go onwards to the next section of the menu, cabbage with toasted butter, feta cheese and artichoke. Even if this is, without doubt, a lovely creation, we sigh and stare as round two of the ravioli arrives at the table.
Meanwhile, what are we drinking? One good glass of Kekfrankos becomes two, and we soon wish we had ordered in a bottle of it. There’s a lot of fun on the wine menu, and you’re sure to get something enjoyable for barely a hundred note.
Jim och Jacob’s story is impressive. What began with a food truck became a cosy cubby on Surbrunnsgatan and now their empire is reality. That’s a welcome thing – we’ll happily take as much of Jim och Jacob as it’s possible to get.
Opening Hours: Mon – Thur 11:30-00:00, Fre 11:30-01:00, Sat 17:00-01:00.
Kommendörsgatan 23, jimjacobrestauranger.se
Photo: Press
