Galt

"Galt" is Swedish for a young hog or wild boar, it’s also the name of wunderkind Björn Svensson's latest venture. After massive successes at Restaurant Oscarsgate and Fauna, Svensson was yearning to create a more relaxed and intimate dining experience, but this super talented Swedish chef couldn’t just open a bistro, he had to keep things classy. His dining room is simply decorated in mellow colors, his clientele is a mix of big-spender business people and families celebrating milestones. His food is rustic but sophisticated and precise.

There’s no à la carte menu here, so you won’t have to worry about making choices, other than if you want add-ons like charcuteries, caviar or oysters, the latter are locally picked and of the invasive Pacific variety; briny mollusk goodness, accompanied by a wholegrain mustard vinaigrette whose seeds add a fun pop. An opening snack of earthy, crispy potato flatbread with fenalår (cured lamb), aged cheese, sour cream, toasted yeast and salted cucumber gives way to a true highlight of frothy asparagus soup with cured egg yolks and Nyr, a tart farmer’s cheese. It’s a veritable burst of fresh asparagus, with pleasantly sour notes, slight smokiness and eggy-salty umami. Plump and juicy langoustines with crispy rye and the now classic New Nordic accompaniment of spruce shoots will take your taste buds on a meander through the forest to the ocean. Chef Svensson delivers further inventive gold in the form of smoky juniper ice cream with sweet caramel and lingonberry dust.

Galt wants to roam where the other hipster hogs are going––down the natural wine trail. The beverage program features mostly minimal-intervention wines, but these are no barnyard-musty specimens, they’re elegant and well paired.

Published January 2020