Adam/Albin

For three years now, new foodies as well as old gourmets have known that Adam Dahlberg’s and Albin Wessman’s little empire is located here at the top of Rådmansgatan. The ruling five-course Green menu, that guests put together themselves, has now been joined by the ten-course Blue menu, where the kitchen calls all the shots. And there’s no reason to think that the kitchen at A/A’s won’t call them just right, because hardly anything that comes through the hatch here is less than inordinately yummy. Or pretty, for that matter! The amuse of pickled root veg, thinly sliced and wearing belts of algae as they stand to attention on a bed of ice, is irresistibly cute. A scallop, by contrast, has been sliced into sticks and mingled with Périgord truffle before being tipped over and served a bit like marble cake, only with white smoked-almond milk competing with the greenest of oils for space in the plate well. The next dish brings the helmet of Hermes, messenger of the gods, to mind: a Norway lobster with two large shiso leaves for wings – they’ve been stuck to the potato bread underneath with the help of a couple of lines of dill-laden sour cream. The tail has been lightly deep-fried and scattered with trout roe and puffed rice, and can easily be rolled into a prodigious taco (or a lefse, if you prefer) and gobbled up. ‘Here come two new guests!’, the head waiter calls out, to which the cooks bellow ‘Yes please!’ in unison, with a wink to the Japanese irashaimasen! welcome. Guests seated at the tall communal table facing the kitchen get a fine overview of the working cooks as well as the other guests. And the assured, serene servers maintain continuous and impeccable charge of their guests. Perhaps they wonder a little at a couple of noses turned up at the fatty piece of toro wrapped in algae, whose queasily soggy consistency is in almost shocking contrast with a hard, seed-covered crispbread. The pretty little sprig of baby’s-breath on top does redeem it a bit, but the flavour is undeniably quite demandingly fishy. We get back on the scrumptious path courtesy of 2018’s premier trend dish, chawanmushi. Here it wears a lid of 2017’s premier trend garnish, cute topsy-turvy cress leaves, and a soft dollop of oscietra caviar. The dish looks sacral and restrained, but tastes like toffee straight off thanks to its silky chicken cream and the butter – my goodness, what butter! This is followed by an entertaining and welcome return of curry cream, accompanying an amicable lemon sole. Plenty of protein thus far, and the moment you realise that there are five courses to go you also realise that the menu is perhaps a bit nose-heavy. Which of course doesn’t stop you from eventually bidding a heartfelt welcome to the gruyère tart served with beautifully contrasting apple jelly moulded into a flower.

Published december 2019