Etoile

Naming your restaurant Etoile (star) is cocky in itself. But that’s part of the attitude of Messrs Falkeman and Lagerström in this little nook by Norrtull. Etoile is not for everyone, but there’s definitely something here for everyone. The concept can be described thus: ‘fun ingredients and flavours from all over the world, prepared and presented just as we please’. Sound unusual? Amid current concerns about certifications and locally grown seasonal produce, Etoile is certainly gastronomically incorrect. Almost anarchist, in fact. As a guest, all you can do is get on board. There is just one set menu, of twenty courses, neither more nor less. Each course is meant to take an average of twelve minutes. After exactly four hours we’re brimming with impressions, and wondering what, actually, we’ve just experienced. Well, here goes: Afternoon Tea Party (mushroom and onion broth with edible flowers and onion cake in a sweets tin), Beef and liquorice (with German-Russian caviar), Fish’n’chips (potato, smoked halibut, pickled Jerusalem artichoke, fried lacinato kale), Bagel (crunchy pumpkin and carrot skin with duck liver and passion fruit cream), Dim sum (like strawberries filled with a Bloody Mary explosion), Maki (yuzu and soy with cedar-roasted zander from Lake Hjälmaren, in banana leaves), Preserved summer (scallops, strawberries and charcoal-grilled cream), Forest (mushroom toast and croquette with a hat of cep consommé), Charcoal (veal sweetbread with black curry and tempura batter with burnt coconut), Ras el hanout (variations of lamb and carrot, Jerusalem artichoke with North African spices). And that doesn’t include the copper-coloured dish CU 29, the airy Fresh Air, or the ice lolly that tastes like a Thai soup. Nor the parade of desserts made with apples and blueberries. Is it delicious? Most of it, yes. Is it entertaining? Always – not least because most dishes involve intriguing techniques and a dining room show. Are the drinks good? Definitely – the wine package is well matched to the menu and tends towards vin nature. From Austrian riesling and chenin blanc from the Loire to a rich American chardonnay and a chunky criolla from Argentina. Interspersed with both sake and pinot meunier champagne. The non-alcoholic drinks are colourful, and by turns refreshing and sweet. Many are mixed at the table, like the most sophisticated cocktail – as in a teetotal Old Fashioned: smoky and carroty, with a maraschino cherry. An evening at Etoile is a real mood enhancer, and when you step out once again into the traffic by Norrtull you feel somewhat dazed.

Published december 2019