Re-Naa

Beacon of the west, so reads the title of our last review of Re-naa. Since then, chef Svein-Erik Renaa and his team at Stavangers most prestigious restaurant has moved, if only a few hundred meters, into the first floor of Eilert Smith Hotel. We are greeted as we step out of the taxi, sheltered by an umbrella, a nice gesture. Behind us, a giant offshore service vessel towering out of the water. In front of us, the warm colors of wood and brass and promises of champagne, veiled by thin curtains.

Sitting in deep chairs in the lounge area of the single room that makes up the entire restaurant, a Champagne Vouette & Sorbeet is a good start as we study the menu, the wine list and the new locale. Neil Young on the speakers. The first snacks are appetizing bites of kipper and potato, king crab and colorful flowers. We move to our table, overlooking the open and carefully designed kitchen, with its two elegant work stations, the restaurant name branded in the steel. More snacks; crispy chicken skin and lovage, duck liver, and cured duck breast with pickled pine cones. One serving more beautifully executed and tasty than the other. With the cold North Sea pounding in from the west, a tour de force of exceptional sea food starts with sea urchin and raw shrimp, followed by a mouthwatering raw sea food platter. Razor clams are delicately combined with blackcurrant, thin slices of meaty carpet shell clams with sweet tomato, and local oysters with Menton lemon and sea lettuce. They are all served in their own shell, perfectly showing their natural and individual flavor and texture, skillfully supported by chef Renaa's creativity and light hand.

Chablis Grand Cru is poured and a smashing almond tofu with a generous amount of Oscietra caviar and toasted koji oil is presented. Again, great textures and balance. The precise flawlessness continues as flavor intensity builds with dishes of squid and oats, a huge tail of juicy Norwegian langoustine and carrot, white asparagus and lumpfish roe. The first fish serving is an umami packed mountain trout with morel mushroom, apple dashi and salmon roe. Very good wine matches by much admired producers are poured. Then, grilled fish. A powerful creation of grilled mackerel with green cress sauce and bitter herbs, before eel with beets and bone marrow. Excellent!

A whole roasted quail rests on hay in a copper pan as one of the cooks presents the main course. It is locally bred and dry aged for two weeks with hay inside its carcass. It soon returns on the plate, golden brown, perfectly cooked, with nettles and summer truffle. 2007 Barbera in the glass. Time to sink back in the comfortable chairs and enjoy the clockwork kitchen view.

Impressive sweets coming up. First a stunning rhubarb and wild rose dessert with bayleaf oil and raw cream, followed by a rich chocolate tart. Sea buckthorn and lemon verbena ice cream with italian meringue and pepper finishes the show before we move back into the lounge for petit fours, cake and fruits and great coffee. Re-naa offers a precise, confident, curious, technical and enormously delicious dining experience, and is a brighter shining beacon than ever.

Published January 2020