Go to a Michelin restaurant (14 photos + 1 video)

I don't think I'll like "haute cuisine". I've been to restaurants that are considered cool, but not "Michelin" a couple of times - I didn't like it. Not enough, not always tasty for my taste or just very unusual (but essentially it's the same thing), expensive. The last argument is certainly not an argument, but considering the first two - still an argument.





I haven't been there yet (and maybe I won't), but I watched with interest and read the procedure for visiting a real "Michelin" restaurant with one star from Internet user Narain88.

See for yourself…

From the author: I'll start with a hackneyed phrase... I've wanted to write this post for a long time, but somehow "never got around to it." Not long ago, while the emotions hadn't yet completely settled, my wife and I went on a short trip to Stockholm. A beautiful, fairly clean, cozy and expensive city. But that's not the point.

I'm not a gourmet, I won't languidly close my eyes while chewing a piece of meat... I just love to eat hearty and tasty food... I've had a dream for a long time... not a dream, let's say, an interesting goal, to go to a restaurant that has a Michelin star. Well, so to speak, to feel what it is all about.

About a month and a half ago, I started looking for suitable restaurants in Stockholm. I'll say right away that I was looking for one with one star, because 2 and 3 stars had sky-high prices, considering that Sweden is not a cheap country anyway.

In general, after going through the Michelin guide (it has its own official website), we chose one small restaurant. Then, after going to the website, we booked a table. I've read a lot that you should book a table in such restaurants well in advance, a month or two, because there is a very high turnover.

So, the action itself:

We arrived at the restaurant about 15 minutes early, didn't bother with clothes, I was in a sweater and jeans, and the restaurant itself was not pretentious... the style was something like a loft.



Photo of the restaurant from the outside.





And the tiniest Michelin sticker.

The restaurant itself has only 16 seats, mostly tables for 2 people.

All the waiters are dressed in black.

And everyone speaks English well.

So they sat us down at a table. I expected to see something... I don't know... pompous, pompous... what else can you call it. People in expensive tuxedos, ladies with nests on their heads (yes, that's my provincial idea of ​​expensive restaurants), but there were people sitting in fairly comfortable clothes, jeans, checkered shirts, sneakers. Although I assume that the jeans and shirts were not from outlet stores.

So... The table is quite small, almost square, on the edge of the table there is a built-in container for cutlery, of which there were at least 12 sets (i.e. knife, fork, spoon). The waiter brought the menu. The gimmick of this restaurant, as I have read about many Michelin restaurants, is that the menu is divided into so-called sets. That is, you cannot selectively order different dishes from the menu, but you are offered a ready-made set of 3, 4, 5... and more dishes, compiled by the chef. We chose a set of 6 dishes without alcohol. With alcohol it was about 2 times more expensive.

The waiter came, took the order and brought just water in a bottle, which, for advertising, he probably turned towards us with the logo clearly (or maybe it's just supposed to be that way, I don't know).

In about 5 minutes they brought this...



I think, great, I came to Sweden to eat grandma's radishes. The waiter said it was an appetizer, the first of the season, radish and plum, although it looked like an olive. We ate it. The taste...radish...and olive...

We waited further. They brought it.



As far as I remember, it was a quail egg in some kind of green sauce with mustard. The egg was soft-boiled, tasty...I ate the sauce too...something with seaweed. Oh, yeah! They also had some thin flatbreads on the fire. One at a time. We crunched them. We took some pictures.

In about 10 minutes they brought the next one.



From what I know, it's an oyster (maybe someone will correct me, I'm not sure). The waiter of course explained everything, what it is and how to eat it, but our English is not perfect yet to know many culinary terms. Basically, an oyster, a garlic pod and some other herb. I ate all the herb. Still hungry.

Next.



In general, as they said, it's bread baked in their oven and fried over a fire. In the plate there's a sauce on some kefir-garlic base with raw champignons and on top there's caviar of some wild rare fish. In fact, it's regular caviar, no different from our red caviar from Pyaterochka for 350 rubles. In general, you either spread it on bread or eat it as a snack. The bread is tasty, the seasoning is too. It's already more filling.

Meat!



Finally! On top there's very thinly sliced ​​duck meat. RAW meat! True, marinated in some kind of vinegar. The vinegar reminded me of something seafood. Under the meat, however, there was a stack of green grass and huge corn chips. We crunched it, took some photos, and waited for more.



Poached egg. They said it was goose. Never eaten. Tasty, by the way, but not enough. The grass was fried on the fire, I forgot what kind of grass, and I didn't really remember, I ate everything, even the flowers.

Then this happened.



There is boiled white fish in the sauce at the bottom. Edible grass on top again. It was delicious. I really ate enough grass to last for many years! By the way, they also brought these pancakes with a filling of grass and boiled chicken meat with it. Very tasty, somehow reminded me of our shawarma.

And finally dessert!



Ice cream, similar to fruit ice. On top was something like a soufflé... I don't remember what it was called exactly. In the middle was a sauce that looked like soy sauce. Quite an unusual combination.

After all that, the waiter came over and asked if we wanted coffee. We agreed. While we were waiting for the coffee, they brought us this too.



These are toffees made from fresh birch sap. I didn't eat the branches.

They brought a flask with a filter, the waiter poured in ground coffee, which, according to him, some friends of the establishment from Brazil personally deliver to the restaurant (I don't know whether to believe this or not), and filtered the coffee.

By the way, the coffee was really tasty. With coffee there were these tubes and a muffin, crispy and a little salty on top, tender inside.



That's all. By the way, it all lasts 4 hours. Quite long, but not tiring.

I almost forgot to mention. About the toilet. The cubicles are very small, almost like on an airplane. But everything is very clean, instead of paper napkins there are real towels in a stack, which you throw in the basket after use. The soap smells like pine needles. The music there is much louder than in the restaurant.

By the way, after finishing the meal, we were really full, the portions were very small, but in such quantity. My wife was very pleased, she called it "food theater".

As for me, I have mixed feelings. Personally, I liked it, of course. But I've had this dream for a long time. But if you just want to go and eat very expensively... well, I don't know.



Pros:

— Get a little closer to haute cuisine, when even a blade of grass and a piece of torn meat mean something... the chef wanted to say something with this)))

— Try unusual flavor combinations;

— Feel like a gourmet for a few hours.

Cons:

— Price. It was one of the cheapest Michelin restaurants. However, with tips it was 204 euros.

— If you are not a food fan and do not have such a thing as me, there is no point in going there. For this money you can feed half a wedding in a kebab shop.

In general, I do not regret that we went to such a restaurant, I liked it, but I would hardly go again. Because I am not a gourmet. Because it is really expensive. Because I can eat herbs from the garden at my dacha.