Thursday, January 9, 2014

F12, Stockholm

F12, Stockholm – May 7, 2012, 9-course 1125 sek

F12 serves Nordic style food. It is located at 12 Fredgatan, therefore, taking its cue as the restaurant’s name. It is beautifully decorated with both classic and contemporary furniture and furnishings. We all had the tasting menu.

It started with Amuse Bouche. Some varieties of fresh vegetables with different coloring were in a glass jar. The fresh vegetables were paired with dill dip in the bowl, a typical Nordic style.
1st course - “Lobster & Spring Peas – with Wild Mint and Fried Almonds." Lobster was not over-cooked and taste was balanced.
2nd course - “Farms Egg in its Nest – with Bleak Row from Kaliz and Nettles.” This course was served with a Nordic style with bowl of egg sitting on hays. It was like flavored egg custard, but it was very salty. Nettle was something new that I had during this trip. It was a plant with both nutritious leaves and fruits edible. It has a flavor similar to spinach and cucumber, has high fiber and is rich in vitamin A, C and other minerals. It is abundant in Northern Europe.
3rd course - “Foie Gras Pressé – with Swedish Melon, Ginger Beer and Macadamia Nuts.”  It was a cold plate of Foie Gras covered with a thin slice of Swedish melon. It was also very salty. After these two salty dishes, I complained to the waitress who relayed the message to the kitchen. Then, we were offered an extra course of Halibut.
4th course - “Milk-Poached cauliflower – with Rapseed Oil and Sorrel.”  It was a tasty dish. However, this cauliflower dish was not as good as the one we had for lunch at Matbaren.
5th course - “White Asparagus & Scallops – with Ramson and Browned Butter.” White Asparagus has been one of my all time favorite vegetables. In this dish Scallops were good, but, the white asparagus were too sour.
6th course - “Poached Arctic Char & Fresh Wasabi – with Leek from Bjorklinge and Lemon.” The Poached Arctic Char was overcooked. But, because I have already complained once, my friend urged me not to complain again. F12 served us with freshly grinded wasabi in front of our eyes. We were informed that the wasabi should grinded diagonally in order to get the full flavor out.
7th course - The makeup-course “Halibut." It was over-cooked. But, it was a make-up dish that it was not appropriate to complain.










8th course - “Charcoal Grilled Milk-Fed Lamb & Morrels – with Spring Vegetables and Espelette Pepper.” Lamb was from the Pyrenees’ region of France. When I visited the Rhone Valley region of France last year, I was told lambs from the Pyrenees’ are tasty because lambs were fed with slightly salty grass. F12’s kitchen must have forgotten about the special feature of Pyrenees’s lambs. It was another salty dish.
9th course was “Saint Marcellin – with Brittle, Thyme Flowers and Black Salt.” It was like cheese custard, overly salted.
10th course - The original listed desert on the tasting menu was “Strawberries & Goats Cheese - with Strawberries and Cardamom.” I requested for a substitute and ordered a “Fudge Soufflé & Roasted Banana – with Chocolate and Passion Fruit." The texture and flavor of the Soufleé was acceptable but not outstanding. At the end, we totally lost any interest to visit their kitchen. Along all the fine dining restaurants that we visited in this trip, we rated this one as the number 1 from the bottom. We could not figure out why Operakallen lost its one Michelin star while F12 still kept its one star.

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