The restaurant Gastrologik is Swedish through and through, from the detailed chosen Scandinavian interior to the Swedish ingredients’ chefs Jacob Holmström and Anton Bjuhr use for their dishes.
When we were in Stockholm for a weekend trip, we wanted to experience the Swedish fine dining culture and decided to spend one night at the restaurant Gastrologik. The restaurant is known to exclusively work with Swedish produce for their dishes. They have a close cooperation with producers and suppliers. The restaurant’s philosophy is to create and serve dishes made from local, seasonal and organic produce.
At Gastrologik you will not find a fixed tasting menu. The restaurant adjusts and adapts the 20-course tasting menu every day depending on the food, they are getting that same day. So, you do not know what you will be served, and this surprising element adds to the excitement of the visit. I must say the experience exceeded all expectations. The autumn-based dishes Jacob Holmström and Anton Bjuhr prepared were so creative in contrasts of flavour and texture – a true homage to Swedish cuisine. The two Michelin stars are well deserved.
Atmosphere.
The restaurant is located East to the shopping street Sveavägen in a quite neighborhood called Östermalm. It is very nice to walk in this neighborhood as it’s not too busy and the beautiful old buildings with restaurants and boutiques are enjoyable. It is not easy to spot the restaurant Gastrologik. From the outside it does not obviously look like a restaurant. It blends subtly into the building, with closed white curtains. Only a small plate next to the door stating the name of the restaurant hints to the restaurant inside.
When you enter the restaurant, you find yourself in a small hallway, with an open room to the left with lounge tables and armchairs in light blue and pink pastel colours. To the right you get a glance inside the beautiful dining room. At the end of the hallway you’ll see a part of the open kitchen. Some of the dishes are finished in this area. Walking along the long kitchen area you arrive back in the bright and open dining room. The room is kept minimalistic in woody and beige colours giving the place a modern and Scandinavian look. Most distinctly, I remember the intimate and cosy feeling when dining at Gastrologik. The dining room fits only seven tables creating a very comfortable feeling. The entire restaurants interior is designed by Jonas Lindvall, a renowned Swedish architect.
Food.
As said before the restaurant does not have a fixed menu. Going there you don’t know what you’ll be served. What you do know is that all the ingredients are coming from Sweden produce that grows and flourishes around the time of the year. Luckily, the Swedish climate varies quite a lot and allows for a variety of produce to grow throughout the year. We visited in October and tasted dishes from the wonderful autumn season. The tasting menu is approximately 20 small dishes. It was just the perfect amount, not too much and too less. Every dish was a small, exquisite serving with only a few ingredients and a unique contrast of flavour and texture.
Here are my personal highlights from the menu called “Let today’s produce decide”.
Firstly, these cute little sandwiches made of chicken liver, meringue, crispy chicken skin and apple. The brackish tasting crispy chicken skin combined with the soft apple was very well balanced in taste – just delightful.
Secondly, the crispy pancakes filled with tiny cep, polypore and chanterelle mushrooms, topped with lingonberries and rowan berries. The woodsy taste of the mushrooms combined with the slightly sweet berries was ambrosial.
This small round beauty is made of raw Smögen shrimps with cucumber, black currant leaves and cilantro seeds. The small coast village Smögen in the northeast of Sweden is well known for its herring and shrimp fishing. The taste of the shrimp is very rich and fits so well to the more subtly tasting cucumber, a delectable combination.
This dessert dish, sea buckthorn with rosehip and malt is combined with Gin from Hernö. The Hernö juniper cask gin is matured in juniper wood casks for 30 days giving it an aromatic citrus note and a woody taste of juniper. In combination with the sweet dessert it created a luscious taste.
End.
The way chefs Jacob Holmström and Anton Bjuhr created the Swedish dishes was extremely creative and so well-balanced in taste and texture. The intimate and comfortable atmosphere in the restaurant and the excitement for each new dish created an extraordinary experience. This is definitely a place where I want to come back and try out a different season. I can highly recommend visiting the restaurant Gastrologik on your next trip to Stockholm.
To read more about the restaurant, have a look at their website.
We last visited the restaurant in October, 2019.
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