Kontrast - exploring the boundaries of modern Nordic cooking

This evening we had the first of our Michelin starred meals of the holiday at the amazing two star (plus a green star) menu called Kontrast.

Mikael Svensson, the chef at Kontrast claims:

We explore the boundaries of modern Nordic cooking, building on our common culinary roots and pushing past New Nordic to serve you a perfect meal of contemporary cooking.

Having had tonight's experience I'm happy to say he's right - fresh, locally sourced produce, innovatively designed to create leaps of delight on the tongue, in the mouth and in the heart, as you consume each dish.

To begin

It was a 30 minute walk from our hotel to Kontrast, but we didn't mind that, it helped prepare the appetite.

We were greet effusively be a crispy dressed young waiter who immediately led us to chairs in the reception/bar area.

They then served us our pre-dinner drinks. I opted for sparkling water and Drew picked a 'Rumish' which though made from ginger beer and verjus actually tastes like rum, he was pleasantly surprised. 

The first of our pre-starters were then brought to us, this was Raw prawn, topped with lemon thyme, on a seaweed crispy shell coloured with squid ink, there was a rich fish tartare inside the shell.

What a great start, something looking so calm and natural, yet full of deep and delicious flavours with an intensity that seems beyond belief. It is amazing that such a tiny morsal can pack such a punch, but it did. Eaten in one bite all the flavours came together and brought the plump little prawns sweetness to the fore. An excellent start.

Our second pre-starter was Kohlrabi wrap, around raw mackerel in a smoked herring garum on a radish and lovage vinaigrette. The waiter seemed surprised when I asked them if they made their own garum (they do, of course) it brought a smile to his face as he explained that he normally has to explain to his diners what garum is, he said it was unusual to find someone who knew what it was already

The crunch of the kohlrabi was the genius of this dish. I've had smoked herring before and garum, lovage and radish, but the combination of all of them within the little crispy case made the whole much better than the individual parts. I could feel a pleasure coming over me, it is clear from these first two dishes that the chef knows how to combine simple, traditional flavours into new and exciting taste explosions on the palette - i.e. we are in for a good night.

The next dish was Pig's blood tart shell, Drammen cheese (parmesan style) with beer vinegar pearls and spring onions.

It sounds very simple, but tasted extremely complex, the crunch of the tart was more subtle in flavour than black pudding, but earth and resonant as only cooked blood could be, it put me in mind of the lovely sangre de pollo (chicken's blood) that gets served as a tapa in some places in Southern Spain, but it had an even greater intensity that that. The cheese, softened into a creamy texture, was full bodied and carried the other flavours well. The little pops of sharpness for the beer vinegar pearls were a revolution - a coming together of strong flavours into an even better combination in just one bite - wow!

Our final pre-starter was Duck liver creme brûlée with tart Norwegian raspberries. Yes, read that again, it is a surprising combination of words - how do you take something as soft and rich in flavour as duck liver pate and turn it into a creme brûlée, well by adding some suger to the top and flaming it, obviously, but what you end up with has all the unctuous richness of a pate with an added crunch from the very thin layer on top, a spoonful of that with one of the plumb tart strawberries means you sit back and feel like you are having a taste of the rewards of heaven early - bendigedig as we say in Wales.

Moving to the table

The staff member who greeted us at the beginning of the meal (we have seen five others since then) then came to lead us to our table in the main restaurant area. It is an open, unfussy area with smart wooden tables and furniture and a clear view into the kitchen nearby.

Here, in addition to our food we have the first our of food pairing drinks. Neither of us drink alcohol, so this is the non-alcoholic pairing, though people on other tables were having an wine based equivalent. 

The sommelier came across and introduced himself to us and introduced his first pairing, all of which are made on site, by the use of fermentation and other processes. To see his delight in the descriptions you would think these drinks were his children, not just his occupation - to me this is a very good sign.

The first drink was jasmine and seaweed tea with woodruff juice, elderflower syrup and elderflower juice with elderflower vinegar.

It has a light acidity and full bodied flavour, it was made to pair with the first course which is Norwegian King Fish (in Japanese cooking known as yellowtail amberjack) cooked in Japanese style with tartare at the bottom and sashimi at the top, thin slices of cucumber through the sashimi with a raspberry sauce and cucumber gel. 

The tartare was soft and easy to consume, the sashimi more full flavoured but also easy to slip into the mouth and travel down the gullet in the sauce the fish's essential oiliness came out and was balanced by the cut through of the cucumber and sharp raspberries - a winning combination. As Drew said, we could have more of that. The light acidity of the drink made sense now as it balanced so well with the cucumber and raspberry flavours in the sauce.

Next came the bread for the table, well I saw for the table, this was in fact individual loves of bread, so one for each of us! As the waitress told us it is the oldest recipe on the menu, started 12 years ago when the restaurant opened, and with the sourdough fed each day with 5% wheat and an even amount of rye and spelt. 

It was strong, earthy and utterly, utterly delicious. It shows the magic of good food, the most simple is often the best.

The second pairing drink of the evening was a mix of a variety of items. Dried fermented celeriac, seaweed, apple juice, elderflower juice and beer vinegar all go into this fermentation. On this occasion I forgot to take a photo of the drink in the glass, but have a poor one of the drink in the bottle which the sommelier kindly brought over later so I had something to show you - what a wonderful colour.

The flavour too was amazing, it reminds me of the sea shore and seemed perfect with the next dish: Pacific oyster (an invasive species in Norway, so we are being ecologically friendly in consuming it), chawanmushi (savoury custard), black trumpet mushroom, baked turnip petals and Beluga caviar from Italy. 

 

The turnip and the mushrooms give the lovely display alternative black and white petals. The dish was then covered with covered with bacon foam, yes you read that right, bacon foam.

What an astounding treat for the tongue! Bacon and oysters are a great combination, angels on horseback were all the rage back in the 80s, and the combination of the flavours is timeless in its elegance and delight, so it was here. Chawanmushi provides a depth of flavour holding the other tastes together. The crunch of turnip, the soft earthiness of the mushroom, all combined to make the tastebuds tingle. Guess what, though it should be no surprise by now, the flavours of the drink matched the food exactly, earthy celeriac tangy elderflower and sharp beer vinegar, pure genius.

It was now time for out third drink, this one was made of a ferment of lapsang souchong, seaweed, tomato juice and apple juice. 

The lapsang brought back great memories for me, it was a tea I'd regularly drink in college days in the late 70s and early 80s and I've come back to it in recent years - its smoky smell is so evident that even though it had been fermented with the other ingredients it was still the dominant flavour, but not, as you can see below, the dominant colour. 

The next dish was Hitra Scallops cooked on a Yakitori grill with unsalted green plum and koji.  

Hitra (sounding to me more like Kitra) is an island in the Trøndelag region of Norway and is celebrated for the quality of its seafood. The use of Norwegian plum is to replicate the taste of olives, as Norway is to far North to grow its own. It is amazing, but while the plum texture was different to olive, the  taste was just like it!

The dish was completed by a teriyaki sauce, Scallop garum and roasted cherry tomato juice with miso

What can I say my mind is blown, no my tastebuds are in overdrive. I often think scallops are over-rated, but not when treated with such care, love and attention as here. The crunch of the grilled scallop, with the gentle texture of the creature itself is brought to an astounding intensity by the teriyaki, garum and tomato. Combine the smokiness of the grilling with the smokiness of the lapsang and I feel I'm floating away with delicious delight.

The careful attention paid to us by the staff meant that they had noticed we had both consumed our bread, so we were offered a new loaf, clearly, given the timings between them asking and the loaves arriving, they were being cooked fresh. So, while you've already seen them above, here is one of the new ones.  

It was just as good the second time and they also brought us fresh butter.

The next drink (no 4) was made from Rooibos Tea, leek ash, verjus, apple juice, pear juice, coffee and dill vinegar all combined with milk, which is then filtered out during the filtration process achieving the remarkable colour of this drink

The flavour too was remarkable, a rich full bodiedness which was a surprise given the light colour.

The dish it was served with was halibut in a langoustine coat, sous vide with a sauce of fish lungs and other innards with tiny chanterelle mushrooms.

The dish looked so pretty, the sheen on the coating really glistened, but the flavour was the real knock-out. Halibut is a meaty fish and here the flavour was well matched with the sweet langostine and the inventive and juicy sauce. The drink pairing was also excellent, with one complementing the other so well.

It was at this point of the meal, with yet another plate cleaned, that the waiter who had greeted us earlier, said that he had never seen such clean plates - I noted that I'd loved every bit of the menu so far; and, though tempted, I'd not licked any of the plates yet - he enjoyed that thought!

The next drink saw another appearance of Lapsang souchong, but this time partnered with red fruit tea, redcurrant, mushroom shoyu and pickled chanterelle mushrooms. While the smokiness was still evident, this time the red fruit and red current flavour gave the drink an entirely different colour and taste.

It is 15 years since I last drank alcohol, but drinking this glass brought to mind memories of tangy Pinot Noirs that I've drunk, the red fruit flavours of this one bring back that same note in the Pinots.

The dish this drink was designed for was chicken cooked two ways. This was a buttered breast of chicken with koji and a roasted leg of chicken with spring onion and oyster mushroom

This was served with a sauce made of chicken stock, pepper and butter.

It was delicious, the roast chicken had a lovely crisp crunch, the butter chicken was slowly cooked in its own juices. It is astounding to me that two representations of similar meat could taste so different from each other. We asked each other which we preferred, but it was an impossible thing to answer, they were both amazing. The red fruit flavour of the accompanying drink did just what a pinot would have done, enhanced the taste of this juicy, well textured bird.

The next drink that arrived was chai (I almost typed chai tea, but that would be a redundancy as the two words mean the same in different languages), redcurrant, apple and rhubarb vinegar, coffee and mushroom shoyu. 

This was a robust, slap you around the face kind of drink, the spiciness of the chai was distinctive with hints of cardamon, cumin and chives along with the sharpness of the vinegar, I began to fear how rich the meat might have to be to compete with this, but I should have known not to worry.

It was beef tongue alongside leeks with a sabayon, mushroom shaku and coffee sauce. I'd eaten one of the two pieces of tongue before I remembered to take the photo, not bad really, there are times when I end up photoing an empty plate 😂

The tongue was soft and tasty it had been triple prepared, first it had been soaked in brine, then sous vide and finally grilled on the Yakitori grill. What a combination, even better was the fact that I had a treat as Drew really doesn't like the idea of eating tongue so I had four pieces not two. [Co-pilot's note: Any time, dear readers, somebody suggests that I would enjoy eating a bit of tongue, I can't help be reminded of Jabba the Hut from Return of the Jedi. Now then, dear readers, I'm sure that some of you will have no difficulty in thinking that I could pull off the role of Princess Leia, however this is not necessarily something that I would like to encourage, so the further I stay away from tongue the better.] What a wonderful taste, the spicy flavours of the drink being as robust and intense as the tongue.

Our penultimate pairing drink was silky oolong tea and beetroot juice, apple juice, coffee shoyu and almond syrup  

This unusual drink made Drew think of Christmas, not a reflection I had. Like all oolongs, this had a subtle taste, it was the beetroot that seemed most dominant to me and I couldn't work out how it might work with the pre-dessert that was due to be served next.

The pre-dessert turned out to be black koji ice cream with baked beetroot and red dukka underneath and a beetroot syrup over it. 

Wow, it was rich intense and not at all sweet, the koji wasn't even cold, let along icy, perfect for me, someone who dislikes ice cream and Drew, who loves the stuff, liked it too. Amazingly the beetroot flavour of the drink, which tasted harsh before eating, completely disappeared and become a gentle accompaniment to the food.

The final drink was fermented from baked sunflower seeds, Rhubarb juice, Elderflower juice, Elderflower vinegar and Rhubarb syrup.

A clever sharp range of flavours, mellowed somewhat by the elderflower.

The dessert was roasted rhubarb, nut praline and milk ice cream. I'm not a dessert fan, but luckily for me this dessert was not really sweet. The praline was crunchy, but the rhubarb meant that the primary taste was tart. The rhubarb flavour of the drink was just right with it.

We finished with a double espresso each, served in very rustic stone cups. 

Petit fours were served with the coffee, something sweet for Drew. There was a rosehip ice cream in a buckwheat cone, this ice cream was real sweet ice cream, not like the earlier adaptations

They were served with small carmel with sea salt tarts and a macaroon base with cream topped with a cured quail egg. I'll let Drew comment on these [Co-pilot's note: The macaroons, both of them, were delightful, they had a bite to them, which is really unusual in a macaroon. The bite was off set by the tasty bit of quail yoke - the best of savoury and sweet at the same time.]

The bill was presented in a very decorative box

and having paid we left the restaurant at 10.45pm and walked back to our hotel. 

We arrived back at 11.10pm and after our usual teeth brushing etc. got to bed as Midnight approached feeling really content after such a lovely meal served with care and attention, it really was worth every penny (or Nok), a great time was had by the pair of us. Thanks all at Kontrast for looking after us so well.

By the end of the evening we had walked 28,000 steps, 21km or 13 miles - I don't think I need to worry to much about eating a lot, when we are working it off too.