Operakällaren's Main Dining Room

grand grand grand grand grand

dinner here was superlative, and understandably so. great ambience, better service and the best food. what more can one ask for? the gilded interior is surprisingly not overpowering, perhaps that has something to do with the strategically positioned mirrors that inject just the right amount of modern chic into an otherwise ostentatious dining room. ahhh, who am i trying to kid, it was ostentatious ;) we'd the kindliest elderly waiter who looked like an institution himself and he peppered the conversation with mock heroism so charming on a white haired gentleman. he introduced the petit fours like so, "...these're pralines, here you've chocolate with marzipan, or perhaps you'd like to try the candied apple or, hohoho, these. these are 100% danger." the 100% danger being liquid alcohol (AUGH I CAN'T REMEMBER WHICH!) encased in a fragile spun sugar outer shell that you'd to pick with your fingers and pop into your mouth. his silver tongs would've shattered the delicate thing. we'd french cider instead of bubbly because the parentals are extremely selective when it comes to alcohol and i've never had cider as elegant or upmarket as that. seeing how cider's my usual poison, i will forever feel unrefined swigging it from the bottle instead of brandished with aplomb into flutes.

and, penchant for melodrama aside, the parentals are pretty awesome company themselves and i lapped up the attention as an only child again.

amuse bouche

salt marinated mackeral with bleak roe from kalix and granny-smith apple puree

pan-fried scallop on top of a grilled aubergine "fumet' puree with a walnut granola and celery

bresse pigeon cooked two ways: lightly smoked pigeon breast served with peach terrine, carciofini salad and rillette of the leg

pike-perch fillet from hjalmaren, wrapped in a thin buckwheat pancake with roasted hazelnut cream and pata negra ham

intermezzo of grapefruit sorbet with lime jelly

fricasee of mushrooms from bogesund served with toast, poached egg and chicory cream

fillet of venison fried with mushrooms and served with potato confit, muscat pumpkin, hazelnut puree and blackberry gravy (that tasted like marmite!)

bavarois of fourme d'ambert with sea buckthorn

vanilla ice cream with marie cookie crumbs and you get to squirt your buttercream yourself.