Restaurang Tradgar’n

by Debra C. Argen December 2, 2005

written by Debra C. Argen December 2, 2005

Edward F. Nesta, Executive Chef and Owner Anders Dahlbom, Master Chef Karin Andersson

Restaurang Trädgår’n is a stylish restaurant with contemporary décor that features a wall of windows overlooking the park and fountains, and an exquisite menu.

West Sweden and Göteborg in particular, is a gourmand’s dream, with 570 restaurants in Göteborg, four of which have achieved a 1-star Michelin Guide designation, and several others have received cutlery designations from the Michelin Guide. Restaurang Trädgår’n, located in Trädgårdsföreningen, their central park, has a 2-cutlery designation from the Michelin Guide, and is owned by culinary wizard brothers Anders (Chef of the Year 1993) and Jonas (Chef of the Year 1996) Dahlbom. Karin Andersson took over the role of Head Chef in 2004.

This stylish restaurant has a contemporary décor that features a wall of windows overlooking the park and fountain, cream colored hanging lamps, a wooden wall, a large screen over their bar projects exciting photographic images of crashing surf and their culinary creations, and there is a tree growing in the center of the restaurant to complete the ambience. The modern feel extends to the black upholstered chairs, charcoal tablecloths, and celadon green napkins.

Marcus Svensson In August 2005, Edward F. Nesta and I had a fabulous dinner at the restaurant, and were not only impressed with their menu, but their wine list as well as many wines available by the glass. We began with a glass of Codorníu, Dela Pierre, a delightful sparkling cava from Spain as we looked over the menu, before deciding on their seafood buffet and shellfish main courses.

Their extensive seafood buffet divides the restaurant into two parts, and features their own special recipe salmon, which we learned from meeting with Chef Karin Andersson, that they first salt the salmon, then roll it in roasted powdered fennel, and then lightly sauté it to create a slightly crisp exterior. They also had four other types of smoked salmon, stone crabs, which I love, shrimp, mussels, crayfish, 10 types of herring, sushi, as well a wide assortment of other items, but we concentrated our efforts solely on the seafood. We enjoyed our seafood selections with a bottle of 2001 Tokay Pinot-Gris Réserve Gustave Lorentz from Alsace, France, which was well rounded and slightly sweet on the palate, which paired well with the seafood.

Grilled Brill at Restaurang Tradgar'n We continued our pairing dinner with a bottle of 2003 Fransola Sauvignon Blanc, Parellada, Torres, from Penedés Spain, with an aromatic lemony nose that was crisp on the palate, with our main courses of Gratinated lobster with basil, garlic and grilled foccacia (Gratinerad hummer med basilika, vitlök och grillad foccacia), and Grilled brill with scallops, asparagus, roasted tomato, pasta and lobster sauce (Halstrad slätvar med pilgrimsmussla, sparris, rostad tomat samt färsk pasta och skummig hummersås). The succulent lobster was dreamlike; presented cut in half and propped up on the foccacia, and the brill was gorgeous with a foam emulsion and crowned with a scallop on a bed of pasta and asparagus.

Our waiters, Marcus Svensson and Tobias Andersson tempted us with desserts of Raspberry soup with lemon sorbet and vanilla cracker (Isad hallonsoppa med citronsorbet och vaniljcracker), and a White chocolate mousse with rhubarb and hazelnuts, which we readily agreed that we had to sample, and ended up finishing every delicious morsel, although I think I would have added a bit of vodka or aquavit to the Raspberry soup.