The Liffey - Good food, poor beer selection

Over the last week I have twice visited the Irish pub The Liffey in Stockholm. It is situated in the old town (Gamla Stan) at Stora Nygatan and has in just over a year gained a stable crowd. Every night they play live music and show sports after the well updated weekly schedule available in the pub. At fridays and Saturdays the place gets truly busy as the party people seem to assembly here.

I really enjoy the atmosphere at The Liffey. It is nice and clean and laid back. All of the staff speaks pretty much only English and it feels fairly genuine. The food quality is far above what you can expect from an Irish pub in this style. It is classical pub food but well made and extremely affordable. The fish and chips plate is one of the bigger I've had and the fish is well done. So are the Sizzling-fajitas and the Nacho plate. The gambas starter is also sizzling hot and has a powerful garlic taste which is truly enjoyable. There is also a sweet deal for bbq-ribs and beer.

There seem to be a group of regulars hanging in the bar and I can really understand them coming there repeatedly. The music that starts around 10 pm is not to loud anf the place is hence talk-able even though you can enjoy the atmosphere with live music.

As you may have guessed I really like the place. Anyhow there are things that could be better! Of a gastronomic perspective it lacks some quality. As mentioned the food is really good in relation to what is expected of an Irish pub and especially to the price. But, if you're in Stockholm to have a gastronomic experience you'd better try out Frantzén Lindeberg just around the block. Thus I don't think the food is the problem at this place. The problem is the beer. And the beer is fairly crucial at an Irish pub. The selection is highly commercial with nothing that sticks out. There is Guinness, Kilkenny, Staropramen, Stella Artois, Carlsberg etc. on draught and not a single interesting beer. With the strong beer-trend coming up and growing in Sweden it's not acceptable and I hope they will change it soon!

If you are a budget traveller visiting stockholm for the first time or a thirsty local doesn't matter. You can drop by The Liffey anyway.

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Lucas Spinnars

Monks Porter House and a Dutch Porter

Today I visited Monks Café Porter House at Munkbron 11 in Stockholm. Thank you Linus and Emma for showing up, I had a great time!

The porterhouse is the third out of three different Monks Café in Stockholm, and being opened in august this year also the one of the more recent addition to the Stockholm pub scene. Eventually it will host not only a beer café restaurant but also a porter/stout brewery.

The entrance is a little odd and I get the feeling of having mistakenly ended up in the stockroom but after finding the staircase down to the basement from the 17'th century I feel a lot better. The brick walls with low vaults are combined with modern lightening and cool led screen menus promoting the current offers. That is actually an unnecessary convenience detail considering the quite impressive range of beers they have on both draught (56 to be exact) and bottles (according to the website the three restaurant together offer 1700 different beers).

The bar is nice but I will have to return at something of a more crowded night than a Monday to properly judge it. Anyhow my first impression is better than the other two Monks Café's (Wallingatan and Sveavägen). I will follow up later with a review and I will also follow with interest how the place settles.

Today, I had a De Molen Hammer & Sikkel from a 330 ml bottle after a great special offer for followers of the Monksevent twitter. 60 SEK for a bottle is a bargain since it usually goes for the double. The Hammer & Sikkel is a classic porter with 5.9 % abv and fairly dry.

The beer has a great head, which lasts for a while but after some five minutes fall down to eventually more or less disappear. The colour is intensely dark brown and opaque and the head has a white-coffee-tone.

On the nose it's a intensive smell of coffee and chocolate with a little bit of Chinese soy. It is highly malty and gives away a strong mineral scent.

The taste is a little off dry and has a little acidic twist. The aromas are mainly coffee, nuts, burnt malt, chocolate and earthy aromas with a little tone of ash in the long end. The nutty character makes the mouth feeling a little fatty.

It is a highly complex beer but I find the acidic twist a little too strong and I grade the the beer 6/10.

Best of regards
Lucas Spinnars

Revisit at Jacobs Krog

About half a year ago I visited Jacobs Krog at Artellerigatan in Stockholm and today it was time for a revisit. The place is genuine and nice with a sparsely decorated interior and quite a few locals coming down for dinner to, just to get away from cooking. One older man even came to pick his dinner up for take-away. The specialities of the house are the Danish starters "smørrebroe" and they are really nice, and worth the visit for.

Today I felt extraordinarily carnivorous so I went for the Steak á la minute, with the green-pepper sauce. The green-pepper sauce was according to the chef the first thing he learnt to cook when he started as a professional chef 30 years ago. It was indeed very good and perfectly balanced so I can imagine he has perfected it for some 30 years now. The meat was just about right cooked and tender just as it should be and along with the sauce the plate just turned up to be empty way too quick!

Along with the meat came a little tomato salad, which was nice but slightly standardised, and strips. I have to say something about the strips though. The whole concept with fried potato is something that could, in my eyes, very well be awarded with the nobel prize in chemistry (or peace, ...or something else for that matter), but why do they at such a nice place with such a nice kitchen serve boring thin strips. Come on better up and at least serve me some real French fries, something that I would not get as good at McDonalds.

The prices had also gone up a little since last visit. Today a steak á la minute was priced at 265 SEK giving it a less good price/quality ratio than last time.

Once again the meat was spotless, the place and the staff is really nice, but they haste with the details such as the strips. Last time I questioned their offerings of wine by the glass and even though there is always a good general impression some small things brings it down a little below where it could be.

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Lucas Spinnars

Check here for my old review (in Swedish)

Buco Nero - In the borderlads of a tavern and concept dining

A couple of days ago I visited Buco Nero at Roslagsgatan, the sister restaurant of the Stockholm institution Caffe Nero. I was surprised when I saw the actual name of the restaurant since I was convinced that the name was Bocca Nero. Bocca Nero would somewhat incorrect translate to "black mouth" but the name was instead Buco Nero, which translates to to "black hole".

The entrance is also sharing obvious similarities with a black hole. A discrete glass door in a black wall leads straight down into the concrete basement. After finally entering the basement it's not just any basement, it has a great warmth and a nice atmosphere. The huge and open kitchen in the middle together with the rough concrete walls and red furniture details creates really nice foundations for a great restaurant.

The menu is genuinely Italian with a little extra focus on pasta. The beverage list is though somewhat of a disappointment with mainstream wines and beers from all over the world. A little more inspiration would have done well for the over-all impression.

In terms of food we ordered a downright perfect antipasti plate. Some may argue for the lach of vegetables but, I cannot complain when there is such a variety of salamis, hams, and cheeses. It was also very nicely served on a large wooden platter.

Following the antipasti I got a mushroom pasta with pancetta and a mix of fresh herbs. The pasta was excellently boiled and the affective experience was close to perfect. Considering the emphasis on mushrooms in the menu description I would have liked to see the mushrooms come through a little more. They had a little unfortunate been overwhelmed by the pancetta and the herbs. Anyhow, as already mentioned, it was so tasty that I anyway don't want to complain.

The bathrooms was one of the most futuristic installations I have seen in any restaurant in Sweden. The sinks could possible be mistaken for a urinal a late night and I think that form over function was valued by the designer. Anyhow, they are a vivid source of colour and may contribute as a subject of conversation when you dinner companions don't really qualify.

In conclusion, this is a really nice place and with a little more effort on the drink-list this could very well turn into a stable institution in the borderlands of tavern and concept dining.

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Lucas Spinnars

Bona Sera - Fine Pizza Dining in Helsingborg

Today I was back to have the best pizza on offer in Helsingborg. Officially it's best in Scandinavia and i wouldn't be surprised if it was the best in the world. Last week I took takeaway from La Pizza (read my earlier post) but today i visited the high quality restaurant next doors, offering the same pizzas. Buona Sera is the name of the restaurant at Drottninggatan 124.

The wine list is excellent offering everything from simplier Italian table wines to vintage selections of Sassicaia and Masseto. The Italian selection is then topped up with some French spice such as Château Haut Brion 1990 at the moderate price of 14,995 SEK (approx. 1,600 €) or a bottle of Chateau d'Yquem for the same price... Maybe another day...

The waitress presented herself as new for today, and unfortunately I don't think she was only new to the restaurant. I think she might never have waited tables before. She was stumbling a bit but made it up with good attitude and a nice smile. As a little heads up I'm more concerned about things as some chipped plates.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the restaurant is nice and stylish, even though laid back. Today, Sunday it was not very crowded. Swedes have a tendency to stay home Sunday nights for Sunday dinner at home. Other nights of the week I recommend to reserve a table as it's usually packed.

Pizzas were just as delicious as last time and completely impossible to give any bad criticism what so ever!

Don't expect the highest of fine dining service but come here for a nice pizza or a good italian dinner accompanied by good wine. Apart from the interiour which is in a modern swedish-style rather than Italian, the feeling is very Italian; focus on the food and take the rest for what it is!

Don't miss out on trying the Italian microbrew beer Gradisca from the Italain craft brewery Birra Amarcord. It's a great company to most starters that would usually request white wine, or as a starter in itself. Tomorrow I'll post a note specifically on the Birra Amarcord Gradisca.

Best regards
Lucas Spinnars

Best pizza ever with a great beer

I occasionally like to publish restaurant reviews here and yesterday I had the best pizza of my life and felt that obliged to share it with the world. La Pizza in Helsingborg at Drottninggatan 124 sets as their goal to provide humanity with pizza that fills another purpose than merely being junk food.

If they succeed? I would definitely say so. They call all their pizzas gourmet-pizza and if gourmet food is available at the price of 85 SEK I'm all in!

My pizza with real Italian salsiccia, red onion, grilled artichoke and mushrooms was absolutely delicious. I've spent considerable time in Italy and as a big lover of pizza the number of pizzas I've eaten is remarkably high. This one beats 'em all!

La Pizza shows off with having won the Scandinavian championships in pizza-making. It is a title they well deserve!

The pizza-place is mainly for take-away and host only two small outside tables. There is though a really nice Italian restaurant next doors if one is in the mood for finer dining (read another of my posts). I brought my pizza a couple of hundred meters down to the esplanade by the shoreline. There I had one of the best spots for watching the sun-down in Helsingborg just opposing Hamlet's castle Kronborg in Helsingør.

The pizza was in good company with a Brewdog Zeitgeist. A good black lager made of organic goods by the controversial Scottish brewery Brewdog. Controversial in the sense that they recently brewed the strongest beer ever made and having as their marketing attitude to make beers that they don't care if anyone else like - as long as they like it themselves. The Zeitgeist is a very humanely priced beer, fairly full-bodied full with dark bread, chocolate and coffee flavours. The alcohol is quite low, measuring only 4,9% abv, and the sweetness goes hand in hand with that. The sweetness is thus not particularly high and gives a beer that can accompany a wide range of dishes without overpowering them.

All for now! Love pizza from La Pizza Helsingborg and enjoy it with a Zeitgeist Organic Black Lager from BrewDog!

Best regards

Lucas Spinnars

Helsingborg