Operabaren
Rye Bread, Crisps, Butter
Swedish Meatballs, Cream Sauce, Potato Puree, Lingonberries, Pickled Cucumbers
Isterband Sausage, Capers, Apples, Beets, Creamed Potatoes with Chives
Pike Quenelles, Lobster Sauce, Spinach, Fennel, Sweet Peas, Boiled Potatoes
Butter Cream and Meringue Cake, Almonds
Although Operakällaren has a Michelin Star and air of exclusivity most well-traveled gourmands will tell visitors that the better experience is next door, a tiny space called Operabaren offering classic Swedish dishes at both lunch and dinner inside a storied space dating to 1905.
By no means a space for modernity nor a new age kitchen, the interior Art Nouveau from its painted ceilings and gilded molding to heavy wooden seats, guests entering Opera Bar will find most present during the week donning suits, discussion of business occurring in English and Swedish with a security detail even present on this particular day though nothing about the afternoon seemed unsafe or out of place.
Able to see part of the Opera House by way of a trip to the restroom, an elegant feel not unlike most European theaters unsurprising, it was upon return to the table that Bread to be taken by hand from a basket was offered, the seemingly odd gesture from a place otherwise so refined nonetheless yielding soft and dense slices of Rye ready to be slathered with Butter plus delicate Crisps.
Happy to have strolled through Kungsträdgården Park en route to make room after a busy morning of eating it was eschewing actual Appetizers that a plate of classic Swedish Meatballs started a three-course meal for two guests, ingredients supposedly the same as those next door yielding five small orbs not nearly as tender as those at Pelican nor Meatballs for the People, though the thin Cream Sauce was complex and rich both on its own or atop pureed Potatoes that contained nearly equal parts Starch and Butter.
Taking in the scene while dining, an absence of the music ubiquitous in Restaurants today putting more focus on a “who’s who” dynamic that clearly saw servers favoring certain tables, it was after a requested refill of Water that plates of Sausage and Quenelles de Brochet arrived, the former a classic Swedish dish with lots of texture that outperformed one past experience at Aquavit in New York while the souffléd Fish fell flat thanks to under-seasoning and Fennel which muted any Lobster flavor in the Sauce.
Surveying a lengthy Dessert menu before making a decision, the sizable portions and richness already adding up, it was on the advice of others that Operabaren’s Butter Cream and Meringue Cake was selected over items featuring Rhubarb or Chocolate with Walnuts, the results thankfully justifying an entire meal thanks to crisp yet nearly weightless Almond Meringue layered above and below Cream that tasted like sweetened butter but ate like Mascarpone Cheese.
www.operakallaren.se/restaurang/operabaren