Malmö, Sweden is a very modern, bustling port city with lots of young energy. The architecture of the city in view of Denmark across the water is innovative, sustainable and green: the city’s iconic landmark used to be a big construction crane but now it’s the Turning Torso highrise. Yet in the midst of all this is some of the market area dating from the Middle Ages area and and a few intact, winding, cobblestone streets. On one of these streets is the hip Bastard (Meat and Wine). I was very happy to be hosted to be able to experience it!
Bastard is all about head to tail eating, plus the pairing of wines with your meal. The space is large and low gas-lamp lit at night, but winds like the streets outside so that your own section feels intimate. There are “subway” tiles on the walls and vintage glass bottles. The ceilings are very high. Classic rock, jazz and modern Euro rock plays in the background. Lots of groups of friends seem to congregate here, all ages. The tables and chairs are eclectic, to add to the informality. The kitchen is open.
One of the first things you can’t help but notice is the phenomenally good looking waitstaff. I’m not talking about the common U.S. hat trick of employing the cute-ish bartender or hostess. I’m talking about an entire group of servers who could hop off the plane at NY and have an amazing modeling career.
Well, soon it was time for dinner. Fresh and rustic bread comes with butter sprinkled with sea salt. I went for the chef’s tasting menu, which I suppose is as adventurous as one can be, considering it’s a head to tail restaurant.
The menu changes daily, according to what is the best available at the market. First, I started with venison tartare. I vowed to myself that when I was in Sweden, I would eat things with antlers when given the opportunity. I can tell you that they really do a good job here, if you’ve had an off experience in the States.The meat was mild, somewhere between beef and mild pork flavor. It was seasoned with sweet herbs cardamom, onion bits, egg yolk and watercress. The egg yolk added richness to it, because venison is usually pretty lean.
The next course was lamb’s tongue with goat cheese, beets, minced chives. I will admit, this is a more challenging offal dish. The texture is a little squishy and it had a flavor like legumes.
The next course was a fois gras pâté spread on toast. For those of you who make regular trips to gourmet stores or Whole Foods, this will be a familiar, homey type dish. It was meaty with sweet thinly and marinated red onions and big parsley leaves, cornichons on the side. The garnishments add snap to the creamy, rich spread when layered together. Their cornichons have anise!
The above courses were served with a white wine from Alsace, “not bone dry”. My server said that he actually recommends white wine with pork and red wine with chicken. His pairings were spot-on, so there you have it.
When you order from the tasting menu, they like you to have a variety of flavors from the land, sky and sea. My next course was tender poached cod, with mussels, celery, celeriac and stock. This was a great flavor combo! Celeriac, which you’re starting to see on more and more menus, has a flavor like artichokes and a texture like them, too. The mussels and fish were both perfectly fresh, perfectly cooked, so there were no tough textures or fishy flavors. It was a lighter entree and a good contrast from the richer, meatier, heavier courses before.
As a first dessert, a cheese platter was served: Local goat cheese and British Neal’s Yard Lancashire, along with honey in bees wax. The wax definitely reminded you that honey is a material from creatures! The goat cheese was tangy and definitely drier in texture than typical goat cheeses, but not goaty in flavor. Everything was presented on a wooden board.
With these courses, a dessert wine from the Loire Valley was served with petritus (a leaf condition that turns wine extra sweet) tones and fresh acidity, served chilled.
For the dessert course, I had a custard tart (egg, another part of animals!) with pine nuts and raisins. It was very creamy with salt and cardamom flavors, a modern presentation of an old-fashioned, home-cooking dessert.
Luxe & Down-Home Cuisine/Culture/Travel/Style 