Up north in the Swedish province of Jämtland you will find Fäviken Magasinet. It was founded in 2008 and the restaurant has managed to become one of the most coveted and essential restaurant reservations for food lovers. It is the Nordic cuisine in its most extreme, challenging, fun and delicious way and the perfect example of what the region’s cuisine is all about with purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics.
Fäviken Magasinet is owned by the Head Chef Magnus Nilsson, the Restaurant Manager Johan Agrell and the businessman & hedge fund manager Patrik Brummer. Both the Head Chef and the Restaurant Manager are experienced chefs and sommeliers. Magnus Nilsson worked in the Swedish restaurants Kattegat Gastronomi & Logi and former amazing Pontus in the Greenhouse before he spent three additional years in Paris at Arpège and L’Astrance. He also spent a short time in the French Mirazur’s kitchen as well. Magnus Nilsson is a young chef, but looking at his background with experience from some of the most ingredients aware restaurants in the world it is no big surprise how it turned out for the chef in Jämtland.
There are forests, mountains, lakes and rivers which offer pristine and perfect ingredients in addition to the breathtaking scenario. The pursuit for the perfect ingredients has gone as far as it can at Fäviken Magasinet. It is surrounded by the estate’s more than 8,000 acres that provides access to a huge pantry of everything that is typical for the region such as trout, mushrooms, game, berries, lichens, herbs, lamb, pork and vegetables that can handle the harsh climate with loads of daylight during the short summers and loads of darkness during the long and cold winters. At least around 70 percent of everything that is served in the dining room comes from the property and the remaining percentage is ingredients from the close-by villages. No pepper, asparagus, balsam vinegar, lemons among many other typical fine dining ingredients to be found on the menu. Only the salt is delivered from a city in the more southern part of Sweden and the sugar and vinegar are taken from abroad. And of course the wines come from abroad, but you will have local alternatives during your dinner like mead and rhubarb wine.
There are only twelve seats in the picturesque dining room situated in an old granary. All the servings are made simultaneously to everyone and presented by the Head Chef. There are no alternatives for the guests to choose from – there is only one tasting menu that often changes depending on the season and available ingredients for the day. The presentations are beautiful and stripped without being simple. The strong focus at the very best ingredients available is present at every single dish and it might look simple to just have a piece of lamb’s liver and a piece of matsutake mushroom as a main dish, but the taste is absolutely fantastic and the attention to absolute perfection is impeccable, minimalism at its very best.
Magnus Nilsson has come up with a concept that he calls Rektún and it is about real food and turning back to the origin and how cooking was made in the past without being retrograde and forgetting the present. The Head Chef is unique in how he cooks and presents his food, for example when he saws bone marrow in the dining room which is served to the guests together with diced raw cow heart and grey pea flowers that are eaten on a toast with salt on. It may sound macabre, but the flavours are so pure the texture so perfect and the end result is a firework of satisfaction for your taste buds.
Written by Andy
