11-10-2013
The dining room of restaurant PM & Vänner in Växjö, a city in Southern Sweden, tel. +46.(0)470.700444. A few hundred metres away, there’s a greenhouse with a little vegetable garden. Soon the restaurant will become an innovative hotel gourmet
Per Bengtsson, together with Monika, welcomes us into the sensational greenhouse/vegetable garden in the centre of Växjö, a city, in the Småland region of Southern Sweden. The meeting, arranged with a large number of journalists coming from all over Europe, was the occasion to better understand a cuisine based on local nature, from forests to lakes, but it was also the ideal moment to present, well ahead of time, the project that will see the restaurant being transformed into a hotel gourmet, perhaps the first to be defined in such a way (and not only in Sweden) during the summer of 2014.
Hospitality, with a swimming pool and a lounge area on the roof of the building, will soon be finalized so that people can experience Nordic cuisine in a much more hospitable place, even though it will be far away from the traditional Swedish food circuits. We will cover this again, once it is opened, but for now Identità Golose has already focused its attention on PM & Vänner, in the previous editions of the guide, because it is a restaurant in which it is difficult not to feel at ease, also thanks to the lively clientele which comprises both food enthusiasts and young locals who enjoy the pre and after dinner by the bar. But let’s move in order.
Chef Per Bengtsson and his greenhouse
Per Bengtsson is an affable landlord and he eagerly explains the techniques, textures and temperatures of each dish with an impeccable style. What surprises is the balance of the Pork terrine with wild garlic, the Meatballs with lamb confit, nettles and fennel, or the Mushrooms with pike-perch cheeks, butter and flowers. Seasonal fruits and vegetables become some essential ingredients in a cuisine that here and there enjoys also some contrasting flavours. Among the desserts of course there is rhubarb, what is surprising is a game that is not new at PM & Vänner, though it is always fun.
Rhubarb-based dessert, a Nordic classic
The establishments, tastes and cooking personalities in Europe, as seen by Gualtero Spotti
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