28+ is a Michelin-starred restaurant of a relative classicism. You won’t be disappointed, but it’s far from the creativity often found in Scandinavian starred restaurants.
In order to finish these vacations in beauty I decided to finish by a starred restaurant in Gothenburg. I have never been disappointed by the restaurants in Gothenburg nor in Scandinavia in general and the starred restaurants of the region have in general excellent reputation. Initially my first choice was Project which I had in mind for a long time but there was no table available that evening. A friend, a connoisseur of good restaurants in the region, warned me: “It’s very classic, if you liked Koka and wanted to go to Project you might be a bit disappointed even if it’s a sure value“. But I’ll stick with my original idea.
You will find all the articles about this trip to Malaysia at the bottom of the page.
The concept of 28 +
Not much to say, 28+ is a fairly traditional gourmet restaurant.
It is worth noting, however, that it recently celebrated having retained its Michelin star for the 32nd year in a row.
The 28+ setting
A little surprisingly, once you enter the restaurant, you go down a staircase because the room is located in a kind of entresol.
It is a room with exposed stones, decorated in the most traditional way. Some would say old-fashioned.
In the middle of the room stands the service bar, made of an old stove. Original.
The 28+ menu
This time I forgot to take a picture of the menu but if I remember correctly I had to specify when booking online if I was taking the tasting menu so they didn’t bring it to me.
For your information here is the way it looks today and to my memory there is not too much variation from what it was at the time.
The dinner and the service
The welcome is warm and even joking when the manager responds to a humorous remark from me.
I am seated and asked if I will have an aperitif. Since I had already chosen the tasting menu when I made the reservation, they just asked me if I would take the wine and food pairing. As usual I answer in the negative because I prefer to savor my wines than to run after the next glass because I cannot drink them fast enough.
A Krug grande cuvée to start well.
It is accompanied by appetizers: mackerel and potatoes with truffles, quail and lobster, mushroom and fried onions.
Light and good.
The restaurant will also offer me several types of homemade breads, butters and oils to go with it.
I will be served most of the time by the sommelier, a young man whose wine knowledge was quite impressive, especially regarding French wines, even though he had never been to France.
The serious things begin.
Duck foie gras au torchon, raisins marinated in sauternes, pistachio and candied onion.
The foie gras is good and the garnish is well spiced. Not transcendent but well balanced.
Swedish Baerii sturgeon caviar served with roasted Jerusalem artichokes and almond sauce
If I take the sauce alone it is good but conventional. Adding the caviar and Jerusalem artichoke gives something more complex and very nice in the mouth.
Celeriac with cheese cream, candied pear and hazelnut, lemon thyme and fresh truffle. Danish cheese and Italian truffle.
It is a very intense dish on the nose but on the palate it is much more balanced. The cheese takes precedence over the truffle.
Really the most surprising dish so far.
Lightly poached lobster with pumpkin, sea buckthorn and a hollandaise sauce with Espelette pepper.
Then I fall in love with it. Fresh yet warm and spicy. Very fine but such a presence in the mouth!
The most accomplished dish of this dinner so far.
Charcoal-grilled monkfish with cooked leek, caramelized onion puree, cabbage, and red wine jus on a roasted monkfish base
Strangely enough, fish is cooked like meat. The cooking is perfect and the sauce divine.
The waiter will note my remark but will tell me that not all fish are suitable for such cooking.
Swedish mallard with roasted and glazed beets, fermented mushroom paste, wild duck juice with brown butter
With all my apologies for the totally failed photo…
The meat is excellent as is the sauce.
White chocolate and sour cream cremeux, Swedish apple sorbet served with toasted buckwheat
The superposition of the two ice creams is a success!
Valrhona Guanaja and cranberry chocolate variation: ice cream mousse and crumble.
Very good even if I’m not a chocolate fan.
I will finish with a coffee.
In spite of the tiredness of the flight, in spite of the fact that I am at the end of my journey, I keep the memory of an excellent meal with a cuisine certainly classic but very well executed. And then finally not so classic as that: if the technique is, there was still a small part of creativity. It was light, well dosed, but present.
A word about the service: very warm and attentive, with a long and detailed explanation of each dish by a sommelier very open to discussion.
The atmosphere
Few customers and relaxed atmosphere.
Light jazzy music in the background, pleasant and not intrusive.
Bottom line
To compare with comparable things it is certainly less sought after and creative than a Koka but, in another style, it is a good gastronomic restaurant which, in a more classic style, largely deserves its star.
When I think about it, it is the coherence of the whole and many details that make 28+ keep its star for 32 years and that, in a similar register, made Cilantro in Kuala Lumpur missed its own.