A taste of Mondo's universe (Restaurant is permanently closed)

Note that this restaurant is permanently closed!

I have been to Mondo in Sandnes a couple of times before (see a short lunch review here), but it has been a while since the last time. SO it was with great joy that I got to visit this restaurant again in January 2019. Since I was there the last time, head chef Christian André Pettersen has won the European Bocuse d’Or and he has been trained at  Charles & De (also in Sandnes) and head chef there (Charles Tjessem) won Bocuse d’Or in 2003. But enough with the name dropping ;-)

 

We came there on a Saturday night and the restaurant is located on the harbor in Sandnes. The restaurant and interior in Mondo is stylish and modern and we got to enjoy a drink in the lounge area (with a fireplace) while we were waiting for our table. I was glad to see that the restaurant was busy on a Saturday night – it is after all one of the top restaurants in Sandnes and it should be busy. We had booked the Mondo’s Univers menu which is a set menu of about 12 courses and that needs to be booked 2 days in advance. We were taken to our table and we decided to go for the wine pairing for the food this evening and we also got some water on the table. Our main waiter had a playful and informal style which is good as you don’t want the fine dining experience to be intimidating.

As the menu changes according to season, there is no set menu and hence we only got the courses presented as they were served and due to this it is not that easy to remember all of them. 

 

This evening we started out with a small bowl of ceviche of halibut (or kveite in Norwegian). All the food seemed to be presented in the rustic and fun tableware from Odd Standard. The ceviche was awesome – it had Asian flavors and it was served with some onion on top. A small portion but an explosion of flavors. We continued with a small portion of langoustine (sjøkreps in Norwegian) topped with a foam. I’m not sure what was in the foam but together with the juice it tasted like a great lobster bisque (without the cream). It was the kind of dish where you keep on scraping your spoon into the bowl hoping to catch the last molecule of juice.

 

The last time I was at Mondo and had a larger menu there was a lot of sharing and I’m not necessarily a big fan of that – and the only “sharing” dish was served next when we got two small reindeer tartar cakes. Usually meat is served later in larger menus, but this was certainly a nice twist. The tartar was maybe a bit on the salty side but still highly enjoyable. We pressed on and got a small cauliflower soup that was excellent – the way I present this makes it sound like the dishes were rolling in every minute but it was actually served in a perfect pace and we got time to enjoy the various wines.

 

We had gotten to the fish section now and we first got a piece of monkfish (breiflabb) – one of my favorite white fish, topped with shrimp and the next fish was cod served with a rich sauce and caviar. The cod was cooked perfectly as far as I could tell, and the layers fell apart as I started poking it with a fork. We got a small rest in the menu and we got a bit of a palate cleanser in the form of two “ice creams”. One scoop was made with sea buckthorn (or tindved in Norwegian). This is an orange berry that has an amazing taste – if you want to try it out, head to Renaa Xpress in Stavanger (and some times at SiddisCafé) to taste this! The other scoop tasted (and looked like) it was made with lots of herbs. 

 

We had gotten to the meat part of the menu now and we first got a veal dish and then a dish with slices of duck! To round it of we got a small piece of cheese, a small donut like ball, coffee ice cream and some chocolate petit four!

 

Conclusion: As mentioned, fine dining can be intimidating if it is too formal – or if you feel that you pay a lot and leave the restaurant still hungry. For this visit to Mondo I can only say “Bravo” – this was one of the best dining experiences that I have had. The menu had food that I appreciate and like, the pace was excellent, the wine pairing was good, we got food served with a playful tone and there was certainly enough food. So if you want to go out to celebrate something special - or just want to have a great evening with lots of good food, head to Mondo and have a taste of Mondo’s universe!

Facts:

Homepage: https://mondo.no/

Location: Rådhusgata 3, Sandnes - see Google map https://goo.gl/maps/RzQLTtQddSN2

Price of food: 1395 Kroner (160 USD)

 

Nordic Tapas Dinner Experience at 26North (Restaurant is permanently closed)

Note that this restaurant is permanently closed!

I have been to 26North Stavanger before (see previous blog entry ) and back then I was pretty happy with the visit. First of all I’m glad to see that hotel restaurants in Stavanger is now making an effort into trying to be restaurants for the town and not only for the hotel guests – and there seems to be a focus on using local ingredients in the food as well. We visited 26North Stavanger in January 2019 as they had a special offer called “Nordic Tapas Dinner Experience” We booked a table at 7 PM on a Friday (you actually have to book tickets a day in advance on eBillett) and when we got there the restaurant was pretty quiet. The restaurant has a good setup as there are room for both couples, small and large groups. We ordered some wine to start with and got a small loaf served with butter and aioli. 

 

As we had booked this experience in advance, the first round of food was served quite fast. The first round had focus on “fjords” and hence it was seafood. 26North use wood plates for the serving which I think is fun and rustic. The starter was a deconstructed fish soup – a bowl with a scallop, salmon, shrimp and some vegetables and on the side there was a bottle of soup to pour into the bowl. I enjoyed this dish as the soup itself was rich and there were good chunks of fish in the bowl. On the plate there was also a big scallop shell, and this was filled with pollock (sei in Norwegian) sashimi topped with onion and apple. The vegetables on top had a zing to them as they had been in lime/lemon but the pollock was a bit dry. Then again, I’m not that into sashimi in the first place. The third starter on this plate was salmon that seemed to have an Indian twist to it. Maybe it was garam masala that was the spice that had been used but together with the caviar (I think the fish eggs was also from salmon) it was maybe a bit on the salty side.

 

The second part of the meal had focus on “farm” and hence it was meat. Again, since we had pre-booked this, the meat was served very fast. On the platter there was three kinds of meat: strips of sirloin (ytrefilet in Norwegian), a small lamb shank, and piece of pork (I think it was pork neck). On the side there was some potatoes and some vegetables and two sauces (red wine sauce and choron sauce). All in all, quite a large portion and find a good presentation.  Our first reaction when cutting into the sirloin was that it was lukewarm and not very tender. The lamb shank had the same problem – it was not very warm and it was drier than I hoped it would be but it did have a good rosemary taste. The porn neck was the best part of the meat as it was quite tender (and warm). The sauces were both quite good and I enjoyed dipping both meat and the excellent roasted potatoes into the choron sauce.

 

After this we were asked if we wanted to wait a bit before the dessert and we said yes to that as we had only been in the restaurant for about 35 minutes when we got the meat served. When we got the dessert, it was also served on a wooden platter and it contained a brownie (with white and dark chocolate), a carrot cake, a small Créme Brûlée and something that I’m actually a bit uncertain about. The dark part of the brownie was good but I’m not sure if this can be called a brownie – it was more like a ganache cake if you ask me. The white chocolate part was a bit chewy so I’m not sure what happened to that. I enjoyed the carrot cake and Créme Brûlée was also good.

 

Conclusion: All in all I have to say that I was not super impressed with 26North this time. When I have been there in the past, I have ordered from the à la carte menu and I have been happy with that. It seemed like most of the other guests were just ordering from the à la carte menu this evening. The “Nordic Tapas Dinner Experience” is a special offer in January and February of 2019. I find it a bit strange that the meat is served lukewarm when we had booked this food in advance and we came to the restaurant according to our booking. So next time I go to 26North Stavanger, I will book from the à la carte menu and wait a bit for the food to be served.

Facts:
Homepage: http://26north.no/stavanger/
Location: Løkkeveien 26 - see Google map https://goo.gl/maps/1apNx7dxqR72
Price for the food on this visit: 475 Norwegian kroner per person (55 USD)

Changes in the restaurant scene in Stavanger

First of all: Happy New Year! This posting will just be a bit about what has happened on the Stavanger restaurant scene in 2018 – and what will happen in 2019. 

Let’s start with the bad news! It seems like it is hard to run a restaurant business in Stavanger and there are unfortunately many places that have closed down in 2018. Alex Sushi (that I wrote about a couple of years back) closed in December after struggling financially for the last few years. It was also a bit of a shock to read that California Republic and Cuba Compagniet are struggling (after only 9 months open) and it was also surprising to see that the beer pub Gulating had to close even if it had a prime location in the middle of a thriving area in Stavanger (Fargegadå). In addition to this Wrap & roll is struggling and it seems like they have to close their venues at the malls but the food truck might be back under a different name.

But let us move on to the more positive news: which restaurants are due to open in 2019? First of all: the flagship of the Stavanger restaurant scene, RE-NAA, is closing down the business at the current location in Breitorget and they are moving to the new Eilert Smith hotel just a few hundred meters away. Renaa Matbaren will continue the business at Breitorget and the plan seems to be to open a wine bar in the old RE-NAA location. Talking about moving: Ostehuset also moved in December and they are now located in a beautiful new setting at Bankplassen next to the cathedral of Stavanger.

There are a few brand new restaurants on the horizon as well. Tango moved in with Fish & Cow a while back and the old place has not been in use since then. But now a new place called Diablito will open up in March and they will focus on authentic tapas! A lot of the new things are happening in Stavanger Øst at the moment so it is not a surprise that many of the new restaurants are opening there. In Pedersgata we will see the opening of Hekkan burger and Mano Pizza – in the same house actually. Further down the road, Yips Dumplings & Digg will open. Pedersgata is really turning into the restaurant street of Stavanger with a great variety of places.

Near Tou Scene, we will see the opening of Tako (by the owners of Fortou) and this will focus on Mexican food. They will open the place in Ryfylkegata 22 and right next door there will be a new branch of the bakery Kanelsnurren. Kanelsnurren have expanded quite a lot over the last couple of years and now they will be competing with Ostehuset Øst as they are in the same neighborhood.

Which restaurants are you looking forward to checking out in 2019?