Checking out the "new" Tango
I have been to Tango a
few times before but not after they moved in with Fish & Cow, right on the
city square (torget) in Stavanger. As we wanted somewhere special to celebrate
our anniversary, we decided to give “new” Tango a try and we went there with high
expectations as most reviews are very good! We arrived at 7 pm on a Saturday
evening. Fish & Cow has been a bit noisy the times we have been there but
Tango has been separated from Fish & Cow and there are maybe 6-7 tables
with comfortable leather chairs. The staff and reception experience are not
maybe as formal as at Re-naa (see Re-naa review here) but we got menus and were asked if we
wanted an aperitif to start with. The menu is quite simple – you go for either a
4-course dinner or a 7-course dinner and we were asked if there were any
allergies that they had to consider. We decided to go all in and have a
7-course dinner, and there is also an option for a wine pairing package.
We started with a
small snack – cured bacon from an island outside Stavanger. Sliced in slivery thin
slices and comparable in taste to great pancetta (maybe even lardo) from Italy.
As we had decided to try the wine pairing, we soon got the first glass and it
was a nice gesture to leave the bottle on the table. This allowed us to take
photos of the ones we enjoyed the most for future reference. We also got
information about the wine, but the various staff members had very different
approach to this – some gave a detailed introduction and others were more concise
and fact based.
First dish of the
evening was a playful taco – a wrap made from potatoes with grilled langoustine,
together with some green pepper - that gave it just a bit of a punch. The
following dish was just described as boiled potatoes with butter and truffle
but when we got it, there was a bit more to it. But yes, the main ingredient
was the potatoes from Gyda gård located just a bit outside of Stavanger. Unlike
many Norwegians, I’m not totally crazy about potatoes so this was not the most
memorable dish for me. However, we do think it admirable that they are using locally
sourced ingredients. At the same time as we got the potato dish, we also got
some bread served. As a bread lover, I loved this serving as the bread was
still warm out of the oven and it was served with a lovely herb butter.
We went
back to seafood as next dish was described as just Hake (or Lysing in Norwegian) on the menu – but again
it was more to it when it was served. It was actually a piece of hake that was
topped with a fluffy yet creamy Hollandaise sauce that been made so thick that
it was laid as a blanket over the fish. A lovely dish accompanied by a lovely
Chablis on the side. We stuck to seafood and local produce as the next dish was
halibut from Hjelmeland (not that far outside of Stavanger). It was a good size
piece of fish served with a butter sauce with citrus and decorated with edible
flowers.
As you would expect,
it was time to move over to meat and first up was a piece of veal served with
sweetbread if I’m not mistaken (or brissel in Norwegian). The meat was very
tender and tasty and the sweetbread is always a bit weird to eat (not something
we make at home or eat that often) but that is also tasty. The next dish was
also meat and this time we got a piece of lamb. Again, very tasty but maybe a
bit to similar to the previous meat dish.
Dessert was served
after about 20 minutes and it was ice cream on a stick. Served with a good
sweet dessert wine, this was awesome. I do like my ice cream and this was
simple yet very tasty. But dessert was not over – we also got a white chocolate
cream with a black current compote. I enjoyed this dish as well, but I do have
to add that I have quite a sweet tooth. When this was served, they also poured
some liquid over dry ice and it resulted in some cool photos – but maybe this
has gone wrong before as the chef made sure to add that this was not meant to
be eaten. We rounded the meal of with some petit fours and the small eggs
filled with a ganache of sea buckthorn (or tindved in Norwegian) was excellent
and I do love the taste of this orange berry. I was not that convinced about the
canelé in the end or maybe we had just had enough food.
Conclusion: this was a
solid evening and certainly a culinary experience with some memorable wines; It
was also great to see that Tango uses a lot of local produce, as our area has a
lot to offer. Some are worried that they will walk out of a fine dining dinner
hungry but that was certainly not the case here. We were full after being
through an array of seafood, meat and dessert! As mentioned in the beginning,
we had high expectations and they were definitely met to a certain degree. The
most common question I have gotten afterwards is “how did it compare to Re-naa”
and I found it to be more of a traditional fine dining restaurant while Re-naa
has moved on to a more modern twist of the fine dining experience. But all in
all, it was great to visit Tango and there is no doubt that this is a place
worth visiting if you have a personal or work occasion to celebrate– or just
want to enjoy an evening of seriously good food.
Facts:
Homepage: https://www.tango-bk.no/
Location: Skagen 3. See this Google map
Price of food: 1490 kroner (160 USD) for the 7-course menu for 1! 990/1490 kroner (110/160 USD) for the wine pairing.
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