Ekstedt At The Yard: Delicious Tastes Of Scandinavia In Westminster.

Anthea Gerrie Revisits The Sublime Tastes Of Scandinavia A Michelin-Starred Chef Has Brought From Stockholm To Westminster With Ekstedt At The Yard

It’s a sight to pop the eyes of any old-school Inspector of the Yard – a blazing open fire kitchen, tranches of beef resting high above the flames, their dripping caramelising oysters with the help of a deadly red-hot weapon known as a flambadou. Yet this unlikely apparition within the former home of the Met has now been transformed by Michelin-starred chef Niklas Ekstedt into a reality on London’s Great Scotland Yard.

Ekstedt at the Yard does not yet have the star its eponymous chef won in Stockholm in 2013 and has retained there ever since, but it is surely coming soon. Perhaps once the London restaurant, now an established dining destination, is tweaked with a little more scene-setting; the bare wood tables and dried botanicals which speak of Swedish forests translate in London as a bit casual country pub, belying the fine fare dressed to convey an exotic sense of the Baltic which comes the way of every guest.

The Journey to Scandinavia menu whose only option is five or seven courses includes signature dishes which have been too popular to take off the menu in either London or Sweden since their inception. They include those oysters flambadou and the cep souffle which makes for a savoury, chocolatey dessert with deeper flavours than the cocoa bean alone can offer.

But first, as in every fine dining restaurant, the amuses-bouches which constitute a course of their own, as does the bread and butter which follows. We delight in a tiny croustade topped with a little pile of beef tartare and a steamed bun filled with a cheesy trout mouse and a flourish of tiny orange trout eggs. This last is served on a rock, bringing nature straight to our table, as will the pine branches and rustic plates which follow.

The hunk of sourdough bread cooked in a vast wood-fired baking oven which sits between the fiery kitchen and the dining room is an event indeed, though the home-churned butter could be a little too Swedish for some tastes once adorned with the whey which carries a canister full of smoke to bring drama to the service is added.

We are allowed into the Ekstedt At The Yard kitchen to witness the preparation of the oysters flambadou, just one fat Cornish bivalve each, finished with a beurre blanc after being dressed in beef dripping. This dripping also does duty in a most unusual old-fashioned which brings a pleasantly beefy flavour to Cognac, instead of the usual bourbon, flavoured with bitters and a twist of orange. But for the oysters and the fish course which follows – tonight it’s turbot, king of the sea – we switch to a glass of rich, buttery white Burgundy (Domaine Rene Monnier, £16).

A delicate but not ungenerous fillet has survived the flames to sit prettily beside a pile of smoked Jerusalem artichoke puree, the whole dish dressed with a splash of fermented cucumber vinaigrette.

Our main is a tranche of pine-smoked, grass-fed sirloin, its accompaniment another puree, this time of fire-cooked aubergine, a large slice of cauliflower mushroom and the star turn – a little honey-glazed loaf of milk bread arranged as a series of tear-off portions to share. It was worth giving up the rest of the sourdough for, reluctant as we were to part with it, and I am reminded that Sweden’s bread bakers are the best in the world.

Pinot noir grown on volcanic soil in Oregon (Roserock, £19) makes a fine companion, a more affordable taste by the glass than a volcanic wine pairing for the whole menu, which adds £85 to the bill (only £70 for a pairing comprising wines from “emerging regions”).

The cep souffle provides a dark finale, subtly mushroomy but delicious, accompanied by ice-cream scented with woodruff from British hedgerows and a concentrated little pool of blueberry compote. And there is one more treat to this £95 five-course menu – the complex petits fours including a tiny lavender-scented creme brûlée which really serve as a sixth, unadvertised course.

Happily, no bobbies rush in during dinner to arrest the chefs for arson and the closest we come to encountering any criminals is the delightful display of prisoner art which adorns the lobby of the quiet and decorous Yard Hotel where all the fireworks are confined to the kitchen.