Overbrød, Anchorpoint

We've been wanting to check out Overbrød (#01-14A Anchorpoint, 370 Alexandra Road, tel : +65 8951 1198) for a while. The food's Swedish as much as it can be here and Nordic isn't exactly commonplace so we were curious. The last time we had something like that was Gæst a decade ago. And no - Ikea's cafeteria does not count.

Elderberry soda - like elderberry syrup in tonic water. It's probably that. Pretty sure they didn't brew the flower or berry in silver lined cauldrons under the magical light of the full moon during the Winter Solstice and then infuse the brew into carbonated water. 🌝 Nice reprieve from the sweltering humidity still.

Leverpostej - House made baked pâté of pork and chicken livers, topped with pickled beetroot, bacon, dill, chives, and saffron aioli, served with a slice of toasted rye bread. Nice this one. The creamy pâté was savoury and livery which was suitably accompanied by the fruity pickled beetroot. Too little of the buttered seedy rye for each serving methinks. 

We had to order more bread more to make good use of the remaining portion of pâté in the manner they had meant for us to enjoy.

Meatballs (frikadellar) were nice. People expectedly compare them with the ones from Ikea across the road. These were undoubtedly superior. Meatballs were more tender sitting on mash layered in a richer creamy brown sauce. Overall experience was more luxuriant compared to......the one across the road.

A fisksoppa - seafood stew with bits of halibut, salmon, shrimp and potato in a creamy dill-y lobster-y broth. This was delicious and a refreshing flavour profile from most lobster bisque around here. Also nice pairing with the buttered fennel toast. 

Tried an open face sandwich. This one was called 'Shooting star' (stjerneskud). Butter fried halibut according to them with.....the picture tells👆🏽. That mustardy coloured stuff was a Danish remoulade which tasted like it had curry in it. 

Winter is here....at Fika

We've returned! There's a blueberry soup (blåbärssoppa) on the menu. It's sweet, tastes like warm juice. Mmmm.....

After trying their räksmörgås the last time, we decided to try their skagen on a baked potato. I thought this was quite tasty even though I would have preferred more dill.

This winter plate was the only item we tried from their seasonal menu. It was like a mini-smörgåsbord if you would. Let's see - some chicken sausages, meatballs (today's was floury and not nice) on a beet salad, some smoky ham and salmon, spice rubbed turkey breast, a pomegranate salad, some rye bread and a chicken & pistachio terrine. 

A räksmörgås and dillkött from Fika

Some Swedish food names that I've picked up very recently after visiting Fika; now that there's a better representation of their food other than what's available in the cafeteria at Ikea. The räksmörgås is basically an egg and shrimp sandwich, open faced. And in spite of appearances, it wasn't half as bland as it looked. The shrimps were lightly salted and there was some mayo for that bit of extra flavour. Otherwise it tasted healthy, if you catch my drift, in a clean flavoured manner. I did find myself liking it. However I was also expecting some fresh dill over the top like they do to almost everything else but that was missing.

Moving on to the dillkött - it is a lamb stew, flavoured with dill. In fact, that rich buttery sauce sauce that you see was dill flavoured. This was amazing - the herb pretty much made the dish and that came with pretty generous portions of cubed lamb that, thankfully, had the flavours of lamb. This was from their autumn menu and I hope that it makes it to the regular one!

Swedish meatballs from Fika

I've never had Swedish meatballs before except for those in Ikea. So I guess this would be my first time. These meatballs from Fika (257 Beach Road, tel : +65 6396 9096) were gristly and had a lot more texture. The sauce was creamier in a good way and the lingonberry jam was different. I definitely don't mind coming back and also checking out their bakery Konditori. I hear that they have semla over there.

Swedish Crayfish Party at Ikea

This was a event that was hosted by Ikea and it ran for a good deal at $10 per person for members with all you can eat crayfish which is supposed to be in season now. They're all chilled and dill-ed by the way. I had actually secretly been hoping that they were served hot but I guess it was simply not possible setting those up for so many people at a time. I think I managed a couple of dozens before I got tired and checked out the other stuff that they had included in the spread like some savoury salmon cakes and some shrimp and mussel salad. Most of the other food were items that could be gotten from their cafeteria anyway.

I thought this was quite well organized on the part of Ikea. Even if it was marred by a bunch of almost rabid aunties heaping their plates like there was no tomorrow. They looked almost feral.