Svinepels - Pop-up Restaurant at Seeds

Pop-up restaurant! The word is so hot it hurts. Still a fairly new concept in Oslo, although the trend is slowly and steadily growing thanks to influence from cities like Copenhagen and Stockholm. Svinepels is a new pop-up restaurant that caught our interest earlier this year. When they announced a dinner at Seeds in Oslo a month ago, with a 10-course tasting menu and drinks to match, we just had to go check it out. Seeds is a backyard bar and club, and is part of Mesh - the coworking space in Tordenskiolds gate. They have a lot of events, concerts and DJs playing. The musical element of this evening was Jay Nemor.

Anders talking to Even and Magnus

Svinepels consist of Magnus Støre and Even Rømo. Neither of them are educated chefs, they're simply two friends interested in food and fascinated by the modern restaurant experience. Eating out has become almost theatrical in execution. The experiments in the Svinepels kitchen are based on the latest trends that Magnus and Even pick up from the top restaurants around the world. Both in terms of ingredients and presentation.

Even from Svinepels and Martin from Moestue Grape Selection who provided the drinking menu

This specific evening had the coming of spring as topic, and was a reflection of Mother Earth facing the Northern hemispehere toward the sun and all the life that wakes from hibernation. Martin Kloster from Moestue Grape Selection attended the event and served drinks to match each course.

"Andre ting enn potetgull kan være gull" - Flax seed bread & mussel mayo. This was served as a sharing platter that was passed around the table.

"Hvem skulle trodd at alt levende en gang har vært rått?" - Shrimp, dill, cream and samphire. This reminded us about a dish we had at Ylajali in Oslo and Kadeau on Bornholm recently.

"Alt kan være en trestamme" - Leek and nyr. Leek and various wild onions are very trendy at the moment, not to speak of the fresh cheese nyr.

"Noen sa det kunne ligne på noe" - Pork cheek on a stick of fir tree. Meat served on moss. Probably inspired by presentations at restaurants like Maaemo in Oslo and Noma in Copenhagen.

Anders studying the menu, waiting for the next dish

"Umacho salat" - Salad, radish and egg. The egg yolk and whites were separated and prepared on their own. The salad had wild flowers. Everything very much in trend, especially foraging of wild flowers, but the dish lacked flavor, salt and contrast.

Muskateller, Ökonomirat Rebeholz, 2013 presented by Martin from Moestue. To match the first few dishes.

"Blodet må pumpes rundt for å kunne hige etter evigheten" - ox heart, apple, walnuts and horseradish. We've seen this style of presenting the meat, hidden under leaves of salad, several other places. Kontrast in Oslo and Amass in Copenhagen to name a few.

"Risotto kan være godt, men husmødre vet bedre" - Porridge of grains with carrot and Västerbotten cheese. We ate a nordic risotto at Relæ in Copenhagen last summer, which inspired us to make our own recipe of sunflower seed risotto as well. You'll find it on the blog. A nice twist from Svinepels to use Swedish cheese in stead of parmesan.

Bøgedal, Hvede. A wheat beer to match the nordic risotto.

"Blir det mer meta enn å spise en spisemuskel?" - Ox cheeks, herbs and Jerusalem artichoke.

Nebbiolo, Josette Saffirio 2010. A more powerful red wine was needed to match the ox meat.

"Selv ikke det tilfeldige er tilfeldig, bortsett fra det som er sjukt random da" - Brillat-savarin cheese, parsley and lemon. A great cheese, and our favorite serving of the evening.

Martin served Sydre Argelette from Eric Bordelet for the cheese and desserts

"Har tang, bær og beter noe til felles?" - Søl, black currants, redbeets and soured milk. We know this Islandic sea weed, søl, from restaurants like Pjoltergeist. A very nice dessert, flavors that matched well and different consistencies.

"De de franske kaller petir four, som egentlig bare er munch" - Brown cheese tart, freeze dried apple and macaron with seabuckthorn. Maaemo serves a brown cheese tart too, but this was more similar to a traditional cheese cake and very tasty! Seabuckthorn taste amazing and Svinepels has obviosuly gathered that it is very trendy as well.

Team Svinepels together with Marius Sommerfeldt from Seeds

Svinepels pop-up was a nice experience. The food, the drinks and the music put together made it a great evening. We wish the team good luck with future events, and encourage them to work even more with the flavors and contrast, but also the presentation of each dish. In terms of price they match restaurants in Oslo like Kontrast, Pjoltergeist and Bon Lio. That means expectations from guests are pretty high as well.