Brasserie Paleo

The amuse bouche. Dried cod skins with a dill mayonnaise and seaweed powder. The presentation was nice, but the taste was a little too fishy for our palates.

Restaurant Manager Ola Larsson welcomes us in the door. It's a Saturday night and we booked a table just thirty minutes ago. Brasserie Paleo is half empty on this cold, dark January evening. Ola asks if we want something to drink before we eat and points towards the bar. "A glass of wine or perhaps a cocktail?" You had us at cocktail...

The bartender this evening is Australian Pete Shaw. We order the "Paleo Garden" and "Key Lime Pie," simply because they sound wonderful, in addition to some bar snack. Pete tells us about the drinks and his passion for mixology. Later on Ola stops by the bar to explain the restaurant concept. Personally, he tries to live by the paleo lifestyle, but he is not among the most extreme. Nor should the restaurant be, and although they work towards complete paleo alternatives it will never be at the expense of a good taste experience.

Bartender and mixologist Pete Shaw

Truffle popcorn & crispy reindeer tongue with pumpkin cream and juniper berries.

Key Lime Pie. Perfectly balanced cocktail. Sweet, sour and creamy.

Paleo Garden

​The Weekly Paleo Menu

We are quite familiar with the paleo lifestyle and what you can and cannot eat. Some of you may remember our paleo recipes back in January. In Brasserie Paleo it is difficult to see much of the paleo way at all in their main menu. There is even bread and sugary desserts. Fortunately there is at least a "Weekly Paleo" menu written on the wall, that seems to be more true to the concept. We had to try this for the full experience. The dishes were not really designed to be shared, but we like this way to experience a meal so we decided to do it anyway.

Crayfish carpaccio, crispy pork cheeks, fennel and orange emulsion. A lovely appetizer with good balance in both taste and texture. Soft slices of fish, the creamy and slightly acidic orange emulsion, the salty & crispy bits of pork and crunchy fennel.

Celery root linguini, egg, spinach & the Swedish cheese "Almnäs tegelost"

Trout, Jerusalem artichokes, trout roe & lemon verbena oil. Three types of Jerusalem artichokes; fried, puree and chips. The fish was velvet soft inside with a crunchy crust.

Reindeer, parsnip puré, kale and apple cream. Perfectly cooked meat, and a well balanced plate both flavors and textures.

​À La Carte

Since we are not religious about the paleo concept either, we had to try some of the options à la carte. Green stars on the menu marks the more healthy options. We chose two green starred items, but had to check out the bread serving and a dessert as well. Boy, did we not regret that.

One of the best bread servings we can remember. Sourdough bread with crispy crust and two types of butter. Whipped butter with thyme and perfectly melted nutty brown butter with salt and lemon. Absolutely beautiful!

Caviar from Kalix, grilled avocado, crispy chicken skin, sour cream and onion.

Grilled ribeye from Jæren, sweet potato, tomato, onion, bone marrow and thyme. Three kinds of sweet potato; mashed, cooked and chips. The latter was was dry and tasteless. The cooked were a bit boring. The mash tasted good, though.

White chocolate, dill and yoghurt. Dill and ice cream? Yes! It worked and tasted absolutely divine. Served with white chocolate mousse and white chocolate with air bubbles.

All in all we really enjoyed Brasserie Paleo. The people who run the place seems dedicated in the way they talk about their concept. What we missed the most was nature wine. Alcohol is not really compatible with a strict paleo lifestyle, but a definite improvement would have been wine that at least does not contain added sugar or other substances. Also, some healthier desserts could have been worked out. At least replace sugar with honey or stevia. We'll return some day to see how things evolve.