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This lovely Finnish chap called Osmo Ikonen did a showcase at Scandi Kitchen last week. Sorry we couldn't tell you about it before, it was all a bit hush hush and industry only.
He was a very nice man and we enjoyed having him here very much. Go Osmo, we say. Nice to know Finland is not all hard rock hallelujah.
Tuesday 26th, Wednesday 27th and Thurday 28th from 10 till 18.
Love,
The Kitchen People
x
We met Danish Birgitte yonks ago as she used to work down the road from Scandi Kitchen. Not only is she a super nice lady but she is also bright, funny and clever.
After she had her daughter Esther she invented a solution for her pram so she'd no longer have to drape a muslin cloth over the hood of the pram to shield her child from the sun.
At the moment you can catch Birgitte as she appears on BBC Two’s new series Britain’s Next Big Thing, hosted by retail magnate Theo Paphitis. There you will see her pitch to retail chain Boots.
We love Birgitte's product. You can find out more about Baby Beamers Sun Snoozer cover here
Also avialable at JoJoMaman Bebe
We have, since we opened our doors back in 2007, been very aware that Swedish Gluten Free products have a huge following in the UK - for the simple reason that, well, they are really superior in taste and texture.
Now we are pleased to add to our range products from the Swedish company FRIA - a fantastic company that makes everything from loaves of gluten free bread to muffins to buns and everything in between. All frozen, so all you have to do is defrost and serve.
Best of all: their products taste really good. We know, we have sampled them and we also got some mates of ours to sample them (some of who suffer from gluten intolerance and some who suffer from Coeliac disease).
To start things off, we are stocking the following products:
Swedish cinnamon buns - gluten free. Bag of 4 £3.75
Gluten free mini baguettes - dark roll, fiber-enriched with sunflower seeds, linseeds and buckwheat flakes. Bag of 4 rolls £3.75
Swedish sticky brownie "kladdkaka" - 1 large cake £4.75
We'd love to add to our selection - but for this, we need to know the demand is there, so do pop by and try these out and let us know if you want us to keep stocking them. And while you are at it, give the Gluten Free spagetti and macaroni from SEMPER a go, it really is a really superior product. We also do a lactose and gluten free crispbread from WASA.
READ MORE ABOUT FRIA PRODUCTS HERE
We're saying hello to the lovely David from Sweden this week who has joined us on the on-line shop side of things. You may not see David around the cafe much because he'll be busy in our big fancy warehouse with Jonas, but if you are ordering from us online, you may well be chatting to him at some point or another.
Some facts about David:
1. David dreams about being a goat farmer and will do anything for goat's cheese
2. Despite being extremely tall, he has developed a fear of heights
3. His favourite past time is to nick fruit from the homes of historical characters in the English countryside.
Was Elvis Danish? Is there something we do not know?
Lately, we’ve been asking questions to that effect. It is all because of a newly opened place in Denmark called... Graceland.
Yeps, it’s Graceland Denmark. Or, as it is known: Graceland Randers.
This poses several question: Where is Randers and what does it have to do with Elvis?
The new Graceland is almost twice the size of Elvis’s original house. So, it's not really a replica, because it's different. Okay, we can over look that. It is a museum with over 6000 Elvis items – and the owners hope to attract 50,000 visitors a year (the real Graceland attracts 600,000 people a year, just to put it into perspective).
Surely, there must be some serious Scandi Elvis connections?
Here are the answers to your hunka hunka burning questions about Elvis’ Scandinavian connections:
Elvis – it’s a Norse name. We know this because Bronte used this fact to persuade Jonas to let her name their first born son Elvis. They had all girls, so no Elvis (but they do have an Elsa). Elvis means Old Wise One.
Randers – it’s a bit of a typical place in Jutland, Denmark. Nice enough to live there, but we see no other reason to stick for too long around except it does have a really good hot dog stand. We still cannot understand how it connects to Graceland, though. It is a bit like deciding to put a museum for Scottish contemporary art in the middle of Sao Paulo.
Yes, you can get married at Graceland Randers. There are Danish Elvis Impersonators available.
Nope, Elvis never visited Denmark. That we know of. Maybe he’s still here? Maybe he lives in Randers? Is it he who runs that nice hot dog place? A-ha, the plot thickens.
Elvis nearly married a Swedish girl from Valsjobyn her name was Ann Margaret. But he didn’t, in the end. Except he kinda did: in the film Viva Las Vegas they got married in the Little Church of the West... (as did Jonas and Bronte...)
l to r: bronte, Jonas
Kjell Elvis is a chap from Stavanger in Norway who has had quite a bit of surgery to look like his idol. Yikes.
Any more connections?
Congratulations to Rene and the boys and girls at Noma in Copenhagen to retaining the crown for the second year running.
Yesterday in London, the 2011 Best Restaurants in the World were unveiled and Noma came out tops again.
We were pleased to see some surprising new entries, both from the UK and further a field too - China has a place on these now as does Russia. Sadly, the Fat Duck dropped quite a few places.
You can see the whole list here
Not that we have any authority to be critical on this super high level stuff, we do want to comment that the competition decided to exclude El Bulli from the whole competition because they have decided to close as from July and turn the restaurant into a foundation. Not good sport on behalf of the organisers, we say. But then again, that's just our opinion.... We're still super proud of the Danes and their achivement in 2011, it has been a great year for Scandinavian food and cooking so far.
Cheese is cheese, you say. Well, not quite so. There is an army of tyrophiles across the world who will beg to differ when it comes to this kind of white stuff.
Except, this particular cheese is not white: It's brown.
In Norway, and as far as we know Scandinavia is the only producer of this in the world, they enjoy something called Brunost - literally, brown cheese. Guess what? It IS brown.
The reason for it being brown is that when they boil milk, cream and whey for seevral hours, the water evaporates and the heat turns the milk sugar into caramal, giving the cheese its distinct taste and characteristics. Brown cheese is usually made with goat's milk or a mixture of goat and cow's milk.
If you've never had brown cheese, it is a bit like trying Marmite for the first time: you'll either love it or hate it. Fortunately, most people love it.
It's a hard cheese - you need a good cheese slicer such as one of these to slice it.
Enjoy it on crispbread or crackers - or, if you want to be super Norwegian, on warm waffles. It's delicious.
We stock 4 kinds of brown cheese - you can buy them on our webshop
The mildest of the lovely brown cheeses (flotemysost) - try this one
For a bit of a medium taste, try this goats/cow version called Gudbrandsdalen
The more goat cheese loving crowd should go for the Ekte Geitost - Real Goast Cheese (750g)
Or how about a spreadable whey butter from Sweden? This is called Messmor. Utterly delightful.
Click on the images of ze cheeses to be teleported directly to our online store.
this is what all ladies in Norway look like.
Mostly, the basket is full of brown cheese as well as kvikklunsj. Maybe an orange too.
We like a bit of a prediction here at SK. Eurovision takes place in Dusseldorf in less than a month's time. May we be a bit bold and predict France as the winner?
Not because it is very 'Eurovison' or anything, but it is sung in Corsican by a young handsome tenor.
Still, for once, we actually think Finland is going to do pretty darn well. Not a monster in sight. Okay, lyrics are a bit da da dummy, but the sentiment is sweet.
If you are walking around planning to kidnap a royal, the King of Norway is an easy target. It seems his Royal Guards are that that keen on protecting him.
During an excerise in the Norwegian Royal Guard last week, the alarm sounded - but the guards were not all rushing to the Kings defence. In fact, many of them were found hiding: under their beds, in toilets and cupboards. One or two of the bodyguards were apparently found trying to climb a fence.
Seeing as they did not know it was a training alarm, we conclude that the King should probably revisit his strategy for his own safety.
You may think that Easter in Scandinavia is all about, well, eggs and chickens, but you couldn’t be more wrong. There is heaps more to it than that.
Denmark: kids make “gækkebreve” – this literally means “"a letter for a fool". They cut a pattern on a piece of paper and write an Easter poem, signing their name with dots and add a dried Snowdrop flower in the letter. The receiver has to guess who it is from – and if they cannot, by Easter Sunday, they have to give the sender an Easter egg.
Sweden: Kids dress up as Easter witches and go from house to house asking for Easter sweets and treats.
Norway: here, the most peculiar Easter traditions have formed over the past years: Easter is the CRIME NOVEL SEASON. Yeps, in Norway, sales of crime novels triples as people prepare to pack their backpacks to travel to their little log cabins in the country side. They stuff the packs with crime novels, Kvikklunsj chocolate and oranges. Kvikklunsj chocolate is a bit like KitKat, only SO MUCH better. It is one of the main Norwegian food groups also. Almost.
Even the milk cartons in Norway are re-printed for Easter and these also feature “mysteries” on them for people to solve. Yeps, during Easter all Norwegian people turn into their own version of Inspector Barnaby, albeit Kvikklunsj eating, hiking ones.
You can buy Kvikklunsj, Solo and heaps of other Norwegian staples in our webshop. Come to think of it, you can buy Danish Easter treats too - and those fantastic Finnish chocolate eggs in REAL eggshels - and we still have a few Easter Egg boxes left too.
Wesley Hosie, 25, from Somerset spotted Kate Kiddelton's face on a jelly bean and now plans to sell it on ebay for £500.
We love a bit of royal chit chat, this is no secret. Still, we can't help but question the latest naming of the Danish royal twins: Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
They say that all children grow into their names and we're sure this is true of these little nippers too. Still, having twins in a family, you'd think that the names might "fit" a bit together. But who are we to judge? When our Bronte had her babies, she wanted to name them Elvis: it was a close call that she only had girls.
The Royal Twins, child no 3 and 4 to the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess "throw another shrimp on the barbie" Mary, were christened yesterday.
Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander is the full name of the little boy - we especially love the addition of a Greenlandic name (Minik).
Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda is the name of the little girl - the name Ivalo being from Greenland.
The name Vincent means 'Conquering', where as the name Josephine means "The Lord increases".
Still, it could have been worse: the could have called the poor kid Valiant. And her Rapunzel. But they did not, which is a good thing.
Although we did root for Bent and Bente.
l to r: princess Isabella, Prince Christian the break dancer,
Princess Mary holding one twin, Crown Princess Frederik holding the other one.
We sometimes get ourselves into a bit of a pickle. Lately, the gals in the kitchen have been working on a decadent summer cake, featuring both coconut and pineapple, cocktail umbrellas and cherries.
In short, it is all pina colada, long evening nights and waiters with cheesy smiles and helpful pick up lines.
The problem is: how do we link this to anything Scandinavian? Okay, we could admit defeat and just say "it's a nice summer cake, eat it and don't ask questions" but it would be NICE to find a link to something Scandinavian.
Except we can't: Pina Colada just isn't very Oslo or Northern. At all.
Over to you, dear readers: can you help? There's a free lunch in it if we use your (however random) suggestion on how we can link pina colada to Scandinavia.
Here are some helpful hints and facts about pina colada that may or may not help at all:
Can you help make a bit of a link from Scandi Kitchen to Pina Colada?
Mail iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk
Following on from our other post about having too much time on our hands... A site about cats that look like Hitler.
It starts: 'Does your cat look like Adolf Hitler? Do you wake up in a cold sweat every night wondering if he's going to up and invade Poland?'
Read more here
What's next? Dogs who look like Carola?
We came across a website - don't ask us how, we obviously have too much time on our hands. These bloggers specialise in finding bunnies that look like people:
Victor?
You can read more about bunnies who look like people here
With all this business of extra bank holidays and Prince Charming finally marrying his Princess, we have decided to have a bit of an Easter break. We're going to be pottering around, fixing stuff at the cafe, polishing the silverware and such like.
Our Easter opening times are:
Good Friday: Open from 9-18
Saturday 23rd April - open as per normal 10-18
Easter Sunday 24th April: CLOSED
Easter Monday 25th April: CLOSED
26th through till 28th April OPEN 10-18
Friday 29th April (The Royal Wedding) CLOSED (we'll all be watching it and drinking tea and eating scones somewhere sunny)
Saturday 30th April: Open 10-18
Sunday 1st May: Open 10-16
Monday 2nd May: CLOSED
Please note that for WEB ORDERS last delivery leaving Scandi Kitchen is WEDNESDAY 20th April for delivery Thursday 21st. Orders placed after 15:00 on 20th April will not be shipped until Tuesday 26th (for delivery Wed 27th).
We love welcoming new people, especially when it is someone as nice as Olivia.
This week, Olivia entered the realms of the Scandinavian Kitchen as our new Kitchen Angel – and she’s cooking up a storm already.
Olivia is from Stockholm and she has just moved to London to start her new life. A self-confessed foodie, she has a lovely blog and she is into everything food, especially baking. Which we have assured her she will be doing lots of in her time at Scandi Kitchen.
She’s also obsessed with shoes, although we have to say, so far, she’s only been wearing one pair at the time which is not too bad.
Be nice to the lovely Olivia if you see her around.
How about giving someone a REALLY special Easter egg?
The Finnish MIGNON egg is actually a hazelnut and almond filling INSIDE a real egg shell. Yeps, you read correctly: a real egg.
These Mignon eggs have been made since 1896. The recipe stems from Germany, from where the maker and now famous Finnish Chocolate company (Karl Fazer) brought the concept over to the Finnish shores.
As you can imagine, to cope with a production demand of over 2 million eggs a year, you need a helluva lot of perfect egg shells to start with. And a lot of patience to fill them. Only the very best and most perfect eggs are selected to become a Mignon egg.
After sorting, the egg is cleaned. A hole is drilled into the shell with a 10mm diamond head drill, a thin straw is inserted to the egg, through which the egg contents are removed by a machine (the contents are not wasted but are used in industrial cooking – we imagine a portion of scrambled eggs the size of Luxembourg or similar). After emptying, the shells are washed, rinsed, sterilized, dried - and checked again.
It takes about 3 months and 30 people working full time to make the annual required amount of Mignon eggs. Hence the price tag and the exclusivity. The chocolate filling is exactly 28 degrees when it is piped into the egg shell after which is is sent on a journey of cooling to reach exact temperature to preserve it.
When the egg has hardened, it is packed manually into a container and sent to the shops. Loads of these eggs get marked for exports to fine establishments around the world.
There are many ways to eat a Mignon egg. Some slice the egg and eat it piece by piece, others chew pieces right off the Mignon. Some put the whole Mignon into their mouths. The shell needs removing first, though. That is easily done by knocking the middle of the egg with a knife and then carefully removing the shell halves. Eh, a bit like peeling an egg, you know.
MIGNON eggs are in store now and costs £3.95 an egg. You can buy it in our web shop as well – just click here
Today is April Fool's Day. A day where, all over the world, people are subject to practical jokes and hoaxes - albeit usually all good natured.
Fancy getting your hand on a £25 voucher for our Scandinavian Kitchen web-shop? Well, well, all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is find out which ones of the following statements are April Fools - and which are true.
Pop an e-mail iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk over to us with which ones of the above are FALSE - and we'll enter you into the draw for the voucher for our on line shop. By end of today, please (1st April).
Usual competition rules apply: no employees of SK and SKt can take part, no cash alternative, only valid on-line (not in cafe), the judge's decision is final. And so on. Winner will be notified by pigeon - or maybe e-mail, if the pigeon is tired.
You can visit the online Scandinavian food shop - stocking food products from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, here: TAKE ME TO THE SHOP (orders over £50 are carriage free)
Tel. 020 7580 7161
info@scandikitchen.co.uk
61 Great Titchfield Street
London, W1W 7PP
Monday - Friday: 8 - 19
Saturday: 10 - 18
Sunday: 10-16 (food 15)
Scandinavian Kitchen 2010
