Thamar N.
Yelp
"Full circle"...
November 2012, what's that, a yelp burger tour? Interesting, but what's yelp?
That night the burger crew tried out the burgers Cafe Kostverloren. I had no idea what I was in for. Later on, I remember describing yelpies as "expat meetup" on acid. . If you've ever sat across from Dennis M. (on cava and calvados) and AJ A. (sober), trust me, you'll understand. After that first yelp encounter, there was no going back and eventually I ended up replacing the expat meetups with yelp event completely.
Sure meeting new people was fun. But writing reviews on yelp? Don't know 'bout that. I get more joy from creating stuff rather than critiquing other people's creations. Anyways, I approached writing reviews as an opportunity to practice my writing and post my food pics. Also, I'm not gonna lie, I was searching for those extra likes. With my insatiable hunger for likes, facebook was not enough any more...like me...love me...validate me...
Excited, my 1st review. Kostverloren's wild boar burgers. But in my enthusiasm, and much to my brother's amusement, I had mistakenly written wild bear instead of boar.
Fast forward 1 year, November 2013 and I've acquired the much coveted elite badge. In order to commemorate this, I met Flip, yelp's bestest CM ever, Jeweetzeluf!, last Friday afternoon for lunch at Scandinavian Embassy. Soso lobie!!
We were treated to the full lunch menu, no holding back. The starter included cured wild bear sausage. Yep, you heard me right, and this time I really do mean wild BEAR! By the way, it was a bit weird feeding Java, the cutest sausage house dog with his Mohawk hair lock, pieces of wild bear. Don't know, but to me somehow a wiener dog eating wild bear defies the laws of nature.
They sort of have a thing for unusual meats here. Besides wild bear, we sank our teeth into moose and reindeer. And it was all good! Even better, you don't have to feel guilty for eating Mogli, Rudolf the rednose reindeer and Goofy (yep, Goofy is a moose!) because it's all sustainably sourced meat that would've otherwise gone to waste. It's the circle of life...
L.O.V.E.D the starter with the cured meats and amazing espresso butter on sourdough and Danish cheese. Also loved the cracker that followed, served with an interesting creamy dollop that tasted like dulce the leche but with a cheesiness to it.
I want a bucket of that and a spoon, please!
I'm not sure the mushroom soup completely worked. It was light and a bit sour, but perhaps it's because I never had this combination before. I think I was missing the fattiness of cream or crème fraiche. Also, I think the soup lacked some more umami like some truffle. Maybe, even some miso would've been brilliant? I know it sounds weird, but I think might have worked in this soup. Like a hot Scandi Asian fusion.
Other than that, very satisfying lunch! And despite the minimalistic Scandinavian interior, it felt really cosy in here. Also, pleasant lighting for making photographs. I kinda regretted not bringing my real camera :(
So, after not having shielded away from serving some of Disney's most memorable characters on a wooden platter, who's next ? Mickey?
* P.S. If Santa didn't bring you presents this year, you know why...