RESTAURANT REVIEW: Smaka

You all know I'm a Scandiphile, I've admitted it many times on this blog, so when I heard about a brand new Swedish restaurant opening near Brick Lane I absolutely had to pay the place a visit.  

Smaka is an all-day restaurant serving simple, honest Swedish fare. As soon as I saw meatballs on the menu I knew I wanted to give them a try so Steve and I paid the restaurant a visit one day after work. Steve works around the corner and had already enjoyed a Smaka lunch some months previously and had reported back that the food tasted great. So good so far.

Of course we shared starters, choosing råraka (potato pancake) with Arctic char roe, sour cream and red onion and horseradish cheesecake with lingonberry vinaigrette. I loved the råraka, crispy and tasty, it tasted just how you'd hope a potato pancake would taste. The combination of sour cream, Arctic char and red onion gave it a pleasantly fresh taste with all three ingredients working well together. The horseradish cheesecake was a great surprise. I didn't know what to expect but I love horseradish so was keen to give it a try. Whilst it wasn't as hot as I was hoping, and it did taste a little like dessert, this was an incredibly tasty plate of food.

We both ordered the Swedish meatballs with mashed potato, cream sauce, pickled cucumber and lingonberries. Whilst the meatballs were quite dense they were absolutely delicious and tasted just like the portion I had in Gothenburg earlier in the year. Funnily enough both restaurants share the name Smaka.

We ended up taking away a Swedish waffle with homemade strawberry jam and cream to have for breakfast the next day. Even heated up in the microwave it tasted great!

Smaka is a lovely slice of Scandinavia in the heart an otherwise dreary business district. I appreciated the beautiful design of the restaurant including the Hans Wegner chairs and soft lighting. I thought the food was a little on the expensive side considering the price of other Scandinavian restaurants in London but it looks like they're doing 2 courses for £15 at the moment which is a great deal. I'd definitely like to return to try the rest of the menu as well as the brunch offerings.

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