Note: Chef Arnaud Bignon has now left Spondi to cook at The Greenhouse.

Spondi

En route to the Greek Islands I stopped off in Athens to be greeted by sunshine and hot weather. Despite all the charms of Scandinavia, I found it a wee bit cold and grey (not to mention exceedingly expensive). I had considered going to France for some further gastronomic pursuits, but in the end I chose the sun over my stomach. The powers that be must have smiled at my choice for they seemed to stamp their seal of approval by sending some fine and dandy traditional Greek tunes through the taxi radio as I made my way from the airport. It left me reeling with flashbacks of all my favourite scenes from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the realisation that I really was in Greece! I love that movie, and from that point onwards I was a lost cause for the mere sight of the word ‘lamb’ on a menu would immediately transport me giggling to that scene where she tries to explain to her aunt that her fiancé is vegetarian.

I liked Athens. There is of course the Acropolis, but its collection of historical treasures is not limited this to national monument. The Acropolis Museum which opened in June is absolutely spectacular, as is the National Archaeological Museum which surely houses one of the best collections in the world. And interestingly, the subway system is similar to an interwoven network of modern construction and underground ruins.

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Søllerød Kro

After Sweden I made tracks to Copenhagen. The urban population of this city might only number about 1.2 million, but it seems to be developing a reputation as a burgeoning gastronomic destination, and this is in no small part due to the highly acclaimed two starred Michelin Noma. There are also a number of one star Michelin restaurants here, and my first choice among them had been a restaurant called Geranium, which sadly closed a couple of months back, reportedly due to the tough economic conditions.

Next on my list was Søllerød Kro, a restaurant which is housed in a thatched inn dating back to 1677. Its about 16km from the centre of Copenhagen, and en route there I got thinking what would possess me to choose the only Michelin restaurant that was furthest away from town when there were about 10 others in the centre of it. Hmmm.

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Crisps with truffles

I have a thing for Swedish chefs. When I was little, my favourite character on The Muppet Show was ‘The Swedish Chef’. For whatever reason, I found the combination of his sing-song voice, his incoherent chanting and his hairy eyebrows rather endearing. My sister could never understand it – he only talked gibberish after all – but oh how I loved him so!

To another famous Swedish Chef, Mathias Dahlgren, who is something of a celebrity in this part of the world. His namesake fine dining restaurant (Mathias Dahlgren Matsalen) at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm bears two Michelin stars and is ranked number 50 in this year’s San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants List. His restaurant is well known for his ‘organic and natural approach’ which he couples with themes drawn from memories of his childhood. There is also a casual eating area adjacent to the fine dining room called Matbaren which is run out of a separate kitchen.

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Prince Van Orangien

My visit to Sweden was the part of my two month itinerary which I have been most excited about. You see, I was meeting my sister here. As she lives in Oz, we don’t get to see each other very often. Therefore any time we have together is extremely precious.

She is a foodie too (must be in the genes), and it didn’t take long to convince her that we ought to try out some nice restaurants. First on the list was Oaxen Krog, a restaurant which made it to number 32 in the 2009 San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants Awards. The restaurant is a collaborative effort between the husband and wife team of Magnus Ek and Agneta Green, and is well known for its use of biodynamic local produce and traditional methods of curing, smoking and preserving. The restaurant does not have any Michelin stars, and when I chatted to Agneta at the end of my meal, she told me that Michelin has visited the restaurant, but that their policy in Scandinavia is to not award stars to restaurants which are more than a 30 minute taxi ride from the major cities.

The couple opened the restaurant about 15 years, but it wasn’t until last year when they bought a boat called Prince Van Orangien which they converted to provide accommodation to their guests. The boat does not have twin rooms, just doubles, which meant that the consequence of an overnight stay was that I would have to share a bed with my sister. I love her dearly, but jeez, we’re hardly honeymoon lovers. More like an old married couple who fight over the duvet in the middle of the night.

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Schloss Berg

I have been looking forward to my meal at Chef Christian Bau’s Victor’s Gourmet Restaurant for many days now – months in fact. Some foodies consider it one of the best, if not the best, restaurant in Europe right now, and the excitement I felt in the lead up to this meal was palpable – “three more sleeps, two more sleeps, one more sleep…”Its the main reason behind why I came to Germany – the pièce de résistance of my short culinary tour of this country.

The restaurant is situated in a town called Perl-Nennig, with the closest major city being Luxembourg City which is about a 30 minute drive away. The restaurant is housed in a quaint white castle called Schloss Berg, but for whatever reason, a casino was added as an extension to it in what looks like a glass monstrosity that is incongruous with the otherwise lovely white stone facade.

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Schloss Lerbach

Dieter Müller is one of the best known chefs in Germany and his namesake restaurant was next on my list during my stay in Cologne. A three star Michelin restaurant, it is housed in a beautiful Relais & Châteaux Hotel called Schloss Lerbach, which like Gut Lärchenhof, is about 16km from the centre of Cologne. Dieter Müller retired as head chef of the restaurant last year and now only acts as its patron. Into his place has stepped Nils Henkel. For better or for worse, I had no illusions that the restaurant would be the same as when Dieter was there. But it was going to be interesting to discover how the restaurant fared given that the chef whose name upon which the fame of the restaurant was founded is no longer in full time service.

Schloss Lerbach is a beautiful, grandiose building housed in lovely lush grounds. The restaurant itself is a statement in formality. It’s classically elegant, if a little old fashioned, and overlooks the gardens which are made all the more visible by the tall glass windows that line the length of its walls. The windows also serve to let in lots of natural light, which on this nice sunny day made me feel as if I was dining in a garden paradise.

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Restaurant Gut Lärchenhof

After a dry spell in the ‘good food department’ in Croatia and Bosnia, I was desperately in need of a nice meal. My taste buds demanded it. And so I found myself in Cologne, Germany, with the priority being to eat. First on the agenda was Gut Lärchenhof, a one star Michelin restaurant situated in the village of Pulheim-Stommeln which is about 16km from the centre of Cologne. What is most interesting about this restaurant’s location is not where it is, but the fact that it is housed in a golf course, one that was designed by Jack Nicholas.

Some of you might think it odd that I would make the effort to venture to a golf course for a reason other than golf, and even if you didn’t, I will hold my hand up and admit that I did spend a short moment in quiet reflection trying to decide if I was indeed ‘odd’. But I have never been shy about going to extreme lengths in pursuit of a good meal (and indeed I have had some harebrained escapades- but that is a story for another time). Besides, I was intrigued by this place, which after some internal debate, I choose over Zur Traube, a two star Michelin restaurant also situated in the Cologne area. Interestingly, despite having one less star, Gut Lärchenhof holds 18 Gault Millau points, the same as Zur Traube. But Gut Lärchenhof is itself expecting a second star in the upcoming year, and restaurants such as these, hungry for that extra star, often have something to prove. Consequently, I believe they often provide excellent dining experiences.

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Ćevapi - a Bosnian specialty

A moment if I may, to share with you some of the trials and tribulations of blogging while on this trip. I am constantly on the move and my primary focus is of course to travel. So my days are filled with working out what to see, where I will go next, how I will get there and where I will stay. So I grab the odd moment when I can to write, whether it be waiting at an airport or on a bus (although the motion of the bus makes this rather difficult), etc. I then have to find an internet connection to upload my post as well as my pictures. Some of the places I stayed at were equipped with wi-fi, some weren’t. There’s been the odd café, and on one occasion I found an unsecured line (naughty I know) in a town square somewhere. And for my sins, as I was sitting under a tree blogging, a pigeon did a huge number two all over my laptop screen. There really was nothing else to say in these circumstances other than `sh*t!’, albeit I said in the context of an expletive rather than as an acknowledge of the sad state of affairs.

My next stop after Croatia was Sarajevo (and this was after whizzing through the extremely picturesque Montenegro). Nowadays, Sarajevo is anything but war-torn, although the scars of the Serbian Siege of 1992-1995 still remain for the city has not been completed restored. It’s not an exceptionally beautiful place, but it’s incredibly fascinating. An eclectic mix of East meets West – Turkish-styled bazaars sitting alongside Western European-inspired architecture – this was also the place where on 28 June 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia, leading to the outbreak of WW1. I love this sort of stuff – XX marks the spot where XX happened, to forever cement a moment in time that will alter the course of history.

Plaque to mark the spot where the assassination took place

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