NEW NORDIC #2

Fika Swedish Kitchen, a Scandinavian café with venues in Manly, Bondi and the central Perth suburb of Claremont, encourages its diners to ‘feel at home’ in its cosy interiors. Again, the focus is on simple, informal fare, such as Swedish meatballs with mash, gravy, lingonberry jam and pickled cucumber, and a creamy cabbage slaw with radish, apple, carrot, avocado, halloumi, currants, poached free-range egg and a kale crumble.

At Denmark House in Melbourne’s CBD, lunch meals come in the form of smørrebrød, or open sandwiches. Low-fuss options include roast potato with red onion and mayonnaise, bacon jam with cheddar cheese sauce, and pan seared prawns with pickled asparagus and garlic butter sauce. At the bar, simple meals of meatballs with cabbage and cod croquettes can be matched with a variety of cocktails based in akvavit, a spicy Scandinavian distilled spirit.

Another hallmark of New Nordic cuisine is the minimal menu. Degustation is a common approach, but a simple and focused menu is a typical characteristic of New Nordic eateries.

Again, this plays into another trend sweeping the culinary world: doing more with less and checking the curse of the ever-growing menu.