Rörstrandsgatan has always been a choice destination for people looking for a good meal, and during these last six months it’s almost been taken to ridiculous levels. You hardly have time to sit down and untie your shoelaces until another two restaurants and a coffee bar open.
At the beginning of the year the café and deli Xoko moved over to make room for Rawbata. The name is word play on the Japanese cooking technique “robata”, that can both mean the charcoal barbecue grill and a restaurant that uses one. And if you haven’t figured it out already the “Rawbata” word play points towards a menu offering both such bbq dishes as well as raw dishes.
The restaurant interiors are light and well thought-through with a couple of different areas, a chef’s table and a chambre separée. Our party is three people and at the time of sitting down we are the only guests in the restaurant. A nice situation as the kitchen takes the opportunity to concoct a couple of dishes that are making their way onto the menu soon, that we get the chance to sample first. An incredibly nice start to the evening, especially since all the said samples were given the thumbs up from a unanimous panel.
When we move onto the actual menu we try everything from miso cucumber and black cod through to sweet potatoes and, of course, various things from the barbecue. The barbecue sauce that arrives at the table as a condiment to pretty much everything grilled reminds us of a more fresh take on teriyaki and is simply incredible, but at the same time it makes a lot of the dishes taste quite similar.
In general, all that we try is of a very high standard without really going for the knockout blow. There’s high quality sashimi but the sweet potato seems a bit mealy, with an unfulfilling texture. The size of the dishes is in general a bit larger than we expected after it was recommended to get four to five dishes per person.
Despite being full, we are persuaded to try the prize-wining dessert chef Johan’s creations, something that proves to be a great idea. The mango cheesecake is magical and we could come back just to have that four times over.
Rawbata, Rörstrandsgatan 15
Photo: From Rawbata Facebook
