The journey starts already in the elevator. The small construction lift that takes us up to The Cube has no windows, making the experience all the more magical once you’re finally allowed to step out. From the Royal Opera’s roof the view over Stockholm is stunning: The City Hall in the west, the Royal Palace in the south and the Grand Hôtel with its waving flags in the east. As the clock strikes twelve, with a glass of champagne in hand, we admire the Royal Guards passing by on Strömgatan below on their horses. Stockholm in the summer doesn’t get much better than this.
The Cube by Electrolux is a pop-up restaurant perched on the top of the Opera House building. It’s open to 18 guests at a time, and will be visiting Stockholm until October the 21st. Electrolux launched the project to market its consumer kitchen appliances, but thankfully, it’s much more than a PR trick.
The program of visiting chefs reads like a Who’s Who of Sweden’s culinary scene: Mathias Dahlgren of Mathias Dahlgren Matbaren and Matsalen, Magnus Ek of the former Oaxen Skärgårdskrog, Johan Jureskog from Restaurang AG, Stefano Catenacci from Operakällaren and Chef of the year, Klas Lindberg, have all personally agreed to cook for The Cube. There are two meals to choose from: a three course lunch for SEK 1450 and a five course dinner for SEK 2 600, both including a glass of champagne and a wine package to match the food.
On our visit, chef of the day is Jureskog. Known for his love of meat, he kicks off by serving us steak tartar with vendace roe, brioche and onions on the terrace. The next appetizer is crispy pig feet with vinegar and dill, followed by grilled ox heart with red beets and lemon. And for those of you who are now cringing, I can assure that both the feet and the heart were delicious.
Once we’ve all sat around the long, communal table, the starters are brought in on large bowls for the guests to share: pike quenelles with crayfish, Västerbotten cheese and dill. It all feels a bit like a small wedding – with exceptional cooking and no bride and groom to steal all the attention. Here, the guests are the main focus, but the chef is the star.
Swedes are sometimes accused of being stiff and quiet, but there’s no sign of that behaviour on this lunch. By the time the main course arrives – calf sweetbreads with mushrooms, herbs, bacon and truffle mayonnaise – everyone is already chatting animatedly. And when the dessert – flambéed raspberries with vanilla ice cream and vanilla pudding – has been eaten, many guests wish that they could linger here for much longer than their lunch hour allows them to.
What makes eating at The Cube special, aside from the top class cooking and views, is its temporary and thus unique nature, the unexpected meetings and the close, intimate setting where the chef is always at hand to talk about the food and answer questions. While the price might sound like a lot at first, for all of that, it’s actually not bad at all.
