The romantic image of sitting in a lush meadow surrounded by blooming wildflowers and eating from a picnic basket would possibly conjure up ideas of Instagram way of life influencers, who are typically principally feminine. However for Linda Karlsson, her novel eating concept’s important demographic has shocked her.
“Males,” she stated. “It has been nearly solely males who’ve booked the desk.”
“The desk” she refers to is, the truth is, her new restaurant Bord För En (Desk For One), which opened on 10 Could. Situated in Ransäter, a tiny rural city tucked within the Swedish countryside in Värmland, round 350km west of Stockholm, it consists of a sole picket desk and single chair set in her backyard overlooking a verdant pasture. A candle and bouquet of wildflowers end off the demure desk setting.
The meals is a method of sending individuals to a heat and sluggish night time in Barcelona since we’re unable to journey throughout these occasions
The story behind this new enterprise is as candy because the setting. When Karlsson’s aged mother and father wished to go to her throughout the present Covid-19 state of affairs, she and her companion, Rasmus Persson, wanted to plan a method of sharing a meal with them with out compromising their well being. Since they couldn’t sit on the similar desk for security causes, they determined to arrange a desk exterior within the backyard to “remotely dine” with Karlsson’s mother and father whereas they conversed by means of the window.
Watching that tranquil scene as her mother and father dined exterior lit a artistic spark inside each Karlsson and Persson. They realised they might invite others to take pleasure in this peaceable solitude whereas nonetheless sustaining some social distancing.
And thus, the thought of their single-diner restaurant was born.
Every night at 19:00, their solo buyer takes a seat on the desk and eats alone to the sounds of rustling bushes and chirping birds. There aren’t any wait workers and no direct human contact. To ship the meals safely, a pink and white gingham-frill basket is hooked up to a rope and served from Karlsson’s second-floor kitchen window by way of a pulley system normal utilizing an outdated bicycle wheel to their visitor sitting 50m away.
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This setup not solely permits them to stick to the present suggestions from the Public Health Agency of Sweden to keep up 1-2m of area between individuals, however permits diners full solitude and tranquillity.
As soon as the visitor opens the basket, they’ll discover the primary of their three programs. To inform the kitchen that they’re prepared for his or her subsequent course, they merely must ring the bell hooked up to the pulley system. The menu is at all times the identical; modifications are solely made if Karlsson and Persson can’t pay money for the domestically produced items they’re dedicated to utilizing as a part of their meals philosophy.
Whereas Karlsson’s background is in hospitality and communications, their plant-based, vegetarian-friendly three-course providing is crafted by Persson, who skilled as a chef in Gothenburg, labored at high-end seafood restaurant Sjömagasinet and realized from legendary Swedish chef Leif Mannerström. Persson’s gastronomic stints additionally took him to Barcelona, and his delicacies is infused with Spanish-inspired components.
The primary course is råraka, Swedish-style hash browns with thick smetana bitter cream, seaweed caviar and sorrel. It’s adopted by “Black & Yellow”, a plating of yellow carrot-ginger puree, browned hazelnut butter, sweetcorn croquette (redolent of Spanish tapas) and serpent root (Spanish salsify) ash.
“The meals is a method of sending individuals to a heat and sluggish night time in Barcelona since we’re unable to journey throughout these occasions,” Karlsson stated.
The dessert, known as “Final Days of Summer time”, is ginned blueberries with iced buttermilk and viola sugar created from their homegrown beetroots. It’s a secret recipe handed down from Persson’s grandmother, who lately handed away at 99 years outdated.
“Rasmus is aware of make these dishes at house, so I am very happy,” Karlsson stated. “And since I am unable to prepare dinner in any respect, that is one cause why I married a chef.”
Drink pairings are created from non-alcoholic spirit Seedlip with seasonal components reminiscent of elderflower and strawberries, and are curated by famend bar proprietor Joel Söderbäck, who grew up in Ransäter and whose Stockholm-based cocktail bar Tjoget was awarded a spot on the World’s 50 Best Bars in 2019.
Because of present journey restrictions worldwide, most of Bord För En’s patrons up to now have been locals from Ransäter and the area of Värmland, and the waitlist can vary from a couple of individuals to greater than a dozen relying on the day of the week. Whereas many individuals have tried to make a two-person reservation, suggesting that their eating companions can sit on the grass to implement social distancing, Karlsson notes that this defeats the aim of the solo expertise.
“It’s actually about having the time to get to know your self and to really honour that,” Karlsson stated.
She believes there’s extra to her idea than simply novelty. What was a name of obligation to assist implement social distancing pointers has unwittingly become a quiet, self-care motion. With a lot of the world in lockdown or quarantine, Karlsson believes individuals are realising they’re afraid of spending time alone, and she or he desires to assist flip the expertise right into a optimistic one.
“Our enterprise mannequin will not be a really profitable one,” says Karlsson. “We solely settle for one visitor per day simply to have the ability to actually have the chance to make our visitors create their very own area.”
It’s actually about having the time to get to know your self and to really honour that
For Karlsson, it’s onerous to place a time restrict on creating that private introspective area. It typically makes her consider American poet Mary Oliver’s poem “The Summer time Day” and the query it poses: “Inform me, what’s it you intend to do along with your one wild and valuable life?” That’s why, past supplying the meals and the venue, she leaves the precise expertise as much as the visitor, who’s free to linger for hours over their meal, learn, write, take in nature, and absolutely exist within the second with out distractions. There’s no closing time or harried waiter bringing the invoice.
In actual fact, there’s no invoice in any respect. In lieu of fee, visitors are invited to make a voluntary contribution primarily based on what they really feel the meal and expertise was price to them. Karlsson and Persson have been by no means planning to show income from serving a single meal a day, and are as an alternative donating proceeds to Ulla-Britt Henrikssons Kulturstipendium, a fund to help artistic moms arrange by Persson. Named after his mom Ulla-Britt and impressed by her setting apart her personal artistic desires to lift him and his siblings, the fund awards 10,00zero kr (£845) on Mom’s Day, 26 Could, to help a nominated mom in the direction of realising her personal creative imaginative and prescient.
As for why their clientele has been principally male? Karlsson has no concept. “I haven’t got the reply as to why it has been principally males,” she stated. “However our desk is obtainable to everybody.” She notes that ladies don’t typically deal with themselves out to solo dinners and possibly it’s time to contemplate this as yet one more essential act of self-care.
Karlsson and Persson plan to maintain Bord För En open till 1 August and reopen yearly each spring and summer time. And with a lot of worldwide curiosity from fellow cooks and foodie colleagues, Persson and Karlsson at the moment are contemplating increasing their concept globally. They’re at the moment inviting cooks who’re desirous about launching similar concepts to apply.
“Our imaginative and prescient is to open up extra tables all over the world and unite our feeling of being alone collectively,” stated Karlsson.
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