WORTH RAISING YOUR
GLASS FOR
On a sunny corner of a tree-lined street a stone’s throw from the Avenue, you’ll find one of the brightest stars in Göteborg’s food constellation. Familjen (The Family) is a brasserie inspired by the classic French model and presented in modern, Swedish form – it also boasts one of the city’s most impressive wine cellars. We met driving force and part-owner Björn Persson to share his thoughts on how wine and spirits play a part in characterising this colourful restaurant.
Björn – what’s the idea behind Familjen?
- Familjen is every Gothenburger’s second living room. It’s an open welcoming space where people meet, eat or just take a drink….or two! The décor is modern but with classic Swedish touches such as Sandberg wallpaper - and as you might expect given our name, we’ve decorated the walls with photos of our guests and staff – our Family, as it were!
How does it differ from your other restaurant, Kock & Vin?
- I suppose you could say that Kock & Vin offers a more classic dining experience. Guests can enjoy a 5-course taster menu and the design and décor in the dining room there are probably more ‘traditional’ than here at Familjen. At Kock & Vin the dining room is smaller and more intimate too – but great food can be enjoyed in both restaurants
Tell us about your wine list here at Familjen.
- We have around 150 wines in our cellar. Something for everyone, in other words. We also serve champagne and oysters in the bar – a very customer driven idea, I might add. People come here to enjoy a taste of the good life and we’re glad to provide that.
How do you go about creating a wine list?
- At Familjen, we change our food menu every week. The new dishes require us to think about how we compliment the flavours of the food with wine – how fruity should the wine be, does this dish need a dry white? Of course, this affects the wines our Sommelier suggests to diners but we try to have something for every taste here. Generally, our wine list is composed of products from cooler, European countries but we have new-world choices available too, should our guests ask for these.
What do you do if you can’t find an ‘exact match’ between food and wine?
- Good question! In some cases, we’ll hold back with presenting a new dish until we’re sure we’ve found the perfect combination of flavours to compliment the wine. Pedantic, perhaps but it’s the small details that make the big difference!
Familjen has built up a reputation for mixing great drinks – how did you achieve this?
- By employing extremely good bar staff and only using high-quality ingredients. For example, we don’t use any artificial flavouring in our drinks. Here, we make our own sweetener using sugar and water, which we then flavour, using berries and fruits. It’s definitely more labour intensive but the difference in taste is like night and day.
This approach must give you the possibility to create drinks based around the seasons?
- Exactly! During the winter months, we make sweeteners using produce that‘s at its best such as apples, pears and even homemade lingonberry and cloudberry compote. We also have three different types of Bloody Mary on our drinks menu – all made with our homemade tomato juice and given its own unique character with touches such as homemade bacon chips.
So it could be said that your innovative approach to taste expresses itself in both the kitchen and the bar?
- Absolutely – anything for ‘The Family’!
2011-11-11