Six hundred miles north of Stockholm, on a remote hunting estate near Jarpen, Magnus Nilsson mans the kitchens at a restaurant straight out of ancient agrarian times.
“We do things as they have always been done at Jämtland mountain farms,” he says. “We follow seasonal variations and our existing traditions.” Everything on the 12-course tasting menu at Faviken is made with just-foraged ingredients: local garden produce, locally raised meat, wild game, herbs, and mushrooms from the estate, cheese and other dairy from the surrounding region of Jämtland, and seafood from the neighboring region of Trøndelag, Norway. During the summer, the chefs build up their stores for the dark winter months: “We dry, salt, jelly, pickle, and bottle.”
N.B. If you’re not planning a trip to the northern edges of Sweden anytime soon, Phaidon has just published Faviken, a cookbook by Nilsson. All photos via Faviken.
Above: The dining room accommodates just 12 diners.
Above: Local scallops.
Above: Dried herbs function as decor.
Above: Scenes from the dining room; hanging cured meats add a medieval touch.
Above: Illumination by fire: candles and a wood-burning stove.
Above: A view of the snowy landscape.
Above: Faviken, by Magnus Nilsson, is $32.97 from Amazon.
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